Joseph Duncan

BOISE – Convicted killer Joseph Duncan is competent enough to face death penalty proceedings for the murder of the North Idaho boy he abducted after slaying most of the 9-year-old’s family, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled Thursday. The ruling, in which Lodge said there’s “no bona fide doubt” about whether Duncan is mentally fit to proceed, clears the way for a hearing Monday on whether Duncan can act as his own attorney. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision gives the judge more latitude on that question, Lodge noted.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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."