Duncan pleads guilty to 10 felonies for abductions, slaying

BOISE, Idaho — Joseph Edward Duncan III, charged with kidnapping two north Idaho children in 2005 and killing one of them, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to 10 felonies.

The registered sex offender faces a possible death penalty for the crime, and the sentencing phase of his court case is expected to start Jan. 28.

Duncan told U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge that he wants to take responsibility for his actions.

"I will continue to accept that responsibility to the death," he said.

Duncan did not make a plea deal with prosecutors. He faces a possible death penalty on three of the felonies: kidnapping resulting in death, sexual exploitation of a child resulting in death, and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death.

He also pleaded guilty to kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor, being a felon in possession of a firearm, transportation of a stolen firearm, possession of an unregistered firearm, and transportation of a stolen vehicle.

Duncan's plea means that young Shasta Groene, the only survivor of the attack, will be spared the trauma of testifying at his trial. It was not clear if she will be expected to give a victim impact statement for a federal sentencing jury.

In his plea Monday, Duncan admitted kidnapping Shasta, then 8, and her 9-year-old brother Dylan Groene from their Coeur d'Alene home in 2005, sexually abusing them and later killing Dylan at a remote Montana campsite. Shasta was rescued about seven weeks after the abduction after people spotted Duncan and the child at a Coeur d'Alene restaurant.

Duncan earlier pleaded guilty in Idaho state court to kidnapping and murdering other members of the Groene family at their home in May 2005. Shasta and Dylan's mother, Brenda Groene; her fiance, Mark McKenzie; and her 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, were bound and bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Prosecutors alleged Duncan killed the three so he could kidnap the younger children for sex.

Duncan was sentenced to life in prison without parole for kidnapping the three older victims. But the state judge deferred imposing punishment on the murder counts to give federal prosecutors time to pursue their case, which is centered on events in Montana after the children were abducted.