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…
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,”…
U.S. Attorney Tom Moss, speaking outside the federal courthouse 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."Moss…
Darlene Torres, Dylan and Shasta’s grandmother, was the first relative to come out of the courthouse. 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,…
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.
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…
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…
U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has just finished reading a half-hour’s worth of instructions to the jurors; closing arguments are up next. “You are called upon to make a reasoned, moral judgment,” the judge told the jurors. “Use your experience, judgment and sense of justice.”…
With heartfelt testimony from the father of murdered Dylan Groene, prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday in the federal death penalty sentencing trial for admitted killer Joseph Duncan, and U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge set closing arguments for 9 a.m. today, Boise time, after which…
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