In the US it depends on if you get a good lawyer or not. And it depends on the laws of each state - what's a capital crime in Tennessee may not be one in Minnesota, for instance.

Right now in Tennessee there is a man on death row for killing a drug dealer years ago. I don't know all the whys and wherefores of the case, but I believe it was his only murder. He may have had some other lesser convictions in the past, I'm not sure. It seems like it would be fair for him to get life in prison, and save the chair for the Ted Bundys of the world.