COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Joseph E. Duncan III, accused of killing three members of an Idaho family so he could kidnap a young brother and sister for sex, pleaded guilty Monday to murder and kidnapping in a deal that calls for him to receive three consecutive life terms without parole, but leaves open a possible death sentence.
Sentencing on the three counts of first-degree murder was withheld until after Duncan's federal trial, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said. If the federal trial does not produce a death sentence, Duncan could be brought back for a death penalty hearing in state court, Douglas said.
The deal means that 9-year-old kidnap victim Shasta Groene will not have testify in state court against Duncan, but calls for maximum penalties against the registered sex offender whose crimes shocked the region last year.
Duncan pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree kidnapping in the slayings by hammer blows of Shasta's mother, Brenda Groene; 13-year-old brother Slade Groene; and Brenda Groene's boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, in May 2005 at their home outside of Coeur d'Alene.
The brief hearing before 1st District Judge Fred Gibler was attended by relatives of Shasta and other victims.
"It was like sitting in the same room with the devil," said Darlene Torres, Shasta's grandmother and Brenda Groene's mother.
"We essentially gave up nothing," said Douglas, who came under intense public pressure for rejecting a different plea deal last week. "We felt all along that the death penalty was non-negotiable."
Federal prosecutors have said they intend to charge Duncan, 43, with kidnapping Shasta and her brother Dylan from their rural home and with the killing of 9-year-old Dylan at a campsite in Montana. Duncan was on the run from a child molestation charge in Minnesota when the attacks took place.
A federal grand jury could be enpaneled on the case this week.
Shasta was rescued when she and Duncan walked into a Denny's restaurant here on July 2, 2005.
Duncan declined to make a statement at the hearing. "I have nothing to say," he told Gibler.
Steve Groene, father of Shasta and the two slain boys, is unable to speak because of recent throat cancer surgery. He wrote a message on a board that said "We feel this is the best possible outcome."
Other family members also expressed satisfaction.
"I am so glad my granddaughter does not have to testify," Torres said.
Public defender John Adams, who had hoped to spare his client the death penalty, said the deal was the best they could get.
"He's accepting of it," Adams said of Duncan.
Adams said Duncan approved the agreement because he felt the community "especially Steve and Shasta Groene, have been through enough and he didn't want them to go through anymore."
The agreement slightly changes a plea deal Duncan's lawyers offered last week in that it keeps the death penalty option in Idaho, should a federal jury not opt for capital punishment, Douglas said.
Under the agreement, Duncan is to cooperate fully with law enforcement officers on the state charges and the anticipated federal counts. Duncan will also provide the key to unlocking coded files in his computer that could present additional evidence in the case.