Zella Strickland

Joseph Duncan in federal court.

BOISE - Now in the selection phase of the death sentence hearing, the prosecution hopes to bring several other unadjudicated crimes against confessed killed Joseph Duncan. They would use this evidence to illustrate Duncan's future dangerousness, something the defense opposes.

In addition to the 1980 rape victim who already testified, the government intends to tell the jury about two young girls Duncan says he killed in the Seattle area in 1996.

Those killings were followed, one year later, by the murder of a 10-year old California boy, to which Duncan has also confessed.

For the first time since dropping his attorneys, Duncan asked for his standby counsel to argue on his behalf this morning. With the jury out of the courtroom, one of Duncan's lawyers told the judge the admission of the aforementioned crimes would be prejudicial.

Duncan's former girlfriend is also expected to testify.

Since there is no chance Duncan will be let out of prison for the rest of his life, he said it was not relevant to future dangerousness inside the prison setting.

While the objective in this death penalty hearing is still the same, focus on this first day of the "selection" phase shifted from the Groene murders to other killings unofficially attributed to Joseph Duncan.

In a taped confession to a special agent with the FBI, Duncan called the murders of two young Seattle sisters in 1996 his "first sheer, unadulterated revenge against society."

One year later, his partial finger print was found at the murder scene of a 10-year-old California boy named Anthony Martinez.

Today that boy's brother, Mark Medina, who was six-years old at the time, testified about watching Tony be snatched by Duncan, after an attempt to grab Medina, himself, had failed. Later, the boy's stepfather took the stand and emotionally talked about driving for three days and nights, with no sleep, looking for his abducted son.

About two weeks later, his naked body was discovered in the desert east of Palm Springs, California.

The prosecution call 10 witnesses today.

On Tuesday, we expect to hear from Joseph Duncan's girlfriend at the time of the Seattle killings.

Joseph Duncan wrote this poem in his journal the day after the murder of 10-year old Anthony Martinez.

Ode to the killer

I know the reason

I know the reason for your hate

And, I know the reason for your pain.

I know the reason for MY love,

And I know the reason we are not the same.

God's love

God's love is the reason.

And God's love will bring you down.

God's love is the only reason.

On the same journal page as this page, Duncan wrote: