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Joseph Duncan

News about the investigation, trial and sentencing of Joseph Edward Duncan for the 2005 kidnap, torture and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene of Coeur d’Alene; the murders of Dylan’s mother, mother’s fiance and 13-year-old brother; and the kidnapping and molestation of Dylan’s then-8-year-old sister Shasta.

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News >  Idaho

Duncan jury pool on week’s notice

BOISE – U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge on Monday ordered prospective jurors in the Joseph Duncan case to check in July 30 for further instructions, suggesting the death penalty proceedings for the convicted killer may be about to resume. It was the fourth delay order issued to the jury pool since jury selection was suspended April 22 and the shortest. Previous delay orders included one for five weeks, followed by two for two weeks apiece. Jurors were called for service in April and May, but that has been extended as the court grappled with Duncan’s request to act as his own attorney.
News >  Idaho

Duncan incompetent, lawyers say

BOISE – Convicted killer Joseph Duncan’s lawyers have filed a motion to declare him mentally incompetent – which would not only keep him from acting as his own lawyer, but also would halt his federal death penalty proceedings and send him to a secure mental facility until he’s found competent to return to court. News of the motion, which was filed under seal, surfaced during a hearing Thursday.
News >  Idaho

Judge opens Duncan hearing

BOISE – U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has reversed himself and ordered today’s status hearing in killer Joseph Duncan’s death penalty proceedings opened to the press and public. Meanwhile, prosecutors filed a motion characterizing the defense’s recent aversion to secrecy as “attempts to further delay these proceedings.”
News >  Idaho

Duncan attorneys object to closed hearing

BOISE – Attorneys for murderer and child molester Joseph Duncan say there’s been too much secrecy in the killer’s death sentence proceedings, and they are objecting to a closed court hearing planned Thursday. The secrecy violates both the First Amendment and Duncan’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial, they contend.
News >  Idaho

Duncan psych exam could swing case

BOISE – The latest development in the Joseph Duncan sentencing raises a major question: What happens to the case against the confessed killer if psychological evaluations find he's mentally incompetent? Duncan is set to undergo a second mental evaluation, ordered by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge this week. The review was ordered because of Duncan's request to act as his own attorney; the legal standard for determining whether he's capable of representing himself in court is the same as if his fitness to stand trial were being evaluated.
News >  Idaho

Duncan evaluation puts jury selection on hold

BOISE – More than two dozen prospective jurors were waiting to be questioned, Joseph Duncan was in court, and attorneys and the judge were assembled. But Tuesday's jury selection proceedings were delayed after the defense objected to proceeding without a ruling on whether Duncan will serve as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings – and the government concurred. Pending is a mental evaluation to verify Duncan's competency.
News >  Idaho

Duncan cites his ‘ideology’

BOISE – Convicted killer Joseph Duncan said Friday that his "ideology" is behind his request to act as his own attorney in his death penalty sentencing hearings for kidnapping, molesting and killing a 9-year-old boy. "I don't have an issue with counsel personally," Duncan told U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge. "I think they are, like you've said many times, good counsel. It's ideology. I don't believe that they can ethically represent my ideology."
News >  Idaho

Duncan wants to act as own lawyer

BOISE – Joseph Duncan wants to act as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings, his lawyers told the court Wednesday. "He has requested that we recognize his desire to exercise his constitutional right to represent himself," attorney Mark Larranaga told the court, expressing concern about continuing with jury selection until the issue is resolved.
News >  Idaho

Duncan juror phase begins

BOISE – Three hundred fifty people will gather in Boise's convention center on Monday to start an extraordinary process: deciding whether Joseph Duncan should die for what he did to two North Idaho children. Available legal records suggest no one's received the death penalty in federal court for a crime committed in Idaho since the 1920s. But Duncan's case is rare in its heinousness and shock value. The convicted killer and child molester attacked a North Idaho family at their home in 2005, killed three family members in order to kidnap two young children, molested both youngsters and held them captive for weeks. Only one child, then-8-year-old Shasta Groene, survived.
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News >  Idaho

Child-killer Joseph Duncan still fighting death sentence

Although child-killer Joseph Duncan waived his right to appeal his triple death sentence for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old North Idaho boy, Duncan, through a team of attorneys, is now pressing a series of continued challenges. That’s in part because more...
News >  Idaho

9th Circuit dismisses Duncan’s appeal of death sentence

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected claims from attorneys for multiple murderer Joseph Duncan that the killer was incompetent to waive appeals of his death sentence, and dismissed the appeal that defense attorneys filed on his behalf. The attorneys still could seek...