Posted on 04/15/2008 9:56:18 AM PDT by Domandred
A group of 325 potential jurors - some from as far away as Hailey and Twin Falls - filled a room Monday in the Boise Centre on The Grove and got a glimpse of the man whose fate will be decided by a dozen Idahoans.
Federal court officials commandeered the convention center to find 12 people and three alternates who can do a fair job of deciding whether confessed killer Joseph Duncan III should be executed for kidnapping two Coeur d'Alene children and killing one of them - a nine-year-old boy.
Duncan sat unshackled and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit as U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge read the charges against him.
With shoulder-length hair and a mustache and beard, Duncan appeared at ease with his attorneys. He spoke quietly to them and alternated between looking at the jury pool in front of him and reading court documents from the defense table.
Before his arrival, the potential jurors sat in a large auditorium and spoke quietly. When Duncan arrived, the crowd silenced and stayed that way until Lodge was done addressing them.
The jury prospects from 16 counties in Southwest and Central Idaho filled out a questionnaire that will be used by lawyers on both sides to help whittle down the pool.
While it is not uncommon for residents from other counties to be called to Boise to serve as jurors in federal trials, this pool is the biggest for a federal criminal case in recent memory, court officials say. The group met at The Grove because there is not enough room at the U.S. Courthouse on Fort Street.
(Excerpt) Read more at idahostatesman.com ...
There is no possibility for mistake here...no possible chance for erroring as to whether he did these horific crimes or not. And they were horrific beyond imagination.
Let's hope. I often need to drive past the house he watched, eventually killing people there as he took the kids. It still makes the hair stand up on my neck. I hope someday the house is gone and wild flowers grow in its place.
When he dies, I will take no more joy nor exhibit any more emotion than seeing a house fly swatted.
I'm not sure what could possibly have any relevance in mitigating the premeditated murder of a child. What positive character attribute would be relevant? What background event would convince a juror that the world is a better place with such a person living? What part of a murderer's mental state would make this killing less horrendous? If he understood that what he did was wrong, what other part of his mental state could be worth considering?
I'm just grateful that this guy is white, as far as I know. If there is ever a time for the death penalty, this crime qualifies, and at least we don't have the distraction of race that some would claim was the "real" reason for the execution.
Joseph Duncan III...one of the faces of evil.
This man is very good example of why the death penalty needs to used on serial rapists instead of parole.
He was paroled years ago in my state....and went on to rape and kill again. He admitted to several more attacks until his lawyer got access to him by police stopped.
I wouldn’t mind if he were kept locked up for the rest of his miserable life, but as long as there is the possibility of being paroled, he is a danger to the everyone.
This man is very good example of why the death penalty needs to used on serial rapists instead of parole.
He was paroled years ago in my state....and went on to rape and kill again. He admitted to several more attacks until his lawyer got access to him by police stopped.
I wouldn’t mind if he were kept locked up for the rest of his miserable life, but as long as there is the possibility of being paroled, he is a danger to the everyone.
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