Video: Jury: Joseph Duncan eligible for death penalty

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BOISE - After deliberating for about two hours, jurors in Boise decided Friday that Joseph Edward Duncan III is eligible for the death penalty for the 2005 abduction, torture and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene.

Duncan reportedly appeared calm as the jury announced their unanimous decision. The jury, which includes eight men and four women, appeared secure in their decision.

Friday's decision was the eligibility phase of the sentencing trial. The second phase of the sentencing trial will begin next Monday, where jurors will decide whether to impose the death penalty. In that phase, prosecutors will present additional evidence and future danger of the defendant, and the defense can, but doesn't have to, offer mitigating evidence to weigh against the crime.

Another element that will also come into play in the second phase is "victim impact." Shasta Groene, 11, Dylan Groene's sister, may testify in person or in a taped interview. Officials have not yet ruled whether that will happen. Steve Groene, Dylan and Shasta's father, would also be allowed to testify if he chooses. He testified briefly earlier in the hearing to identify handwriting in letters his children wrote.

Joseph Duncan

According to the Spokesman Review in Spokane, Judge Edward Lodge cautioned the jurors they had to agree unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt on three items in order to find Duncan eligible for the death penalty:

1) That the defendant was at least 18 years old at the time of the crime (Duncan was 42).
2) That Duncan committed the crimes intentionally.
3) There is at least one statutory aggravating factor.

Those items had to be determined for each of the three capital counts to which Duncan pleaded guilty.

Duncan: I was 'on a rampage'

Closing arguments wrapped up Friday morning, with Duncan giving his longest, most shocking statement to the jury yet.

Duncan, who represented himself, told the courtroom he was "on a rampage" in the Spring of 2005, when he kidnapped Dylan and Shasta Groene from their North Idaho home. Duncan said he wasn't out to get just a child, his intention was to "kidnap, rape and kill until I was killed."

"I should actually thank the government for helping me get my eye for an eye by showing you the evidence that you've seen, the videos," Duncan said during his closing argument Friday.

Joseph Duncan listens to prosecutors' opening statements.

Duncan then admitted Dylan's murder was no accident. Duncan said, "I told SG [Shasta] it was an accident merely to gain her compliance."

Duncan went on to say, "This is not a confession. My confession was a long time ago. My argument essentially, your honor, is no argument."

Judge Edward Lodge then admonished Duncan and told him to consult with his stand-by counsel about the proper procedures for closing arguments.

After a brief recess, Duncan resumed his statement, admitting he had no intention of returning Dylan and Shasta Groene home. Duncan told jurors, " Everyone tends to lie to children" and that his lies are not a true indication of his character.

Duncan added, "You people really don't have any clue yet of the true heinousness of what I've done."

On Thursday prosecutors played three graphic videotapes of Duncan torturing Dylan Groene at a remote cabin Montana. Several jurors cried and others looked away while the videos were shown in court.

Steve Groene, Dylan and Shasta's father, objected to the videos being played, as did Duncan, who told Judge Lodge they "will turn jurors into my victims and I will be tried by a jury of my victims, not a jury of my peers." The judge overruled both their objections.

While specific details of the videos are too explicit to share, they show Duncan forcing Dylan Groene to perform sex acts and then whipping the boy with a belt. Duncan then hangs Dylan from the cabin's rafters with a wire noose until he passes out.

In the video, Duncan said at one point: "The Devil likes to watch children suffer and cry."

After Dylan regained conciousness, Duncan told him, "You're okay, God saved you."

Replied Dylan, "Every time I looked up there at you, I got really scared. It felt like I was in Heaven, but I'm not."

At the conclusion of the video Duncan told Dylan that he was going to take him to the hospital and notify authorities of Shasta Groene's whereabouts.

Duncan kidnapped Dylan Groene and his then-8-year-old sister, Shasta, in May 2005 after murdering their older brother, their mother and her fiance in the Coeur d'Alene area. The two young children were taken deep into the Lolo National Forest, where they endured weeks of horrendous abuse at Duncan's hands.

Duncan ultimately shot the boy point-blank in the head while his sister watched. He was arrested after returning to Coeur d'Alene, where a waitress recognized Shasta as the two ate at a Denny's restaurant.

Duncan, a convicted pedophile originally from Tacoma, Wash., has pleaded guilty to federal and state counts including murder. The federal jury is considering the death penalty on charges related to the kidnappings and Dylan's murder, but he also could face execution on state counts for the killing of the children's three family members.

In December, Duncan pleaded guilty to 10 federal counts in connection with the crimes against Dylan and Shasta. Three of those counts qualified him for the death penalty, the jury found -- kidnapping resulting in the death of a child, sexual exploitation of a child resulting in death and using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence resulting in death.

Duncan has a long string of arrests and convictions for crimes ranging from car theft to rape and molestation. He is suspected in the slayings of two half-sisters from Seattle in 1996 and is charged with killing a young boy in Riverside County, Calif., in 1997.

A witness testified for the prosecution on Thursday that Duncan had raped him at gunpoint in 1980, when the man was just 14 years old.