Federal jury to decide child killer's fate

BOISE, Idaho — His guilt is beyond question, his crime beyond comprehension. The issue for the jury will be whether Joseph Edward Duncan III deserves to die for kidnapping two young siblings in a bloodbath at their home and whisking them away to the remote wilderness of western Montana, where he tortured and raped them, and then killed the 9-year-old boy.

Some 350 jury candidates are expected to show up at a convention center downtown on Monday, when attorneys will begin to winnow the pool down to the 12 jurors plus three alternates who will decide Duncan's fate.

Duncan pleaded guilty in December to 10 federal charges, three of which could bring the death penalty: kidnapping resulting in death, sexual exploitation of a child resulting in death, and using a firearm in a crime of violence resulting in death.

He had earlier pleaded guilty in state court to kidnapping and murdering three other members of the Groene family in May 2005. Brenda Groene, her fiance, Mark McKenzie, and her 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, were bound and bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has imposed extraordinary secrecy restrictions, including a gag order on all lawyers and court personnel, possibly hoping to avoid contaminating the jury pool as much as possible. Nearly half of the 375 documents filed in the case remain under seal.

Even so, finding 15 people who know little about the case — or about how the community has rallied around Shasta Groene, the sole survivor of Duncan's brutal spree —and can decide impartially is a tall order.

"That's the problem in a small, sparsely populated state like Idaho," said Stephanos Bibas, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a former federal prosecutor. "There's a huge fear of contaminating the jury because you just don't get many multiple murder-molestation cases there. So people have likely been hearing about this case endlessly."

Duncan was a convicted pedophile originally from Tacoma, Wash., when he saw Shasta, then 8, and her brother Dylan outside their home in the resort town of Coeur d'Alene. He stalked the family for days before attacking. He drove away with Shasta and Dylan.

For the next several weeks, Duncan sexually abused and tortured the children, in some cases videotaping the acts. He eventually shot Dylan with a sawed-off shotgun, leaving the boy's body at a campsite in the Lolo National Forest. Duncan brought Shasta back to Coeur d'Alene, where they stopped to eat at a Denny's restaurant around 2 a.m. on July 2, 2005. A waitress recognized Shasta and called police.