Death case suspect wins 6-months trial delay
Lawyers for accused triple murderer and sexual predator Joseph Edward Duncan won their plea (Thursday) to delay the trial date, giving them time to wade through reams of evidence, and possibly, to avoid a long, expensive trial and a cumbersome appeals process altogether.
Public Defender John Adams also made a pitch for a plea-bargained sentence for Duncan, accused of murdering three people in their Coeur d’ Alene home and abducting two young children, Shasta and Dylan Groene.
He said life in prison without parole is much quicker, cheaper and less emotional for the families of the victims:
“If you wanna, you know, have this case in your community for the next 20 years, keep asking for death; if you wanna spend money on it for the next 20 years, keep asking for death; if you want it in Shasta’s life for the next 20 years, keep asking for death: If you want it to all go away, don’t ask for death.”
Adams refused to say directly if he’s talked with prosecutors about striking a plea deal, but he hinted broadly at it:
“There’s always that possibility, isn’t there? I mean, everybody wants to spare the McKenzie family, Brenda’s family, the Groene family of having to go through this, and if a plea is the way to do it, why not?”
Prosecutor Bill Douglas, however, gave that idea short shrift:
“We made our intentions (known) early on, that there would be no negotiations in this case and none forthcoming.”
Douglas had argued that the April trial date had been scheduled last December, and that any delay would add to the emotional burden of 9-year old Shasta Groene and family members of the murder victims.
Judge Fred Gibler, after hearing nearly two hours of testimony behind closed doors, set the trial date back to October 16, citing the threat of a reversal by an appellate court on the grounds of insufficient time to prepare a defense.
Gibler must also rule on a motion to move the trial out of Kootenai County, probably by sometime next summer.