COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Joseph E. Duncan III, accused of killing three members of an Idaho family so he could abduct two children for sex, pleaded guilty Monday to murder and kidnapping in an extraordinary deal that leaves him still eligible for a death penalty.
He was immediately sentenced in 1st District Court to three consecutive terms of life in prison without parole for the kidnapping charges. But sentencing on the three counts of first-degree murder was withheld until Duncan’s upcoming federal trial, Kootenai County prosecutor Bill Douglas said.
If the federal trial does not produce a death sentence, Duncan will be brought back for a death penalty hearing in state court, Douglas said.
The deal means that abduction victim Shasta Groene, the sole survivor of the carnage at her rural home last year, will not have to face Duncan in court. Duncan’s lawyers said afterward that he made the plea agreement, which gives prosecutors two cracks at winning a death sentence, to spare the little girl the ordeal of testifying.
Public defender John Adams said Duncan felt that the community and victims, especially Shasta and her father, Steve Groene, “have been through enough and he didn’t want them to go through any more.”
Douglas said the girl’s ability to testify against a man who allegedly held her captive in the woods for seven weeks, molested her and allegedly killed her brother Dylan was key to securing the deal.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Haws in Boise said his office was surprised by the quick resolution of the state case, but he could not say when federal charges would be filed. Federal prosecutors have already said they will seek the death penalty.
The federal case would likely concentrate on events that occurred in Montana after Shasta, then 8, and her 9-year-old brother Dylan were abducted. Court documents allege Duncan repeatedly molested the children and then killed Dylan.
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