VALLEY CITY (AP) - The cost of prosecuting Moe Gibbs for the killing of a Valley City State University student cost Barnes County more than $75,000, the county auditor says.

"We've never had a trial cost us that kind of money," said Ed McGough, who has served as the county's auditor for 21 years.

Gibbs, 35, was convicted of murder last month in Bismarck and was sentenced to life in prison for the September 2006 slaying of Mindy Morgenstern, a 22-year-old student at Valley City State University. The first trial in Minot ended in a deadlocked jury.

The trial in Minot cost about $45,500, McGough said. The second trial cost less because some things, such as DNA testing, could be reused.

McGough said the state picked up the tab for the judge, jury and witnesses.

"We had to take care of security, state's attorneys, travel, meals and medications," McGough said. The biggest expenses were "security and room and board for the prisoner," he said

McGough said Gibbs had a medical expense of $6,000 for an injury he suffered in a fall at the county jail in Fargo. That cost was applied to the second trial, the auditor said.

The county had enough money in its coffers to pay for the trials.

"We're able to cover the cost without having to raise taxes," McGough said. "There are always better places to spend money than doing this, but people have to be punished who deserve to be punished, and people deserve a fair trial because that's the law."