Duncan Attorneys Ask For Case To Be Thrown Out

SPOKANE — Joseph Duncan’s federal trial in Boise for kidnapping and murder charges is two months away but Monday his attorneys filed a request to have the judge throw out the entire case.

Two motions were filed by Duncan’s defense team Monday. In one motion, Duncan’s attorneys asked for statements Duncan made to officers the night Shasta Groene was found to be suppressed, saying officers did not read Duncan his Miranda Rights before questioning him.

Attorneys describe Duncan’s initial reaction as he was being booked, saying he alternated between crying, laughing and sitting stone-faced and that he made incriminating statements but had not been allowed to talk to an attorney and had not been read his rights.

In a second motion his attorneys asked for the entire indictment to be thrown out and that a jury trial be prohibited. The attorneys contend that the jury selection process used by the government is unfair because it requires potential jurors to fill out a questionnaire and that discriminates against jurors who can’t read or write.

These types of motion are not entirely unexpected so close to trial, though there’s no word yet on when a judge will hear and possibly rule on them.

Duncan is facing the death penalty if convicted in federal court of kidnapping Shasta and Dylan Groene and murdering Dylan in the summer of 2005.