Michael Hoster's letter ("Delay of execution shows faulty justice," Fri., Dec. 3) concerning George Banks' stay of execution requires correction. First, the claim that imprisoning murderers for life costs more than executing them is understandable but entirely false. The lengthy trials and investigation costs necessary to seek the death penalty make it much more expensive than life imprisonment, as state legislatures across the country have found. Second, Banks acquired a persecution complex growing up as a biracial child in an all-white neighborhood and was expecting a race war even before killing 13 people. During his stay on death row, he has attempted suicide and has been sent to a state prison psychiatric hospital six times each. Insanity is not a "cop-out," rather, it is an affirmation of the time-honored principle, cited by the Supreme Court in its 1986 ban on executing the mentally ill, that one must be fully competent to assume responsibility for one's actions. And in Banks' case, it would go a long way toward an honest admission that society is not without fault.