BOISE, Idaho, Aug. 27, 2008
Idaho Child Killer Gets Death Penalty
Joseph Edward Duncan III Sentenced For 2005 Kidnapping, Torture And Murder Of Boy
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Joseph Edward Duncan III, right, is shown during a hearing at the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department Justice building in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Oct. 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Kathy Plonka, Pool, File)
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Shasta Groene (left), 8, a few days after her rescue from the man police believe kidnapped her and her brother, Dylan (right), 9, at their Kootenai County, Idaho, home on May 15 or May 16 and killed him, their 13-year-old brother Slade, mother Brenda Groene, and Mark McKenzie, their mother's boyfriend. (AP/Kootenai County Sheriff)
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Joseph Edward Duncan III, of Fargo, N.D., who is charged with kidnapping, appears in this undated photo released by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. (AP)
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In this image made from security camera video provided by the owner of the convenience store, Shasta Groene and her alleged abductor, Joseph Edward Duncan III, are seen inside a convenience store Friday evening, July 1, 2005 in Kellogg, Idaho, hours before she was rescued. (AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Death Penalty Sought Prosecutors in Idaho say they plan to seek the death penalty for Joseph Duncan, who is accused of killing three people in an effort to abduct two children. Hattie Kauffman reports.
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Video Duncan Linked To '97 Murder There's a new charge against accused killer Joseph Duncan, who is currently under arrest for four murders and a kidnapping. Police say he may also be responsible for the 1997 murder of a little boy.
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Video Idaho Suspect In Court Joseph Duncan lowered his head and seemed to quiver as charges were read against him in court. Investigators are relying on the chilling testimony of 8-year-old Shasta Groene, John Blackstone reports.
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Interactive Out Of Sight: Missing Kids Get the facts on kidnappings, learn predator profiles and check out resources for locating missing children.
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Interactive Capital Punishment Learn about the death penalty in the United States. Check out statistics, history, famous trials and more.
The jurors' recommendation was binding on U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, who thanked them, dismissed them and then sentenced Joseph Edward Duncan III.
Relatives of the victim, Dylan Groene, remained somber as the jury's decision was announced. Duncan murdered Dylan's mother, older brother and his mother's fiance to kidnap him and his younger sister, who was sexually abused along with her brother but survived.
Duncan showed no reaction other than smiling as the verdict was passed to the judge.
He took Dylan and the boy's then-8-year-old sister, Shasta, to a remote western Montana campsite where he raped, tortured and threatened them before shooting Dylan in the head and burning his body. Jurors viewed horrifying video Duncan made of him sexually abusing, torturing and hanging Dylan until the boy lost consciousness.
"This defendant is dangerous. He is a predator who takes pride in his work," prosecutor Traci Whelan said. "He earned this day. His actions ... call out for the death penalty."
Duncan acted as his own attorney but had offered no response to prosecutors' closing argument.
"I have no argument," he told the court.
With an eye toward kidnapping the two children, Duncan stalked their family. In 2005 he entered their Coeur d'Alene-area home and used a hammer to fatally bludgeon their 13-year-old brother, Slade Groene, his mother, Brenda Groene, and her fiance, Mark McKenzie.
Duncan was arrested and Shasta rescued weeks after the kidnappings when a waitress at a Denny's in Coeur d'Alene called police after recognizing the two as they ate.
Duncan pleaded guilty in December to 10 federal charges involving the kidnappings and the murder of Dylan. He pleaded guilty to the other three murders in state court, where he also could be sentenced to death.
"I am so glad this is over. Justice has been served," said Darlene Torres, Brenda Groene's mother. "It's been very painful."
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She said that when she saw Duncan in court, "I seen nothing but an evil, empty, coldhearted shell."I seen nothing but an evil, empty, coldhearted shell.
Darlene Torres, Brenda Groene's motherIn closing arguments, Whelan reminded the jury of Duncan's lifelong "pattern of violence," including a conviction for raping a boy at gunpoint in 1980. Duncan has told investigators he killed two half-sisters from Seattle in 1996, and he is charged with killing a young boy in Riverside County, Calif., in 1997.
Duncan may now be brought to Riverside County to stand trial in the death of Anthony Martinez.
Whelan told the jury that Duncan would pose a risk even to prison guards and fellow inmates.
"This defendant uses the time that he has to think out these plans and he is dangerous," she said. "He is adaptable and he is dangerous."
The heinousness of the evidence in Dylan's murder made it particularly difficult for the jurors to remain impartial as they deliberate, said Art Patterson, a jury consultant and senior vice president of the trial consulting firm DecisionQuest.
"Generally, for human beings, it's pretty hard to maintain impartiality when confronted with such horror," Patterson said.
"How could any juror not want to see this person removed from our list of living human beings? How could you live with yourself as a juror if there's any chance this human being could escape from jail and do something like this again?" Patterson said.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 133 Comments
- Yep, they need to subtract that one from society ASAP.
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- in order for an execution to be complete, the executioner(s) becomes a murderer, kinda ironic if you think about it!
Duncan''''s behavior is so abhorrent that i whole heartedly agree there is no place in society for him.
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Posted by bks59 at 12:20 PM : Aug 28, 2008
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killing a person for sexual gratification is light years in difference compared to a person killing a person who committed a henious crime.
yes you are right..he has no room in society and I dont have money to spare to house,feed and medicate this garbage..
but if you are still running on morality..I would be the bad guy and volunteer to kill this human excrement and live with the guilt... - Reply to this comment
- allowing this man to live any longer than he should is a mockery of our judicial system.
TO ALLOW this piece of fecal matter to be spared, would had victimized NOT ONLY THOSE HE KILLED but society as well.
there is no reason for this man to live..there is no room in society for such madness. - Reply to this comment
- Carats100... you are right!!! CBS is slow in reporting their news. I went to http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,411942,00.html and they are saying they have evidence that Caylee Anthony is dead. They just need the mother to cooperate so they can locate the body.
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- He does look like an evil demonic piece of scum!
I wonder if he''ll be allowed to mingle w/ the other prisoners on his level or if he''s kept away ....hope those *** in there take care of his *** the right way!!!! - Reply to this comment
- Torquemada - the chief Inquisitor of Spain - should get to meet this guy. In general I am completely against the death penalty, but for this piece of filth I do think it would be appropriate.
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- Posted by FSW3 at 09:21 AM : Aug 28, 2008
Posted by DaVicar2 at 09:33 AM : Aug 28, 2008
Posted by FSW3 at 09:50 AM : Aug 28, 2008
Yes they are. There is much evil in this world, I don''t argue that. Joseph Duncan is the proof enough. So is Richard Cheney. Both are chaotically evil - in the grimmest Old Testament sense of the word. Nor do I dispute your analogy in your first post, or at least, not very much. There IS a connection and it is in the individuals'' personal values; values that permit them to commit rash and heinous acts for personal gain regardless of consequence.
But I take issue with your implied statement that all of us are cut from the same cloth as Cheney and Duncan. That proof is also very much evident; from C.P. Ellis, the ex-KKK wizard who eventually became a voice for racial justice in Durham, NC to the thousands of people from all political backgrounds toiling for a better environment to the hard-azzed cop in my home town who fed and clothed homless people on his own time and on his own dime...
No, I have to side with "daVicar2" on this one. A life already lived too long has convinced me that, in spite of the Duncans of this world, people are generally good and try to do right. - Reply to this comment
- Well there were more victims the two-half sisters and the other boy he killed.....
- Reply to this comment
- in order for an execution to be complete, the executioner(s) becomes a murderer, kinda ironic if you think about it!
Duncan''s behavior is so abhorrent that i whole heartedly agree there is no place in society for him. - Reply to this comment
- Wow, again ya''ll show your ignorance: read the article! Federal Court. Parents of these children? The mother and step-father were murdered by this demon! He didn''t have a lawyer, he represented himself. So... pay attention. And you know who you are.
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- God Bless the little ones he murdered...Stoak up the fires in hell for that ***.
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- Maybe history will one day repeat it''s self in the criminal justice aspect....
He plead guilty so now there''s no chance of an appeal!! I say give the family what they want JUSTICE! - Reply to this comment
- I sure wish we could be more thorough with executions. The best example that I can think of was the shooter who killed President McKinley in 1901. Within a few weeks, the shooter went to trial, was sentenced, and promptly electricuted. Funny thing about the burial. A grave was dug. His body was dropped in. A big container of acid was poured over him so that he basically was dissolved into the ground. Not sure what that solved, but it made it all more interesting.
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- Speaking of child killers...I have found that CBS is the slowest news outlet around. Why have they not reported about the Caylee Anthony case? It was discovered that there really WAS a dead body in the trunk.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,411942,00.html - Reply to this comment
- I am not a feminist and I don''t agree with what some women have done however; some men use their *** as a weapon against men/women/little girls and little boys!
I agree that is a women is caught for doing things with any child under the age of 18 then they deserve the maximum punishment no doubt! - Reply to this comment
- Dear Mr Duncan,you have opened are eyes to a criminal system that let you get away with this behavior long before you killed Dylan.It is now the duty of the American people to eliminate this type of behavior, in the future if you know of a Duncan type ,terminate em.
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- I don''t understand why this piece of sick, evil garbage was able to commit his last crime, based on all of his previous crimes . . . . . . He should have been doing life without parole long before now.
However I am extremely glad that justice will finally be served - thanks a million to the jury members who had the courage to do the right thing.
I think that everybody who hurts a child should be put to death, period, no exceptions. I don''t ever want my taxes to support animals like this. - Reply to this comment
- How many women have you read about in the new that have actually been caught raping/mudering children like this fool has??? I beg to differ on your opinion that she would be free on $200 bail. I don''t see why they would treat her any different. They crime was heinous and unnecessary like a bunch of other crimes. Were all luck this *** is off the streets.
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- Good morning everyone. I see that the "troll" is here posting his/her off the wall comments again.
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- This pediphile deserves the death penalty,and they should allow the parents of the children he did this horiffic crime,pull the trigger!He is not human he is pure evil,and should be destroyed with extreme predjudice,immediately.Not ten or fifteen yrs.,down the road either.NOW!
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