The testimony has come to a close in Joseph Duncan’s federal death penalty sentencing trial without the sole surviving victim, now-11-year-old Shasta Groene, having to take the stand and see her attacker again. The prosecution and defense had reached an agreement regarding Shasta’s testimony in…
Among the odd, stray items raised in today’s evidence: Duncan’s girlfriend in Seattle apparently had a husband and two young daughters. In a monthly report from May of 1996 from Duncan’s parole officer, Sandy Silver, presented in court today, a note at the bottom says,…
Steve Groene resisted when Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan referred to his murdered son by initials as “D.G.” “I would like to state, I’m not comfortable diminishing my two boys’ names down to initials,” he told the court. The court proceedings have used only initials…
With heartfelt testimony from Steve Groene, father of the murdered child, the prosecution has wrapped up its victim-impact testimony. “At this point, the United States rests,” U.S. Attorney Tom Moss told the court. Judge Edward Lodge then asked Duncan to call his first witness, but…
Nine-year-old Dylan Groene loved to play with Matchbox cars, teased his classmates by keeping a bottle of cheap cologne in his desk that he occasionally put on, and was “having a good year” in the third grade when he disappeared, his 3rd grade teacher at…
The victim-impact testimony has started in Joseph Duncan’s sentencing trial. Little Dylan’s aunt, Brandy Hoagland, her voice breaking, said, “He was really affectionate, he was just a little teddy bear. … It’s been pretty traumatic. It’s just a huge hole in our heart and an…
Joseph Duncan’s former girlfriend in Seattle, Sadequa “Dee” Ellis, testified only briefly today. She said she met Duncan at work at Time-Life Libraries between 1995 and 1996. Asked the nature of their relationship, she said simply, “girlfriend.” Duncan sat gazing at her over clasped hands,…
Cindy Snyder, a friend of Duncan’s former roommate Joe Ruan in Seattle, was called to testify. She said she often came by Ruan’s to visit, and she and Ruan were so concerned about the missing girls in their neighborhood that they handed out fliers and…
Joseph Duncan’s former girlfriend, roommate and parole officer from Seattle testified this morning, leading to some odd exchanges. Joseph Ruan, an auto mechanic and former tow truck driver who rented his back bedroom out to Duncan in 1996, recalled Duncan making disparaging comments about the…
Court started 35 minutes late this morning, and the defendant, who’s usually the first one in court, wasn’t there. The only explanation was that it was “security related.” Numerous deputy marshals are required to move Duncan; it’s possible some could have been delayed by closed…
Former Bothell, Wash. police detective Dennis Nizzi told the court this morning that he was troubled by finding the skeletal remains of Carmen Cubias, 9, and Sammiejo White, 11, in Bothell when the girls had disappeared from Seattle, and he never was able to draw…
Among the pieces of evidence introduced in court on Monday were an immigration document showing Joseph Duncan visited Mexico two days after 10-year-old Anthony Martinez’s murder in southern California; photos of duct tape found near Anthony's body that bore Duncan's fingerprint; and a leather-bound journal…
As morning dawns over the fire site, the news comes that a body was discovered in one of the destroyed homes. Boise Fire Chief Dennis Doan confirmed the sad news to KTVB-TV about 2:30 this morning. In the end at least nine homes were destroyed,…
Ralph Nader has qualified for the Idaho presidential ballot, after his supporters turned in nearly 7,000 certified signatures on Monday to the Idaho secretary of state. Four years ago, running as a write-in, Nader got less than 1 percent of the Idaho vote. Click below…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
