Duncan To Get ‘Standby Counsel’ For Murder Trial

INDIO – Joseph Edward Duncan III, who is representing himself in his murder trial, will have a “standby counsel” waiting to help him during his trial, if he needs it.

Duncan is charged with first-degree murder in the April 1997 death of Anthony Martinez, who was snatched from an alley in Beaumont by a knife-wielding assailant and found dead weeks later in the Coachella Valley.

Tuesday, a judge in Indiodismissed an attorney group designed to help defendants who a public defender is unable to represent.

If convicted, Duncan could face the death penalty.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge David Downing initially appointed the public defender’s office to act as standby counsel for Duncan, but on Oct. 15, Assistant Public Defender Robert Willey told the judge his office had never acted as standby counsel in a death penalty case.

The judge then appointed the Desert Conflict Panel, which the county contracts with to take cases outside the scope of the public defender’s office, as standby counsel.

Downing said he felt he had to appoint standby counsel in case Duncan changed his mind or his self-representation status was taken away.

Last week, Barbara Brand, administrator of the panel, filed papers arguing that the panel is not obligated under its contract with the county to act as standby counsel when a defendant has waived rights to an attorney or represents himself.

Duncan, 46, has already been sentenced to death by a federal court for the kidnapping, molestation and murder of a 9-year-old boy in Idaho. He was linked to the Riverside County case during questioning in Idaho.