http://www.kxly.com/Global/story.asp?S=8885572BOISE - A jury of 12 men and women have now heard from witnesses, seen the evidence, heard the closing arguments and are now deliberating whether or not Joseph Duncan should die for his crimes.
Their deliberations began after Joseph Duncan summoned all the rage he could muster and lashed out at prosecutors, the jury and the system itself.
The final day of testimony in the sentencing trial of Joseph Duncan got underway in Boise at 9 a.m. - 8 a.m. Spokane time - Friday morning with Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson delivering the federal government's closing argument in the case.
She outlined the aggravating factors that must be met for Duncan to be eligible for the death penalty and then walked the jury step-by-step through the state's case, showing them the aggravating factors in Duncan's writings, Shasta Groene's interviews, the physical evidence and the videos that Duncan filmed with him sexually abusing and physically assaulting Dylan Groene to near death.
As Olson presented the state's case Duncan showed little emotion. In the gallery Steve Groene was among those listening in on the closing arguments. In all Olson spent an hour-and-a-half laying out the state's case and showing that at every turn they had proven the aggravating factors needed for the jury to consider giving Duncan the death penalty.
Then, just as he has represented himself throughout the trial, Joseph Duncan stood to deliver his closing statement, with Judge Edward Lodge warning him not to testify but to only argue the evidence presented in the case.
Apologetic once again for being ill-prepared to address the court, Duncan then unleashed his fury on the jury.
"You people really don't have any clue yet of the true heinousness of what I've done," he said. "I was not searching for a child, but rather I was on a rampage."
His plan was to "rape and kill until I was killed, preferring death over capture" and that he had planned a variety of different scenarios including home invasion, attacking a daycare as well a parking lot hijacking. He confirmed that the GPS waypoints that pointed to a variety of homes and daycares that stretched from Arlee, Montana to here in Spokane were indeed targets he was considering.
"Revenge was certainly putting it lightly," Duncan said.
He wondered aloud to the court if rape, which started for him when he assaulted his first victim in 1980 when Duncan was just 16, was about sex. Duncan thought it was more about power and control.
Duncan then changed the record, which included his own previous statements, and said that Dylan's murder was not an accident and that he had lied to Shasta at the time to win her compliance.
"I was on a rampage, I hated myself, and I hated you," he told the jury.
"I knew the best way to hurt you was the way I was hurt ... an eye for an eye ... but the system didn't take my eye, it took my heart and my innocence, and I wanted to do the same to it."
Judge Lodge stopped Duncan at that point telling him that his closing argument was to argue the facts of the case, not to confess. The judge ordered a short recess so Duncan could confer with his standby legal counsel.
Fifteen minutes later Duncan returned, again apologizing for his lack of legal abilities, before continuing to vent his rage, picking up where he had left by saying that Shasta Groene had been told by Duncan he had accidentally shot Dylan. Duncan said the true story was the shotgun slaying of the 9-year-old boy, following brutal and systematic physical, sexual and emotional abuse, was intentional.
"Evidence consistently shows that I have been honest, that I have been forthcoming," Duncan said. "I think that's important to be considered."
Duncan says that at the time he had Dylan and Shasta Groene held hostage in the Lolo National Forest he had no intention of bringing them home, however, "for some reason that changed, and I think the evidence supports that also."
The convicted killer then turned his attention to the prosecutors saying that he should thank the government for helping him get his "eye for an eye."
"I should thank them, but I won't. Despite the heinousness of all my crimes, and the sickness, the insanity, the evidence shows clearly, that completely contrary to all my life experience, that something happened," Duncan said, adding that he was on trial in Boise not because he was caught but because Shasta Groene showed him the truth.
"This is not for my own salvation, but this is for yours and the hope of all of us together," Duncan concluded.
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