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Judge orders some Duncan documents unsealed

Betsy Z. Russell
Staff writer
August 6, 2008

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has ordered four sealed documents in the Joseph Duncan case unsealed, in response to motions from The Spokesman-Review and 15 other media outlets in Idaho and eastern Washington.

“Much of the record has been sealed from the public without notice and specific findings as to the basis for the documents being sealed,” the judge wrote in an order issued this afternoon. “The parties are ordered to comply with the applicable local rules and make the requisite showing before making filings under seal.”

Lodge ordered the unsealing of a stipulation that the two sides in the Duncan case reached in secret last year regarding testimony by Duncan’s sole surviving victim, Shasta Groene, along with three motions or responses regarding protective orders in the case that pertain to her or to Duncan.

Lodge declined to unseal three other documents: a court-ordered mental evaluation of Duncan that concluded he was mentally competent to undergo sentencing and act as his own attorney; an affidavit from Steven Groene, Shasta’s father, responding to the media’s motions for open court proceedings and documents; and letters that Duncan sent to friends about his various court proceedings that federal prosecutors had cited as evidence of his understanding of the proceedings, referred to as Exhibit D to Docket 400.

“The media’s request for access to Exhibit D is made so that the public can be informed and to ensure that a watchful eye is kept on the operations and workings of the Court and the criminal justice system,” the judge wrote in his order. “The Court does not question the validity nor importance of this purpose.”

However, he found, “At this stage in the proceedings the unsealing of Exhibit D is premature,” because it “relates to potential testimony and/or evidence that may be presented in this matter.”

Further rulings from the judge still are expected today on the media’s motion to keep the courtroom open when key evidence is presented in the sentencing trial, including testimony and videotape evidence.

Jury selection in the case resumes on Wednesday. Duncan faces a possible death penalty for kidnapping and molesting 9-year-old Dylan Groene and then-8-year-old Shasta in 2005 and killing Dylan, after murdering three other family members. He’s pleaded guilty; a jury must decide if he gets the death penalty or life without parole.

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