Take this example.
A man walks into a store with a 12 gauge, shoots the shopkeeper in the side of the cranium at zero distance with both barrels, killing him instantly. Picks up a packet of cigarettes and walks to the door having been witnessed by 10 upstanding citizens including the mayor and the chief of police. (assume for a minute they are not corrupt.) This is all caught on camera from multiple angles.
He is arrested at the door and taken to jail where he freely admits the crime in front of his lawyer.
Should this man get the chair?
You take his life and I dislike you just as much as him. The idea that taking someone's life could solve anything is abhorrent. It won't give true closure; it will only give revenge, which is no basis for justice. Saying a life for a life is dues is just bas bad as murder; his dues is to be removed from society, not to be killed by people thinking they are morally superior! And the financial issue is a complete red herring. Not only would it be more expensive to kill him, not only are the sums of money involved in the tiny fraction of death sentendce negiligible, but to say we should kill him simply to save money is utterly wrong! You pay for prisons; it is one of the costs of justice. You don't discard that route just to make you feel better.