It’s still an open question as to whether Joseph Duncan will deliver an opening statement in his sentencing trial today, but so far, Duncan has been taking an active role in his own defense. When the two sides exercised peremptory challenges to winnow down the…
The process of exercising peremptory challenges and getting the jury down to 12 jurors plus three alternates went more quickly than Judge Lodge anticipated this morning, but he announced that he’d like to wait until 1:30 for the opening statements to start. He excused the…
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal from The Spokesman-Review of a federal judge’s decision to close the courtroom for key testimony in Joseph Duncan’s federal sentencing trial. A three-judge panel of the court wrote that it could not reverse U.S.…
Shasta may not have to testify after all. Tuesday, on the eve of opening statements in Joseph Duncan’s death penalty sentencing trial in federal court, lawyers on both sides hinted in court that a deal is in the works. No details are available yet, but…
In the final round of individual questioning of jurors today, one additional juror was approved from the five called in. In addition, two jurors previously approved back in April were brought back in, queried, and OK’d to serve. As of yesterday, when 18 jurors were…
Here’s how high the stakes are in the jury selection that’s now under way in the Joseph Duncan case: If just one juror objects in any of three different votes, Duncan would be spared the death penalty. That’s what happened in the case of Zacarias…
Joseph Duncan has asked his first question of a juror, after he objected to approving a juror this afternoon who’d said she feared she’d “play it over in my mind forever” after having to watch graphic video of child abuse as part of the evidence…
Jury selection is back on this morning in the Joseph Duncan capital sentencing trial, and so far, four more jurors have been approved, bringing the total approved in the case so far to 44. Two have been excused, one because he said he’d already decided…
At 2:40 p.m. Boise time (as opposed to the time stamps on this blog, which are in Pacific time and so show one hour earlier), jury selection wrapped up for today. Since the lunch break, four more jurors have been approved, and five have been…
After six prospective jurors in a row were excused this morning, three finally were approved for the Joseph Duncan case. Another nine jurors remain to be questioned this afternoon. Of those excused today, two said they’d already decided Duncan should die, and two said they…
Fordham University law professor James Cohen says Joseph Duncan isn’t helping his chances in court – where he faces a possible death penalty – by his courtroom tactics today, in which he took over juror questioning from his standby attorneys, then refused to ask any…
The final prospective juror who was questioned today requested to be excused from the Joseph Duncan case, because he has non-refundable tickets to Hawaii for a vacation planned 10 months in advance for Aug. 13-27. Both sides and the judge agreed, and Judge Lodge drew…
Interestingly, despite concerns that have been raised about how news coverage of the case could affect the jury pool, most prospective jurors have said they’ve seen little coverage and none that would affect their ability to serve as impartial jurors. Yesterday, when 24 jurors who’d…
Eight jurors survived questioning this morning and were cleared to sit on the case, while two were excused for cause. Duncan never asked any prospective jurors any questions or objected to any of them, but the judge stepped in and asked additional questions of most…
Just as jury selection was about to begin in the Joseph Duncan case this morning, Duncan delivered a hand-written note to the judge asking to do the defense questioning of jurors himself, rather than have his standby attorneys handle that. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge…
The Twin Falls Times-News is reporting today that the Magic Valley regional supervisor for Idaho Fish & Game, who had held the position for eight years, was demoted after he wrote a letter to the editor critical of a proposed large wind farm’s impacts on…
Idaho 1st District Congressman Bill Sali is on his way back from Iraq, his office reported today, and had been there since Sunday. It was the freshman GOP congressman’s first trip to Iraq and second to the region. He’s headed next to Germany to visit…
The court has just halted today’s jury selection proceedings until tomorrow, after Joseph Duncan’s standby attorneys tried to withdraw from the case and the judge refused to allow them to. Before the clash between the attorneys and the judge, the court had called in 24…
Jury selection resumes this morning in the Joseph Duncan death penalty sentencing trial in federal court in Boise, after a three-month delay in which two court-ordered mental evaluations confirmed Duncan’s competency. That prompted U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to give the admitted killer the go-ahead…
Documents newly unsealed in the Joseph Duncan case can be read in full here: Stipulation (Docket No. 63); Defense response to motion (159); U.S. joint motion for protective order (171); and here are links to the three orders the judge issued today in the case:…
U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has ordered four sealed documents in the Joseph Duncan case unsealed, in response to motions from The Spokesman-Review and 15 other media outlets in Idaho and eastern Washington.“Much of the record has been sealed from the public without notice and…
Here’s a surprising development: The Idaho Election Campaign Fund, for which Idahoans have checked boxes on their state tax returns since 1975 if they want to donate a dollar to a political party of their choice or to a general political campaign fund, this year…
I spoke with experts from around the country about what changes now that admitted killer Joseph Duncan will be representing himself in court, acting as his own attorney in his federal death penalty sentencing trial. The consensus: He’ll be more likely to get the death…
A legislative audit has identified serious management problems in the office of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, problems that Luna didn’t dispute and says now have been corrected. They ranged from improper accounting to sensitive personal information in teacher certification files being stored…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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