Here’s a link to my full story at spokesmanreview.com on Thursday’s developments in the Joseph Duncan sentencing trial, and here’s my sidebar on what happens next in the case. It was a difficult and distressing day in court, but one that, on balance, makes sense…
“The purpose of this eligibility phase is to determine whether the defendant is eligible for the death sentence, not whether a death sentence is imposed,” Judge Edward Lodge cautioned the jurors. The jurors must agree unanimously, beyond a reasonable doubt, on three items in order…
Federal prosecutors just rested their case for the first phase of the death penalty sentencing trial, and the judge asked the defendant, Joseph Duncan, if he’d like to call his first witness. “I intend to testify, but I do not have a witness,” Duncan responded.…
Before the jury came back in the room for the showing of the graphic videos, Joseph Duncan told the court he wanted to express strong objections to its showing. “I would just like to state for the record … that I strongly object,” he said.…
A beam from an old cabin in the Lolo National Forest, with a wire loop hanging from the beam, was wheeled into the courtroom this morning and displayed to jurors, along with another large case containing pieces of floorboard from the cabin. The floorboards, from…