Joseph Duncan Must Die says Jury

Joseph Edward Duncan III, 45, was sentenced to death by a jury in Boise, Idaho for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old boy, Dylan Groene.

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"We're happy with the verdict, but it's a shame — this should have been limited to one death," said Steven Groene, the father of the children. "He should have had the courage and the guts to kill himself before killing anyone else."

In his closing arguments the prosecutor reminded the jury of the many crimes committed by Duncan and summed up by saying:

"This defendant is dangerous. He is a predator who takes pride in his work," prosecutor Traci Whelan said. "He earned this day. His actions ... call out for the death penalty."

The heinousness of the evidence in Dylan's murder made it particularly difficult for the jurors to remain impartial as they deliberate, said Art Patterson, a jury consultant and senior vice president of the trial consulting firm DecisionQuest.

"Generally, for human beings, it's pretty hard to maintain impartiality when confronted with such horror," Patterson said.

"How could any juror not want to see this person removed from our list of living human beings? How could you live with yourself as a juror if there's any chance this human being could escape from jail and do something like this again?" Patterson said.

After 3 hours of deliberation, the jury agreed with the prosecutor and returned a unanimous verdict of death.

"The jury speaks the mind of the community," U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said. "By the verdict today, they have given voice to the victims."

Joseph Duncan had a long history as a violent sexual predator. He had spent time in prison for the gunpoint rape of a young boy in the 1980's. He gained national notoriety, and spot on the FBI's most wanted list, for his involvement in the kidnappings and murders that eventually lead to his death sentence. He was also featured on the TV program America's Most Wanted.

Duncan kidnapped Dylan Groene and his sister Shasta from their home, after brutally murdering their mother Brenda Groene, her boyfriend Mark McKenzie and their older brother Slade Groene. He had tied them up and mercilessly bludgeoned all three of them to death with a hammer. He took the two children and for the next 6 weeks repeatedly raped and sexually molested both of them in various campgrounds before shooting Dylan in the head and burning his body in front of his sister. Duncan was so perverted that he made a videotape.

At his trial jurors viewed horrifying video Duncan made of him sexually abusing, torturing and hanging Dylan until the boy lost consciousness.

Duncan was arrested and Shasta rescued weeks after the kidnappings when a waitress at a Denny's in Coeur d'Alene called police after recognizing the two as they ate. He pleaded guilty in December to 10 federal charges involving the kidnappings and the murder of Dylan. He pleaded guilty to the other three murders in state court, where he also could be sentenced to death.

With multiple murder convictions and a death sentence hanging over his head, the law is not yet finished with Joseph Edward Duncan III. Prosecutors in Riverside County, California say they know of Duncan's murderous past. Duncan is charged in the 1997 murder of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez, and they are still waiting to put Duncan on trial.

Duncan is suspected of abducting Martinez at knife-point from his front yard. Fifteen days later, Martinez was found dead. At the time of Martinez's murder, Duncan was wanted for violating his parole in Washington, as he failed a drug test and fled the state. Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco said he's glad juries in Idaho are holding Duncan accountable, but now it's time for him to face justice in California. Despite the potential cost of a death penalty case, Pacheco says the Martinez family deserves to see Duncan tried.

"It's not something where you go, well, you can wait a couple years. We can't wait," Pacheco says. "We need him today. I understand Idaho needs to finish their stuff, but we need him as soon as possible. I can't wait."

For complete coverage of the Joseph Duncan case see KXLY.COM and also True Crime Report.Com.

Guards Guilty in Teen Jail Rape Case

It was a snowy day on Feb. 13, 2003. School at Pendleton County High School was canceled that day. An 18-year-old teen borrowed his Dad's car to visit a friend. On his way home he was arrested for speeding and fleeing from the cops. Little did he know at the time, but before he would see his family again he would be assaulted, raped and forced to perform sexual acts on prison inmates.

Two prison guards, Jack Powell and Clinton Sydnor, pleaded guilty in the case. Two other guards, Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman, stood trial....and were found guilty. They both face the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison when they face the judge again on Dec. 8.

The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about five hours Thursday, Aug. 14th before announcing their verdict. Wesley Lanham, 30, of Dry Ridge, and Shawn Freeman, 35, of Irvine, were found guilty of conspiring to violate the teen's civil rights by allowing other inmates to sexually assault him in the 2003 attack. They were also found guilty of obstruction of justice because the jury also found there was aggravated sexual abuse.

"I just want to go home," Freeman cried as about 12 family members and friends of the defendants wept in the courtroom following the verdict.

"We will appeal. You can quote me on that," Lanham's attorney, Dan Dickerson, said.

The convictions are a result of a five-year investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which concluded that the jail was violating inmates' civil rights. The case was prosecuted by Forrest Christian and Kristy Parker of Washington, D.C. The presiding judge was U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves.

The teen's ordeal began when the guards at the jail where he was being booked on the traffic violation decided to teach him a lesson. He was of slim build weighing only about 120 lbs. They made fun of the blond highlights in his hair, they made fun of his satin boxers, they told him he would make a good "girlfriend" for some of the inmates. Instead of putting him a holding cell, as was customary in such situations, he was put in a cell with 14 convicts.

The victim, now 23, graphically described being stripped, hit with jail-issued flip-flops, raped in a shower and then paraded around half-naked. He said the attacks ended only when he bit an assailant. He told the jurors that he thought the risk of being killed was better than continuing to be sexually molested.

"I was thinking, 'Oh, God, here it goes,' " the teen said. "I'm going to die tonight."

Upon learning about the rape assistant jailer Greg Wells, told the youth that he could take care of the molesters for a pack of cigarettes. "That wouldn't be enough," the teen recalled saying to him. All the teen said he asked for was medical treatment from the jail's nurse. His request wasn't granted.

"I told the nurse everything that happened, and I wanted to be checked for any kind of diseases, you know, any cuts or bruises or anything, and she didn't, she didn't do anything."

The jail’s former nurse, Sandra Cook, testified that her attempt to get the teen medical treatment for the assault was stopped by former Assistant Jailer Greg Wells. She said she called the FBI to report the jail staff’s actions when Wells said he would take care of the teen but instead just released him. Greg Wells, was never charged with a crime. It wasn't until the teen was released that he was able to get to a hospital.

In September 2005, the victim settled a lawsuit he filed against Grant County for $1.4 million.

Trial Starts in Teen Jail Rape Case

This story began on Feb.14, 2003 (Valentine's Day). An unidentified 18-year-old boy was caught and arrested after trying to flee from a state trooper. The teen was clocked doing 35 mph over the speed limit on a narrow, two-lane road (U.S. 27 in Pendleton County, Ky). He was taken to the Grant County Detention Center to be booked on traffic violations.

While being processed at the jail a number of guards began to tease the teen about his appearance. He was about 5' 10" and weighed 125lbs. They said he would make a "good girlfriend" for inmates locked up in Cell 101, part of a 300-bed facility housing some very dangerous inmates, located in a far flung corner of the jail. Jail protocol called for the teen to be locked up in a holding cell just off the booking room.

However, the shift supervisor, Clinton Shawn Sydnor, 29 of Falmouth, decided that the teen needed to be scared and taught a lesson so he ordered two of the guards, Wesley Lanham, 30, of Dry Ridge and Shawn Freeman, 35, of Irvine, to tell the group of 14 inmates in Cell 101 to expect some fresh meat.

As the teen was being escorted to the cell in the 300-bed jail, inmates screamed, "He's such a cutie" and "Bring him to me." As Sydnor pushed the scared teen youth into the cell yet another inmate yelled "Happy Valentine's Day."

In civil litigation, the teen says he was carried overhead by a mob of inmates and led to the showers.

The teen was stripped naked, beaten with jail slippers, forced to perform sexual acts and raped. The brutal attack was carried out right through the night with multiple inmates participating in raping the youth.

"This is a case of a 10th-grader's worst nightmare," said Federal Civil Rights prosecutor Forrest Christian.

After the victim told his father he was raped, Sydnor began organizing a cover up, according to court papers. He lied to investigators when he said the victim was locked up with felons because the floor drain was clogged in the drunk tank. He also fabricated shift logs to make it appear guards under his watch were checking on the victim’s welfare but victim wasn’t let out of the cell until the first shift came on duty the next morning. He also threatened a female guard who was considering telling the truth.

All three former guards are facing federal charges of conspiracy, violating civil rights, falsifying records and aiding and abetting. Sydnor is additionally charged with one count of witness tampering. All three guards were fired shortly after the rape. In addition Deputy Jailer Jack Powell of Covington, Ky., was charged with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation into a civil rights offense. Both Jack Powell and Clinton Sydnor have both pleaded guilty.

Powell pleaded guilty to conspiring with Clinton Shawn Sydnor to obstruct the investigation. He acknowledged signing a typewritten statement that contained both a false justification for the placement of the pre-trial detainee in a general population cell and false statements concerning the completion of cell checks by GCDC personnel. Powell agreed to testify against Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman.

Sydnor admitted in court that he conspired with the other officers and with the inmates to violate the teenager’s civil rights, that he knew the teen faced a threat from the other inmates, and that he deliberately ignored that danger. Sydnor also admitted that he had other officers falsify reports relating to the incident. He also agreed to testify against Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman. Sydnor faces a possible sentence of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 8, 2008.

A state grand jury sitting in Grant County declined to indict any guard on duty the night of the attack or the elected jailer, a retired state trooper formerly assigned to the post that investigated the assault.

The trials of Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman are now underway with their lawyers claiming that they are scapegoats. Lanham's attorney, Dan Dickerson, said his client "denies any criminal involvement in this incident and expects to be completely exonerated."

Freeman’s attorney, Randy Blankenship, said the men on trial are not the culpable ones, adding they didn’t lock the teen in the cell with the convicts. That was done by the sergeant on duty, Clinton Shawn Sydnor. Blankenship said the jail provided little training to Freeman when he was hired a few months before the attack. Freeman is now a firefighter and emergency medical technician living in Erlanger.

He is a man who saves lives, not harms them, Blankenship said.

Freeman wasn’t even at the jail when the attack happened, Blankenship said. He was driving home a female guard who had a seizure at the jail. The woman’s seizure was brought on by the stress of knowing what the convicts were doing to the teen, the prosecutor said. Yet when a trooper showed up to investigate, the woman didn’t immediately come forward with what she knew because the trooper was a friend of the jailers’, Christian said, and she figured there would be a coverup. If convicted, the defendants Lanham and Freeman face maximum sentences of life imprisonment and fines of $250,000.

The teen survived the ordeal and reached a $1.4 million settlement with the county in 2005. The traffic violations against the teen were ultimately dropped. A total of three inmates were also convicted in the sexual assault.

The victim, who is now 23, leads a very non-social life, said lawyer Don Nageleisen, who sued the jail on behalf of the teen. "It is a day-by-day thing for him," he said. "He stays to himself. He doesn't go out in public."

Elisabeth Fritzl Kicks Mom Out

Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, has had a terrible life. Raped by her father, Josef Fritzl, 73, since age 11 and incarcerated by him for 24 years. She bore her father 7 children, six of whom are still alive, while being held captive in a dungeon cellar. For a detailed look at the abuse Elisabeth suffered at the hands of her father click here for The Josef Fritzl story.

It now appears that a rift has opened up between her mother, Rosemarie Fritzl, 69, and herself. According to reports, Elisabeth has asked her mother to leave their home. She, Elisabeth, appears to have mixed feelings about her mother:

She is said to find it hard to understand why her mother stayed with her father even though he was a convicted rapist who spent time in jail in the 1960’s.

She also has a hard time understanding why her mother did not stand up to her father, who began raping her when she was only 11 years old. She finds it hard to believe that her mother knew nothing at all about the abuse. Also, when Josef told his wife that Elisabeth had run away from home, she wonders why her mother did not do more to try and find her, especially when Josef produced three of her children who were supposedly left on her doorstep.

Elisabeth is also upset that the three children who grew up with her mother are still calling Rosemarie "Mom" and not "Grandmother". The children: Lisa, 16, Monika, 14, and Alexander, 12, were all raised by Josef and Rosemarie in their home, while the other children: Kerstin, 19, Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5, were forced to live in the cellar with Elisabeth.

In the meantime, Rosemarie Fritzl was seen collecting some personal items from her old house. Christoph Herbst, the lawyer for the Fritzl family, said: "No-one from that family will ever want to live in that house again." It is believed that she has moved in with one of her relatives, possibly one of her own sons. Rosemarie is said to be "shattered" that she had to leave her family. Doctors fear she could be the most severely disturbed member of the family. Christoph Herbst, the family's lawyer, said after Elisabeth was freed in April:

"Rosemarie has lost the centre of her world. Her life was never that good but she always had the children and she had to be strong and be there for them no matter how bad things were at home.

"Now she is no longer the key figure in the children's lives because their mother has returned and she also has to deal with the awful revelations of what had happened to her daughter Elisabeth over all these years."

After being asked to leave her family, Rosemarie announced that she would be divorcing her husband Josef. She had married him at age 17 and had spent the next 52 years of her life as his wife. She is reportedly doing all she can to distance herself from her husband. She will take back her maiden name after the divorce. Not having worked since her early youth, Mrs Fritzl is only entitled to meager benefits payments.

In other developments Elisabeth Fritzl has finished giving testimony against her father. She spent 4 days talking to prosecutors. While details of her testimony have not been made public, it is believed that she accused her father of rape and psychological torment, as well as for the death of her child, who is thought to have died three days after birth because of conditions in the cellar.

However there seems to be some reluctance on the part of the adult children to give testimony against their father. Prosecutors want to use the testimonies of Kerstin,19, and Stefan,18, to reinforce the charges against their father.The prosecution spokesman, Gerhard Sedlacek, said:

“We still have not fixed a date for the questioning of the two adult children but it has now emerged that they could make use of their right not to speak to the authorities and refuse to give evidence against their father.

“The matter will be discussed between their lawyer and the judge in charge, but it has been suggested that they decline to give any statement.”

Josef Fritzl, a retired engineer, has made a partial confession and is facing charges of manslaughter for the death in 1996 of Michael, who was the twin brother of 12-year-old Alexander, as well as rape, coercion, deprivation of freedom and incest. However, prosecutors said that the first two charges would be very difficult to prove because of the lack of scientific evidence and because they were relying to a large extent on the testimonies of the children to strengthen their case.

“There is no direct forensic evidence due to the time elapsed and there is no body, since he allegedly burnt the baby in an oven. The charges could therefore only be based on the testimony of his daughter. In addition, in order to stand up the charges of manslaughter, one would need to attain evidence that there was premeditation, as well as evidence that the child would have survived had it received medical attention.”

The allegations of rape, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, would also be difficult to prove because of lack of corroborating evidence, and the charges would only be based on the testimony of Elisabeth.

If his adult children refuse to give evidence, Mr Fritzl could be facing a ten-year prison term as Austrian law does not allow for multiple convictions. This means that even if he is found guilty of several crimes, he will only serve one punishment, for the offense that carries the longest prison sentence, which in this case is likely to be deprivation of freedom.

A jury of eight will decide whether Mr Fritzl is guilty. If he is convicted they will confer with a panel of three judges to determine his sentence. The trial is set to start sometime in the fall.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

In 1994 Oregon passed a voter-approved ballot initiative setting mandatory minimum sentences. It is called Measure 11. In 2005 Veronica Rodriquez, 23, was convicted by a jury of first-degree sexual assault. Under Measure 11 the minimum sentence for this crime is 6 years and 3 months in prison. But what exactly did Veronica do??

Veronica Rodriquez was found guilty of running her hands through a 13-year-old boy’s hair and pulling the back of his head against her covered chest in the middle of a crowded game room at the Boys and Girls Club in Hillsboro.

Circuit Judge Nancy Campbell gave her 16 months instead, saying the Measure 11 sentence would violate the state constitution as cruel and unusual punishment. One ex-cop calls the case the worst travesty of justice he’s seen in 20 years as an investigator.

“I feel like a fountain overflowing on this. I feel as strongly about Veronica’s innocence as anything I have ever investigated in my life, and I am a very seasoned investigator,” says Michael Hintz, a former Tigard police detective who worked for Rodriguez’s defense team.

Rodriguez served one year at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, earning time off for good behavior.

Kevin Mannix, the original Measure 11 backer, calls Judge Campbell’s move to override the minimum sentence “absolutely unacceptable,” saying the correct path would be to ask the governor for clemency.

In the meantime, prosecutors appealed her sentence, and in December a three-judge panel at the state Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Rodriguez should serve out the remaining five years of her Measure 11 sentence. Read the entire ruling from the Court of Appeals in: The State of Oregon v Veronica Rodriquez.

Rodriguez’s appeal of that ruling landed at the Supreme Court on Feb. 13.

If the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the case or rules against Veronica, then she will have to go back to prison to serve the remaining 5 years of her sentence. The conviction destroyed her career as a social worker. She is now a registered sex offender, living in Spokane with her parents and working as a barista. She says returning to prison would scuttle her plans to go back to school and marry her boyfriend, Kevin Hagen, who stood by her throughout her arrest and trial.

“Trying to rebuild my life, and then going back and having it taken away from me again—it’s a hard thought to deal with,” says Rodriguez, who has no other criminal record. “All I can do is keep fighting my case and have faith that down the road, it will all get straightened out somehow.”

Peter Gartlan, Veronica Rodriguez’s public defender, wants the Supreme Court to reconsider, saying Rodriguez’s case doesn’t fit with other sexual assaults that merit a stiff sentence. As Gartlan wrote in his request to the Supreme Court, citing a hypothetical case:

“Causing the back of a boy’s head to be placed against the clothed chest of a 23-year-old counselor is qualitatively different from causing a 12-year-old boy to place his tongue or his penis in the family dog’s anus.... The conduct in this case must be one of the mildest, most technical forms of ‘sexual abuse’ that one could contemplate.”

For a full, detailed description of the Veronica Rodriquez case and her relationship with the 13-year-old boy that got her into so much trouble click here: