Feds want death penalty

The U.S. attorney general’s office has given federal prosecutors the green light to seek the death penalty for murder suspect Joseph Duncan.

It’s a development some hope will lead to a plea deal in Kootenai County’s case against Duncan, saving the county from a long and expensive trial this month. Two county commissioners said Monday they also favor such a deal to keep 9-year-old Shasta Groene from having to testify.

Federal prosecutors could not be reached for comment late Monday, but several sources confirmed they will seek death for Duncan in the federal case charging him with kidnapping Shasta and her brother Dylan and killing the boy in the mountains of Montana.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said he received word from the U.S. attorney’s office in Boise on Monday. But Douglas also said the decision of federal authorities will have no bearing on the state case.

“We are prosecuting different crimes,” Douglas said. “We are prosecuting the crimes involving three murders. In their case, they’re prosecuting the crimes that involved whatever happened in Montana.”

Douglas said he is reluctant to comment on the case so close to the trial’s scheduled Oct. 16 start.

“We’ve got a jury out there,” he said. “I can’t say too much.”

Duncan, 43, is charged with the May 2005 bludgeoning deaths of Brenda Matthews Groene; her 13-year-old son, Slade; and her fiance, Mark McKenzie, at a home near Wolf Lodge Bay east of Coeur d’Alene.

He is suspected of kidnapping Groene’s youngest children – Shasta, then 8, and Dylan, 9 – from the crime scene. Duncan allegedly held the children for weeks at a remote Montana campsite, molested both children and killed Dylan.

Federal authorities have not charged Duncan for those crimes. Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office previously said they would wait until the Kootenai County case wraps up.

Douglas said he doesn’t know when the federal case will be filed.

The two county commissioners reached for comment Monday are questioning Douglas’ insistence on seeking the death penalty.

“If we’re able to plead it to life without parole and let the federal system do their thing, I think the benefits to Kootenai County are great,” Commissioner Katie Brodie said Monday.

The case may cost $1 million or more, Brodie said. She also said she is concerned about the emotional toll.

“To me, it’s the idea we could spare a little girl going through what she’s going to have to go through at a time when her dad is sick,” Brodie said.

Shasta’s father, Steve Groene, was scheduled to have surgery to remove his vocal cords Monday. A spokesman at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle said Groene was in the recovery room Monday evening. His condition was not available.

Groene told The Spokesman-Review last week that Shasta was worried about having to testify and was having a hard time dealing with his illness.

Commissioner Rick Currie echoed Brodie’s concerns.

“Shasta has gone through what no individual should ever have to go through in their life,” Currie said. “You top that with the situation with her dad and his health. It’s all been heaped on her.

“If we could keep her from having to go through this again and relive this in a courtroom, I just think it would be the right thing to do,” he said.

Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday evening. But Adams previously broached the possibility of a plea agreement.

“If you want to have this case in the county for at least another 20 years, keep asking for death,” Adams said in February. “If you want to spend money on it for the next 20 years, keep asking for death. If you want Shasta Groene to have this case in her life for 20 years, keep asking for death.”

“If you want it all to go away, don’t ask for death,” he said.

Lee McKenzie Wood, mother of victim Mark McKenzie, said Douglas also had informed her that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty. But McKenzie Wood said she still supports Douglas in seeking the death penalty in Kootenai County.

“We’ve got to be sure he’s getting the death sentence,” she said Monday.

McKenzie Wood said she’s been told by prosecutors that Shasta will only have to take the stand for a few minutes – just long enough to identify Duncan. She said she’s confident the girl is ready to testify.

A closed hearing with Shasta is scheduled with 1st District Judge Fred Gibler just days before the trial starts. Under state law, it’s up to a judge to determine whether a child witness is competent to testify.