ANTHONY MARTINEZ - 10 yo (1997) - Beaumont CA

On his first day acting as his own attorney Friday, Joseph Edward Duncan III refused to answer a judge's question. Facing trial in the 1997 death of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez of
Beaumont, Duncan was granted the request Monday to represent himself. Friday's hearing in the death penalty case was intended to settle a
question of if the Riverside County public defender's office needed to
remain as standby council after being relieved as Duncan's attorney. A decision on that matter was postponed, but Duncan sat in the jury box
of an Indio courtroom Friday with closely-shorn hair in an orange jail
uniform and a bulletproof vest. He sat with his eyes closed, as he
usually does, until the judge addressed him. Judge David
B. Downing called on the prosecutor and Duncan to announce their
presence in court for the record. Duncan didn't answer. "Mr. Duncan you don't have lawyers anymore. TO represent yourself you
have to announce you're present," Downing said. "I prefer to be silent," Duncan answered. "Stop messing around or I'm going to jerk your pro-per status," Downing
said. "You have to do it this way. I don't care whether you like it or
not." "It goes against my philosophy," Duncan said. "I don't care about your philosophy. I could care less. You're going to do it my way," Downing said. After the judge explained that the hearing couldn't start until Duncan
announced his presence, Duncan eventually said, "I'm Joseph Duncan,
pro-per," but not before calling the process "ritualistic" and against
his beliefs. "I have no intention to act as my own
attorney," Duncan said later. "I don't want to make this difficult for
you. I know it's difficult just having me here." "You no idea Mr. Duncan, but go ahead," Downing said "I've been accused of a crime in this society and I want to stand
before my accusers and be honest," Duncan said. "I should not have to
be a lawyer." Duncan's court-appointed public defender
Richard Verlato sat in the audience of the courtroom. He said he had
not found any requirement the public defender's office was required to
act as Duncan's consulting stand-by counsel, but what consult with lead
public defender officials. Downing said the law may not
force the public defender's office to remain on the case, but that he
didn't want to leave Duncan without any representation. He said he
would consult with the Riverside County presiding judge on what options
and other attorneys would be available. Duncan said he
would like to allow attorneys to procedurally try the case, but it was
a "struggle" with his beliefs. He said he would like to choose a
pro-death jury. "I would rather be killed by someone with
a confident decision that is sure this is right, rather than someone
who's not sure this is the right decision." "If I do what
the system dictates, it's an evolved form of religion...," Duncan said.
"They want me to bow down before this religion and false god. I can't
do that. That's where I draw the line."

Trial for an already condemned child killer continued its slog
through the Riverside County court system Friday when his new attorneys
requested more time to prepare his defense against charges that he
murdered a Beaumont boy in 1997.
Joseph Edward Duncan III, 47, who has already been sentenced to death for the
slaying of an Idaho boy, would also face capital punishment if convicted
of abducting and killing 10-year-old Anthony Martinez.He was extradited to
Riverside County in January 2009 to stand trial in the Beaumont killing.With
his second set of lawyers appearing together for the first time Friday
before Judge David B. Downing, trial appears to be a long way off.“To
think I can try this case in the next 12 months in unrealistic,” said
Scott O'Meara, who is working with fellow deputy public defender Gail
O'Rane.In order to update the court on the defense team's progress in reviewing more
than 30,000 documents, O'Meara requested that another status hearing be
held in mid-March. But Judge David B. Downing set a Feb. 22 date at the
behest of Deputy District Attorney Otis Sterling.Because
Duncan did not waive his right to start trial within 60 days after Feb.
4, the prosecutor expressed concern that the defendant may yet again
drop his attorneys and seek a trial in that time frame.Duncan has not cooperated
with his court-appointed attorneys in the past.“If Duncan decides to go pro per,
I want to have time to prepare the case,” Sterling said.Duncan
had been representing himself until the new defense team was appointed
last October. He relieved his earlier attorney in August 2009, when he
was deemed competent to stand trial by a jury.Whatever
progress is made by next month, the volume of information that Duncan's
legal team must digest had Downing dismayed about when a trial may
actually begin.“I think it is realistic this case is not getting off the ground in 2011,” the judge said.The
convicted killer was brought into the courtroom with his hands shackled
behind his back. His head was shaved, in contrast to the unkempt mass
of hair he sported during his last court appearance.
Duncan was tied to the Coachella Valley slaying when Anthony's name
surfaced during questioning in Idaho and partial fingerprints found at
the scene where the boy's body was discovered matched Duncan,
authorities have said.Duncan
is accused of leaving a fingerprint on the duct tape that was used to
bind Anthony, who was abducted by a stranger with a knife as he played
with friends in an alley behind his family's apartment on April 4, 1997.The
child's nude body was found by a Bureau of Land Management Ranger on
April 19, 1997, on Berdoo Canyon Road in Indio — about 90 miles east
of where he was snatched — south of Joshua Tree National Monument.The Riverside County District Attorney's Office charged Duncan with Anthony's murder in 2007.Duncan
was sentenced to death in August 2008 by a federal judge in Boise,
Idaho, for murdering 9-year-old Dylan Groene. Duncan kidnapped the boy
and his 8-year-old sister in May 2005, then tortured and sexually abused
both of them over the course of several weeks before shooting Dylan in
the head while his sister watched.Duncan also killed the children's brother and mother, and the mother's fiance.He was arrested after a waitress at a Denny's restaurant recognized him and the kidnapped younger sister.Law
enforcement agencies nationwide subsequently began investigating
whether the drifter and high school dropout, whose first sex offense was
committed when he was 12, could be tied to other cases.While
representing himself, Duncan worked with two court-appointed private
investigators. The judge also allocated funds to allow Duncan to have
access to a laptop computer to view nearly 30,000 pages of evidence.Duncan
has indicated he does not deny the allegations against him but cannot
plead guilty because of a California law that stipulates a defendant
must be represented by an attorney and have that lawyer's consent to
enter a guilty plea in a potential death penalty case.