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News >  Idaho

Defense wants open court for video

BOISE – Attorneys for Joseph Duncan argued Friday that the courtroom should remain open when prosecutors play graphic videotape evidence during his sentencing hearing, but that it should be closed if Shasta Groene testifies. The defense was responding to motions filed by The Spokesman-Review and other news organizations arguing that the First Amendment requires that key evidence in the death penalty sentencing proceedings must be presented in open court.
News >  Idaho

Duncan mentally fit for sentencing, judge rules

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.
News >  Idaho

Ruling could alter Duncan case

BOISE – A June U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the right of mentally ill defendants to represent themselves in court could affect the case of Joseph Duncan, who admitted killing four members of a North Idaho family. Although he has prominent capital defense lawyers assigned to represent him, Duncan told U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge in April that he wants to act as his own attorney, because, he said, “I don’t believe that they can ethically represent my ideology.”
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 >  Spokane

In brief: Judge delays Duncan case further

A decision on whether confessed killer Joseph Duncan should die for what he did to two North Idaho children was pushed back Tuesday when a federal judge ordered a second mental evaluation. Jury selection for the sentencing hearing was suspended last month after Duncan said he wants to act as his own attorney. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ordered a mental evaluation by a Boise clinical psychologist to confirm Duncan's competence. But now the judge wants further review. The judge may be contemplating sending Duncan to the federal Bureau of Prisons in Seattle, which does intensive mental evaluations that include a 30- to 45-day monitoring period.
News >  Spokane

Duncan’s psychiatric evaluation sealed

The public has no constitutional right to see the results of a mental evaluation of killer Joseph Duncan, a federal judge in Boise ruled Thursday. Duncan's right to a fair trial outweighs the public's right under the First Amendment, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge ruled before sealing the results.
News >  Spokane

Duncan’s exam results should be public, media argue

The public should be able to know results of the psychological exam that will help decide whether admitted murderer Joseph Duncan is competent to act as his own attorney in his sentencing hearing, lawyers for Idaho and Washington news organizations said Friday. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge should also unseal several documents that discuss why testimony from one of Duncan's victims, Shasta Groene, should be heard in a closed courtroom, a motion filed in federal court in Boise said.
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 >  Spokane

S-R, others file brief to keep trial open

The public should be able to "observe all matters" considered by a U.S. District Court jury that will decide if confessed killer Joseph Duncan should face the federal death penalty, 16 media and open-government organizations argued in a legal brief filed Tuesday. The organizations, including The Spokesman-Review and three Spokane television stations, urged U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge to keep his Boise courtroom open if kidnap victim Shasta Groene is called to testify or if the jury is shown a graphic videotape Duncan made as he tortured and killed her brother.
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.
News >  Spokane

Judge rules against Duncan

Jurors can consider incriminating statements convicted murderer Joseph Duncan made to FBI agents as they decide whether he should be executed for his crimes, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge on Thursday ruled that Duncan understood and waived his rights when he spoke to FBI agents at the Kootenai County Jail in July 2005 about crimes he committed against Dylan and Shasta Groene, as well as the murders of missing children in the Seattle area and Southern California.
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