SR.com Blogs | Eye on Boise

Time for a week off

It�s time for me to take a week off; I�ll return to work on Sept. 8th. I plan to do some windsurfing and mountain biking, spend time with family, clean my house and get some rest. I still hope to speak with jurors, perhaps after they�ve had some time to recover, to fill in the final puzzle piece of the very usual court case that�s just concluded. I�ll continue to follow developments in the case after I return, but I�ll also be shifting gears and turning back to what now seem much more tame subjects: Idaho politics and the fall election campaigns. ( Full post )

'Awaiting our turn to seek justice'

Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County District Attorney�s office, said California won�t be able to seek Joseph Duncan�s extradition until the judge has certified the death penalty, which can take 60 to 70 days, and there�s a formal disposition of all the federal and state charges against Duncan in Idaho. �The sooner the better, obviously, but we�re certainly one step closer to having our case heard here in Riverside County,� Wyatt said. ( Full post )

Duncan�s teacher: �Didn�t seem to have a friend in the world�

Joseph Duncan�s 10th grade biology teacher in Tacoma, Wash. has been writing to him, providing him with a religious article and telling him that he feels �very sorry for not only his victims but him as well.� �I told him that a lady who I thought was working for one of his attorneys had contacted me a year ago and told me that he was going to be on trial for the crimes and the prosecution would be asking for the death penalty,� the teacher, who asked that his name not be published, said in an email. �I told her that I didn�t remember him well, but his face jumped right out the minute she showed me his picture. I told her that I remember him as being rather shy, very quiet but very polite.� ( Full post )

'Ripped the soul out of community's sense of place'

"Before 2005, visitors knew Wolf Lodge Bay as a place to eat a famous steak, watch ospreys launch after fish in Lake Coeur d�Alene or find an easy campsite," S-R reporters Thomas Clouse and Jim Camden reported in today�s paper. "Now it�s known for the empty house where a killer and child rapist came searching for prey on May 16, 2005. Along with the sexual assaults and four murders, Joseph Edward Duncan III also ripped the soul out of the community�s sense of place." Here�s a link to their full story on the impact of Duncan�s crimes on the community; here�s a link to S-R reporter Bill Morlin�s report on what comes next for Duncan; and here�s a link to our full story on Wednesday�s events, complete with audio clips. ( Full post )

Duncan�s former stepmom: �I�d push the trigger�

S-R reporter Rich Roesler found few of Joseph Duncan�s relatives willing to comment yesterday as a federal jury in Idaho sentenced him to death, but a woman in Tacoma who was involved with Duncan�s father � the two share a son � and first met Duncan as a troubled teen said the jury made the right call. Here is Roesler�s report: ( Full post )

Jurors provided with counseling

Jurors who imposed the death penalty on Joseph Duncan have had counseling made available to them by the court, after the horrific things they�ve seen and heard in the course of the sentencing trial. The court confirmed that in a press release this morning, and also confirmed once again that jurors are free to talk with the press if they choose. They were informed of that before they left the courthouse yesterday, but then they boarded vans in the courthouse basement and were whisked out away from the assembled media. I�d very much like to talk with any jurors who are willing to talk. Please contact me through the Eye on Boise blog, or call my Boise office locally at 336-2854, or toll-free from outside the Boise area at (866) 336-2854. ( Full post )

Seven more charges still

Joseph Duncan still must appear again before Judge Lodge in Boise for sentencing on the other seven charges to which he�s pleaded guilty. Today, he was sentenced to death for each of the three capital crimes. For the other offenses, for kidnapping and molesting Dylan and Shasta, the judge set Duncan�s sentencing for Oct. 15 at 9:30 a.m. ( Full post )

Kootenai County closes its case

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas has issued a statement noting that under the plea agreement he reached with Joseph Duncan in the state case, his death sentence on federal charges now concludes the case there. If Duncan hadn�t gotten the death penalty in federal court, under the agreement, he�d have been returned to Kootenai County and a jury would have been convened there to consider the death penalty for the three murders he committed there � those of Brenda Matthews Groene, Mark McKenzie and Slade Groene. �Kootenai County gave up nothing in this plea agreement and kept the death penalty on the table in the event a federal jury did not impose the death penalty,� Douglas said in his statement. �The federal death sentence in Boise means that Kootenai County will stipulate to three consecutive life sentences for the murders. � These crimes have left deep scars, and it is my hope that today�s verdict will give some closure to Shasta, her family, and to our community.� ( Full post )

Tearful jurors to Groene: 'We're so sorry'

S-R reporter Meghann Cuniff saw the emotional scene in the elevator lobby of the federal courthouse, where tearful jurors shook the hand of Steven Groene, father of the victim, while he thanked the jurors. �You made the right decision � don�t ever think you didn�t,� Groene told the jurors. �My family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts.� He told them he was sorry they had to watch the graphic video of his son�s abuse. �I sure hope the government is offering you guys some counseling,� the father said. �I refused it for a long time, and when I eventually did it, it helped a lot.� Most of the jurors were in tears, Cuniff reported, as they, one after another, shook Groene�s hand, telling him over and over again how sorry they were for what happened to his son. ( Full post )

Steve Groene: 'It could've all ended'

Steve Groene, father of the murdered child, emerged from the courthouse and said, �I�d a given him the death penalty after the first day of witnesses.� Groene said, �I�ve told people in the past the only way there�ll be closure is if they let me kill this guy myself,� but he added, �That wouldn�t even do it.� Groene said, �I�m not really happy that another life is going to get taken now.� The whole thing could have ended, he said, with just one life � if Duncan had killed himself, as his journals show he debated doing, instead of going after innocent children. �It could�ve all ended with one life.� ( Full post )

U.S. Attorney: 'Jury gave voice to the victims'

U.S. Attorney Tom Moss, speaking outside the federal couthouse in Boise, said, "The jury speaks the mind of the community. I think by this verdict today they have given voice to the victims and the people who were injured by the circumstances in this case." ( Full post )

Gag order is lifted

Before closing down his courtroom, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge told the court that a sweeping gag order imposed on parties and witnesses to the case is no longer in effect. ( Full post )

Grandmother: �He will pay for what he�s done�

Darlene Torres, Dylan and Shasta�s grandmother, was the first relative to come out of the courtroom. She said, �I am so glad this is over. Justice has been served. It�s been a long three years.� She said when she looked at Duncan in the courtroom, �I see nothing but an evil, empty cold-hearted shell, that�s all I see.� ( Full post )

The verdict: Death

Joseph Duncan should die for his crimes, a jury of nine men and three women unanimously agreed today after three hours of deliberation. It�s a rare result � one reached only 61 times by federal juries since 1988, during which time juries chose life in prison without the possibility of parole twice as often, 121 times. Prosecutors, in their closing arguments, stressed that if ever a case was the right one for the death penalty, it was Duncan�s. ( Full post )

There's a verdict

The jury has reached a verdict, after three hours of deliberation, and the court will go back in session at 2:15 Boise time to hear it. ( Full post )

�He duped his friends � it was an act�

Whelan told the court in her closing argument that each time Duncan was let out of prison, he killed. When he was paroled and moved to Fargo, N.D., �he appeared to have changed,� she said. �It was an act. � He duped his friends, he told them he needed money for an attorney. � Instead he took advantage of their misplaced trust, and he used that money to finance his trip of terror across the country.� ( Full post )

Jurors have been through a lot in this case

The jury pool � 12 jurors and three alternates � dropped down from 15 to 14 yesterday, as one alternate juror, an elderly gentleman, was gone. Judge Edward Lodge said today that that alternate juror was �excused by the court for good cause.� He wasn�t there today, either. The court hasn�t commented on whether jurors will be offered counseling after what they�ve seen and heard in this case. ( Full post )

Prosecutor: �Death is the appropriate punishment�

In her closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan told the court, �Death is the appropriate punishment in this case � death is the sentence that this defendant has earned, and it is the sentence that is consistent with the law.� A death sentence is not sought lightly, she said. But she went through Duncan�s crimes and his victims, and said, �This defendant is dangerous to all types of people.� Whelan said some might wonder how Duncan could be dangerous if he�s incarcerated for the rest of his life with no possibility of parole, but she said, �This defendant has a history that is so littered with violence. � This defendant is resourceful enough that he may commit additional acts of violence even in a prison. � As a society, we do not check our decency at the prison gate.� ( Full post )

Shasta's words fill courtroom again

During the prosecution�s closing statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan illustrated some of her points by playing snippets of audio of Shasta Groene�s statements to police just after her rescue from Duncan in 2005. In one, Shasta, just outside the Denny�s restaurant where she was rescued, tearfully told a Coeur d�Alene police officer that her brother was dead, and described his murder. �You saw all that?� the officer said. Shasta, crying, said, �And then we burnt his body,� and she broke into sobs. ( Full post )

'Time to close the book on these horrific crimes'

Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan moved at least one juror to tears with her closing statement, in which she went through the entire case, with the beam from the cabin, wire noose dangling, once again wheeled into the courtroom and displayed to jurors. �It is time to close the book on these horrific crimes,� Whelan told the court. �He chose to commit these crimes, he reveled in these crimes, and he was proud of how smart he was to beat the system.� ( Full post )