Tuesday, November 29, 2005

ONGOING COVERAGE: GROENE INVESTIGATION

Duncan's lawyers get 3 extra months

Public defender says office needs time to sort evidence

Taryn Brodwater
Staff writer
November 24, 2005

Joseph Edward Duncan's attorneys have been given three more months to prepare a defense for the suspected murderer.

Public defender John Adams said his office needed more time to sort through the evidence in the case, which includes 17,000 pages; 125 CDs, DVDs and cassettes; and a 200 gigabyte hard drive.

First District Judge Fred Gibler agreed Wednesday and reset the trial to begin April 4.

"The volume of material that the defense has to digest sounds like it is of great magnitude," Gibler said. "The defendant has a right to be able to prepare for the trial, including necessary time to review evidence that will be used against him."

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The trial was originally set to begin Jan. 17. That day is now the deadline for both sides to submit pretrial motions.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas objected to the motion, saying that the families of the victims in the case wanted closure and that more than 40 witnesses had already been subpoenaed for the January trial date.

Gibler said he sympathized with the victims' families. As for Douglas objecting on the basis that witnesses had already been subpoenaed, Gibler said the court often changes hearing dates on even less notice.

Following Wednesday's brief hearing, held at the Kootenai County Jail, Adams said he was pleased with the judge's ruling. Duncan waived his right to attend the hearing.

Adams said it was too early to say whether his office would request a change of venue in the case.

Duncan, 42, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping for the May bludgeoning deaths of Brenda Groene, her son, 13-year-old Slade Groene, and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie.

Federal charges are pending for the kidnapping of Brenda Groene's youngest children, 8-year-old Shasta Groene and 9-year-old Dylan Groene, and for Dylan's subsequent murder. The Idaho U.S. Attorney's Office has said that Duncan could be facing several felony charges related to the crimes, including production of child pornography.

Coeur d'Alene FBI Supervisor Donald Robinson said Wednesday that the investigation in the cases against Duncan are ongoing. Authorities are working to piece together a timeline of Duncan's whereabouts and activities, he said.

"Ideally, if we could account for his activities every day he was out of custody, we'd like to do that," Robinson said.