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COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- The man accused of kidnapping two children from their Idaho home and killing their family pleaded guilty Monday to murder and kidnapping in a deal that spares his youngest victim from testifying at trial.
Joseph E. Duncan III, 43, was charged with bludgeoning two adults and a teenager to death at the home near Coeur d'Alene so he could kidnap the family's two youngest children for sex.
The young boy was later found dead at a Montana campsite.
Only 9-year-old Shasta Groene survived. She was rescued after Duncan walked into a Idaho restaurant with her seven weeks later. She had been expected to be a primary witness against Duncan.
Duncan pleaded guilty shortly before his trial was to begin Monday to three counts of first-degree murder in the deadly claw hammer attack on Shasta's mother, Brenda Groene; Groene's fiance, Mark McKenzie; and Groene's 13-year-old son, Slade, in May 2005.
Under his plea agreement, Duncan is to be sentenced to three consecutive life terms without parole in Idaho.
That sentencing was delayed pending federal prosecution that could result in the death penalty, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said.
"We essentially gave up nothing," Douglas said. "It is virtually guaranteed he will face two death juries."
The agreement calls for Duncan to cooperate fully with law enforcement officers on the state charges and the anticipated federal charges in the kidnapping of the two children and the killing of Dylan in Montana.
Police believe it was the children in their swimsuits that caught Duncan's attention, triggering a spree of savage murder, kidnapping and child rape.
The registered sex offender, on the run from a child molestation charge in Minnesota, drove past the rural home where Shasta, then 8, and Dylan, 9, were frolicking in May 2005, investigators say.
According to court records, Duncan stalked the Groene family for several days to learn their habits. Then he donned night-vision goggles and entered their home in the early morning of May 16.
The court records say Duncan molested the children for seven weeks at a primitive campsite near St. Regis, Montana, possibly capturing some of his actions on the digital video and still cameras he carried. At some point Dylan was killed.
Duncan then drove with Shasta back to Coeur d'Alene, stopping at a Denny's along Interstate 90 around 2 a.m. on July 2, 2005. Staff and customers recognized the girl from the many photos plastered throughout the region and called police.
Duncan told arresting officers he was returning the girl to her father.
A pool of some 800 local residents had been called in an effort to find a jury that can give him a fair trial.
However, sentiment in this conservative region runs strongly against Duncan, who spent most of his adult life in prison for molesting children. Bumper stickers saying "Kill Duncan" abound.
Prosecutor Douglas rejected Duncan's earlier offers to confess to the crimes he is charged with -- plus other crimes for which he is not yet charged -- in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
Federal public defender Roger Peven, who will represent Duncan in the federal court case, says the defendant also wanted to spare Shasta the trauma of having to testify against him in court.
"It's the right thing to do," Peven said last week.
Shasta is under additional stress because her father, Steve, is battling throat cancer, which has required the removal of his larynx. Steve Groene asked prosecutors to settle the case to spare his daughter.
The earlier plea bargain request included an offer to give investigators access to encrypted files in Duncan's computer, which are thought to contain graphic evidence of his crimes.
Experts have yet to unlock the files and Duncan, a computer expert, has bragged that the encryption protection he used is so strong that it will take authorities three decades to crack it.
Since his arrest, Duncan has also been implicated in the unsolved deaths of two children in Seattle and one in Southern California.
| Plea spares girl, 9, from testifying against captor | Log-in or register a new user account | 0 Comments |
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