11:09 AM MDT on Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Associated Press

COEUR D'ALENE -- A request by Shasta Groene's father to drop the death penalty possibility against Joseph Edward Duncan III has also reached the ears of federal prosecutors.

AP

Joseph Duncan

Steve Groene has already asked Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas to stop seeking the death penalty for Duncan in the state's triple murder trial.

A source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that now federal authorities are also discussing a plea deal.

Duncan is charged with killing Shasta's mother, older brother and her mother's boyfriend last year so he could kidnap the girl and her 9-year-old brother for sex.

Shasta's brother, Dylan, was killed at a campground in Montana.

Shasta was rescued at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene last summer.

Duncan is charged only in state court, but federal prosecutors have said they intend to charge him with kidnapping the children and killing Dylan, crimes that can carry the death penalty, when the state case concludes.

Trial is set for October 16th on the state charges.