Killer enters new guilty plea, may get death

BOISE — A man who murdered the family of two young siblings, then sexually abused the children before killing one of them at a remote Montana campsite, pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges that could lead to his execution.

Joseph Edward Duncan III did not make a plea deal with prosecutors and earlier pleaded guilty to state charges. He told the judge he wants to take responsibility for his actions.

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

Duncan admitted kidnapping Shasta Groene, then 8, and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, sexually abusing them and killing the boy. Shasta was rescued about seven weeks after the 2005 abduction when people spotted Duncan and the child at a restaurant.

Duncan's guilty pleas to 10 federal felonies mean that Shasta Groene will be spared having to testify at a trial.

Duncan earlier pleaded guilty in 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.

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

Shasta was not in the courtroom Monday. She lives in Coeur d'Alene with her father, Steve Groene, in a home built for them through donations from the community.

While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual assault in most cases, the search for Shasta and her brother was heavily publicized and their names are widely known.

Court documents allege Duncan took Shasta and Dylan and drove into the mountains near St. Regis, Mont., where he sexually abused them for weeks before killing Dylan. Duncan has been quoted in court documents as saying he was trying to return Shasta to her father when he and the little girl were spotted in a Coeur d'Alene restaurant.

Duncan faces the death penalty on three of the federal 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.