INDIO, Calif. — A judge has ruled that a man convicted of a deadly attack on an Idaho family in 2005 should stand trial in the 1997 slaying of a 10-year-old boy in Riverside County, Calif.
Joseph Edward Duncan III faces another death penalty if convicted of the murder of Anthony Martinez, who disappeared nearly 12 years ago as he played with his brother in an alley.
On Tuesday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge David B. Downing also ordered a court psychiatrist to meet with Duncan to determine if he’s competent enough to act as his own attorney.
Duncan, 45, was convicted in the 2005 slayings of four members of an Idaho family. He was given three death sentences and multiple life terms in separate state and federal court proceedings related to those crimes.
Defense attorneys had argued that Duncan should not be tried again in Riverside County because federal prosecutors used Anthony’s death in the previous case to argue that Duncan had a history of crime and violence. The defense filed a motion saying that trying Duncan in California would be double jeopardy.
Duncan, wearing an orange jail uniform and chains, sat through most of the 90-minute hearing with his head bowed and eyes closed.
The judge asked why he wanted to act as his own attorney after receiving death sentences while representing himself in Idaho.
“I think the reasons why I want to represent myself are complex and I’m not prepared to speak to those reasons now,” Duncan said.
Downing said Duncan was “clearly lucid, intelligent and well spoken” but wanted to hear from the psychiatrist before ruling whether he was competent.
“I don’t want to throw someone to the wolves,” the judge said.
In Idaho, Duncan was given three death sentences and three life terms in federal court in August 2008 for the 2005 kidnapping, sexual abuse and torture of 9-year-old Dylan Groene and his then-8-year-old sister Shasta, as well as Dylan’s murder.
Duncan also has been convicted and sentenced to six life terms in Idaho state for the bloody rampage at the children’s Coeur d’Alene home. After staking out the home, Duncan broke in and fatally bludgeoned the children’s older brother, Slade, 13, their mother, Brenda Groene, and her fiance, Mark McKenzie, before whisking the two younger children away to remote campsites in western Montana.
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