Comments for Doctor: Tortured Idaho boy didn't have to die »
Posted By ap 1 year, 4 months ago in NewsBOISE, Idaho (AP) _ A 9-year-old boy who was tortured and killed by a convicted pedophile in front of his younger sister might have been able to survive a shot to the abdomen had he been taken to a hospital, a doctor told a jury that will decide whether the man gets the death penalty.
As it was, the girl testified that Joseph Edward Duncan III blasted the boy in the head after accidentally shooting him in the stomach, having decided his life couldn't be saved.
The boy probably suffered excruciating pain, Dr. Sharon Cooper, a forensic pediatrician, testified.
The doctor said the description of the boy's injury — he was eviscerated, his sister Shasta said, with his "guts" hanging out — indicated it was "a very potentially salvageable injury."
Cooper also said Duncan might have had enough time to get Dylan Groene to a hospital from the remote western Montana campsite where the shooting occurred.
Cooper, former chief of pediatrics at Fort Bragg, a military base in North Carolina, performed a medical assessment of Shasta Groene after her rescue; interviewed her father, Steve Groene; and reviewed interviews of the girl by law enforcers.
Cooper's testimony in U.S. District Court followed the presentation of a videotaped interview in which Shasta Groene, 8 at the time, described how she and her brother were raped and forced to perform sex acts together by Duncan, whom she called "Jet."
Duncan pleaded guilty in December to 10 federal counts in the 2005 kidnapping of the Coeur d'Alene-area children and the murder of the boy. Duncan also faces the death penalty in a separate state case in which he pleaded guilty to murdering the siblings' family.
The children were abducted from their home in May 2005 after Duncan fatally bludgeoned their mother, Brenda Groene; their 13-year-old brother, Slade; and the mother's fiance, Mark McKenzie.
Duncan, acting as his own attorney in the sentencing phase, suggested in cross-examining Cooper that the girl was exaggerating her brother's injury.
"How much in your experience do children tend to elaborate or exaggerate and fill in details ... especially after a traumatic experience like that?" Duncan asked.
Children who exaggerate are typically much younger, between 4 and 6, and lack the vocabulary to describe what happened to them, Cooper said.
While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify victims of sexual assault in most cases, the search for Shasta and Dylan Groene was so heavily publicized that their names are widely known.
Duncan, formerly of Tacoma, Wash., has a long string of arrests and convictions for crimes ranging from car theft to rape and molestation. He is suspected in the slayings of two half-sisters from Seattle in 1996 and is charged with killing a young boy in Riverside County, Calif., in 1997.
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 79
-
-
100%
webtechreviews1 year, 4 months ago
-
-
-
fiestylilkimComment removed: Spammer
-
-
-
-
airwick1944Comment removed: Retracted by user2 Replies
-
-
23%
wms721 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
This will end when the lawyers, judges, and politicians who released this man from jail for his previous crimes are also made to pay for this boy and girl's horrible pain.
Reply
This girl saw her mother and two brothers killed by this creep before her very eyes. How will she ever sleep safely at night? Who will love her like her family did? How will she ever be healed and forget these terrors?
May God have mercy on them, and on us, if we allow this kind of society to continue without taking major steps to correct the problems.
That boy's blood cries to Heaven that we cannot turn away from these crimes and continue business as usual.
It is likely that this man aggravated his lusts with porn use before he ever attacked living people. OUTLAW PORN NOW!!!-
93%
Charlson1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Porn was the cause for this man's horrific crime? And you know this how? Why do people grasp at ridiculous conclusions to the reason for certain crimes?
Reply
The man had it within himself to commit this and other crimes and deserves the death penalty.-
90%
cleare1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
i understand your frustration, charlson, but people need to find SOME reason why awful things like this happen, and it is so much easier to blame it on porn or the availability of guns or poor "corrections" systems...
Reply
the inescapable fact is that there are some very sick, evil people out there and there is not a whole lot we can do about it. that is why people grasp at flimsy rational.-
100%
DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
there are certainly many sick people out there, but in this case, there certainly WAS something that could have been done.
Reply
If I remember correctly, some judge dropped the ball and set this guy's bail at a ridiculously low mark. He made it, skipped, and did what he did.
the question that occurred to me when I read this case years ago, is why is ANY bail set for repeat sex offenders? They knew what this guy was capable of and know the recidivism rate in sex predators of his ilk, so why?
Not enough room in our jails for him?
One of the worst cases I have ever read about, especially because it didn't have to happen
-
-
-
-
-
100%
Charlson1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I stopped reading Hustler and Penthouse many years ago, maybe you should too. They were a novelty back then and sort of a forbidden fruit so of course I had to research those publications. So what's your excuse?
Reply
And any reputable research will show there is no credible link or connection between porn and sex crimes. -
100%
DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
that's kinda like 'backward reasoning'
Reply
many people who commit sex crimes like porn and buy it often
but many of them also like pizza and buy it often
therefore pizza causes sex crimes
same type of reasoning
you have to be able to draw the line from porn to criminality, drawing a line from criminality to porn is not the same
----
either people have control of themselves and respect other people or they don't
whether or not they do has more to do with whether people harm others than outside stimuli
-
-
-
-
100%
dk99041 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"It is likely that this man aggravated his lusts with porn use before he ever attacked living people. OUTLAW PORN NOW!!!"
Reply
If he had fueled his desires with alcohol, would you be pushing to make alcohol illegal? He probably ate a lot of red meat too, so should we pass laws requiring everyone to be vegetarian? Just because some loser uses porn and commits a crime doesn't mean we should be passing laws that apply to everyone. Just because you abhor porn doesn't mean that 99.999% of society can't enjoy it without killing a kid. Every study ever done regarding porn has not determined a cause and effect relationship as to viloent crime. There may be a correlation, but that does not indicate cause and effect. -
Neutral
nielewahine1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Although I understand your anger and distaste for this man's crimes, it is he who made the decisions he did, nothing else. Shasta's father is in her life and he does love her the way she should be loved. Porn is not the one on trial here, it is the person who commited a horrifc crime and has no remorse for his actions. He sought out this family and never made the choice to turn away from his plan. Using Porn as the means to this person's criminal behavior is the same as him saying he had no control over his intentions. It is not about outlawing items which grown adults have a right to chose but making all people take responsibility for thier actions no matter what the concequence.
Reply
-
-
mackiemesserComment removed: Retracted by user1 Reply
-
-
-
100%
Nowalive1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
These crimes are especially heinous. With his arrest record he should have already been put away for life. However, our legal system has become more of a business than a system of punishment. I know of several cases locally where convicted rapists, murderers and the like were released because "they had shown substantial rehabilitative progress" while incarcerated. Only to get out and kill and rape again.
Reply
I say it is a business now because they care more about fines and monitoring fees than what is inside the mind of these monsters. Let them out so they can pay the court system huge sums of money to be "watched". This is incredible.
If there were ever anyone deserving of the death penalty, it is this man. -
100%
TweekerchickQC1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Disgusting.
Reply
Those poor children. At least that boy finally gets some peace now. That little girl is going to suffer for the rest of her life.
How someone can hurt a child just blows my mind, and makes me so angry. I hope he suffers, because his victims certainly are. -
15%
CamsKat1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There are no words to describe how sick and disgusting this man is, and to think Obama wants to do away with prisons as it is unjust and inhumane and put these people on "house arrest"???? I put my own brother in jail for raping a girl and had 2 warrants put against my father for molesting and hurting children. This is the worst of all crimes. Children are innocent and defenseless and I cannot see anyone EVER damaging and scarring these beautiful babies for life. I will be the children's family!
Reply-
87%
Charlson1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
What evidence do you have about Obama wanting to do away with prisons? And why are you injecting this tripe in this post? The crime was horrific and he also committed other crimes and should have been in prison. It was the failure of our justice system and not Obama's.
Reply -
92%
lbrtyordeath1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
CamsKat.....it is people like you who truly make me sad about our prospects as a country.
Reply
What lying e-mail have you been reading about Obama doing away with prisons?
Lies lies lies lies lies. Not saying you're a liar for perpetuating them, merely a sheep being led around by wolves.
Do some research. Listen to someone other than Rush Limbaugh. Watch something other than the 700 club.
Then form your OWN opinions. -
100%
rgganong11 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Why on earth, do you feel the need to drag Obama into this??? You have been brainwashed to believe he is evil because why????????? John McCain is good, right??? you are azwfully sick if you believe that Obama would allow this man to go free, he is a just and good man with 2 daughters of him own, come on who are you anyway??????
Reply-
Neutral
silverram1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITCS, ITS ABOUT GETTING THIS GUY INTO THE DENTIST CHAIR AND JUST DRILLING OUT ALL HIS TEETH, PULL SOME OUT FOR FUN, AND THEN LET THE BACON COOK WITH HIS PANTS DOWN IN THE WOODS. TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING BUT THIS BASTARD IS NOT IN THE MEMORY OF THAT POOR BOY, OR HIS SISTER, AND THEIR
Reply
POOR FAMILTY. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON THEIR SOULS.
THIS GUY IS JUST BEYOND EVIL, LETS KEEP THIS ROCKEN ON THE STORY PLEASE DO NOT BRING THE PRESIDENTAL ELECTIONS INTO THIS, THIS IS NOT ABOUT ANYTHING BUT A MONSTER, AND THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS FIND AN AVAILABLE DENTIST CHAIR FOR THIS PIECE OF ****.
-
-
-
-
-
100%
Mdiar1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Yup.
Reply
Same here.
Luckily, we have a way of dealing with them... increase the sentence about ten fold for pedophiles and let everyone know what they're in there for.
Running out of room? We'll legalize pot and clear out most of the prisons.
-
-
100%
vaar691 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There are certain animals that should be destroyed immediately whenever they pose a threat to our children..this was one of them. No rights, no second or third chances to do this again and again. Rabid animals are killed to protect us, why not evil scum like this freak?
Reply -
100%
normallysilent1 year, 4 months ago
-
-
-
Neutral
silverram1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
that is perfect, but the bears will rip him up way to quickly. Take this mother ucker
Reply
and put him in the DENTIST CHAIR AND DRILL OUT EVERY TOOTH LEAVE ONLY THE FRONT TWO THEN TAKE PLYERS OUT AND JUST PULL. WHEN HE IS
SCREAMING JUST SHOVE THE TWO TEETH BACK IN HIS MOUTH AND SEW IT UP WITH A NEEDLE AND WIRE. THEN, YES, TAKE THIS THING OUT TO THE FOREST AND COOK BACON, LOTS OF BACON, AND PULL HIS PANTS DOWN YOU KNOW AND PUT HIS THING IN THE PLATE WITH THE BACON,
BEARS WILL ENJOY THIS, PLEASE PUT A CAMERA THERE SO WE ALL CAN WATCH IT ON UTUBE. THE DEVIL IS TO GOOD FOR THIS ONE, ONLY THE BEARS CAN BE THE JUDGE WITH THIS ONE. I HOPE THEY ARE VERY VERY HUNGRY.
CALLING ALL HUNGRY BEARS.
-
-
sisco30Comment removed: Spam
-
100%
sisco301 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
People like him make me SICK! He admitted to doing these horrible crimes so he can get a lesser sentence?! What is wrong with that? He has pleaded guilty, give him the death sentence, do not let us tax payers pay for him to have 3 free and a cot for life!
Reply -
100%
Saberdude19631 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I believe the real crime against society has been made by the judge, lawyers, and even the Idaho governer. They should be locked up for a minimun mandatory of at least 25 years. Such a shame to the judicial system to let a known criminal of his magnatude walk free to prey on innocents again. They share an equal guilt for being an accessory to this childs murder.
Reply-
100%
Damachula1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I wrote the same thing before reading your blog! Jeez were is the Justice for this Family. this wasnt his first offense the sick bastard did this before what kind of people set him free, and how many others like him roam the earth on there behalf?
Reply
-
-
100%
Cass5911361 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Until our laws actually empower the victims of sex crimes to testify with anonymity in a safe, unthreatening environment and THEN put pedophiles away for life, we will continue to see the crimes of these sick men escalate. The recidivism rate is astronomical and that's even given the fact that so freaking many of them GET AWAY with their crimes because the victims are too frightened and traumatized to testify or half the time even prosecute.
Reply
We have SO much activity with political groups these days. WHERE are the activists for children? Why won't people even bother to WRITE an email to their elected officials to demand stricter laws for pedophiles? We CAN make a difference. We just have to care enough. -
-
-
-
100%
coolasapopsicle1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
oh please let me have him before he goes to prison. I'd love to torture him for a few days. I have a special idea what to do to him with a broken beer bottle. an eye for an eye. If I can't have him, give him to the inmates-I hear most of them don't think much of child molesters.
Reply -
100%
annoythedonkey1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
What a creep, is it me or does this guy just look like a freak in this picture, It's to bad they don't use Capital Punishment for people like him, give him to the prisons and put a sign on his back that says what he did, from what I hear child molesters and people who have killed kids don't last very long in prison
Reply -
100%
charles11111111 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I don't understand...
Reply
When these animals commit murder and rape they must get only a year or two behind bars, and then when released after their short stay, murder and rape again. This cycle is repeated multiple times. Something must be wrong with Idaho justice. The guy should have been fried years ago after the first rape and murder. -
100%
Damachula1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
What Kind Of society do we live in that sends People with crimes like car theft and burglary away for life and sets free a murdering pedophile to destroy whole families. The Judge, Prosecutors and defense attorneys, even the damn jury are responsible for this cruel act to not just the poor boy that died but the young sister that lived. Any and all sex offenders should not ever be set free after there first conviction they should be locked up and forgot about. I am a mother of five and this story makes me sick .. What a shame
Reply -
-
100%
jessihodg1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
i think he shouldn't get the priviledge of dying thats way to easy..........he needs to be tortured the rest of his worthless so called useless sick minded life. he should pay for his crimes.. doing time with out parole life without life.................he needs someone to make him wanna die everyday of his life and see pictures of the ones he has hurt................my heart cries out to this family and i hope he dont even get a chance to rot in hell.................... i want hiim to suffer miseriaraby.... words cant even express it........sick fudder mucker......................
Reply -
hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
-
-
-
100%
DeadXXXManXXXTalkin1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
If I remember the backstory right, even with prior sex convictions, his bail was set and made at 30k [put up by some cyber-pal, I think]. He actually had a web site claiming he wanted to hurt society in the most heinous way possible, and detailed criminal activity he wanted to commit. So when he got out he skipped and staked out the farmhouse, etc., etc.
Reply
As to why, I think its bad judgment by the legal system and society itself, which does not place appropriate weight on molestation and sex crimes
Things are changing slowly, for instance the federal tracking and notification system[ sex offender notification via mail]. In times gone by it was easier for these predators to just relocate and set up shop in another state.
My personal wish: one strike, after that, you're out. Convict them under current law, make them get treatment, whatever, but if they do it again, no third chances: dispose of them. Period. It's like keeping a dog around that bites your kid in the face. Yet we keep these guys that hurt kids around.
like you said, Why?-
100%
Charlson1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Our justice system is so overloaded with cases that the prosecutors and judges don't have the resources to properly research the histories of these monsters. If we could keep non-violent drug and misdemeanor offenders from talking up valuable court time and resources maybe these law enforcement personnel could do a better job. And maybe their priorities are so out of whack that they don't really care. They hardly face any real consequences when they let these monsters out of lock-up to prey on innocents once again.
Reply
-
-
-
100%
jess241 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
R u kidding me it shouldnt even be up for disscusson!...this guy needs to die and rott in hell!...no matter if the boy was able to be saved or not!...he shot the little boy!...come on people!...the emotional stress that his sister has been put thru is crazy for such a lil girl!
Reply -
LoadStarComment removed: Spam
-
-
-
100%
suziemac1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Porn didn't cause it, red meat or alcohol didn't cause it. He is just plain pure EVIL. A monster that should be destroyed.
Reply
I would like to see him suffer also, but mostly, I just want to make damn sure he can never hurt a child again. There would always be a chance for him to escape or have some stupid judge decide he didn't have his rights read to him, or whatever. If he is DEAD, he can't harm anyone else. -
100%
silverram1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
This guy needs to be taken to the dentist chair and have all his teeth drilled out as well as some of them pulled out of his mouth with out any pain killers. To just kill this crap is not fair he needs to feel his crime's and the best way is like the movie with Dustin Hoffman,
Reply
" Marathon Man" just drill out his teeth to the roots. Let him just lay in the dentist chair and die from utter shock and horrible pain, This would be justice. Let a dental student have this crap so mistakes can be made and just let the crap rot in hell without his teeth.
That poor kid, oh, my God, -
100%
childadvocate1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is only one thing for him -- Take him out in the woods and nail his male part to a stump -- Then set the stump on fire -- Oh yea, ... Give him a dull knife .... so he has a choice... He can choose to burn to death, or cut 'it' off!!
Reply -
-
-
Neutral
Nowalive1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The sad part is that these freaks all get protective custody for life. An extra expense for taxpayers. Separate wing, separate kitchen and dining facilities, separate everything. If they were placed in general population they would be dead within a week.
Reply
-
-
100%
moonwind11 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I can't even think of anything bad enough to do the murdering child rapist. Maybe if the devil had a dictionary I could find it in there. Plea bargin? Turns my stomach that such a thing even exists for one that has confessed to these horrible crimes......Maybe someone could have a good time with him using a cattle prod?.
Reply -
loading ...
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.