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Show Grand jury decision still pending by Christopher Smart A grand jury may be called to probe the Aug. 4 murder of airline pilot Fred T. Duncan. A request to fund a grand jury will be filed with the Summit County Commission by County Attorney Robert Adkins within 30 days, said Commission Chairman Stan Leavitt. Duncan was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head during Art Festival weekend in the home of Park City resident Bryan Oliver at 1147 Woodside Ave. Earlier this month, Adkins' office submitted an affidavit to Third District Court asking it to review evidence in the events surrounding Duncan's death. Third District Court Judge Leonard Russon is now determining if that evidence warrants the calling of a grand jury. Russon refused to comment on the evidence or on the likelihood he will suggest to the Third District Judiciary that a grand jury be called. By law, all Third District judges must approve the motion. An order by them to call a grand jury will be public record. Under Utah statute, it is the county's obligation to fund grand juries, according to Adkins. He would not comment specifically on the Duncan case. However, he said if a grand jury is called, the county will have to "reopen its budget." Grand juries can be called to investigate criminal activities that go beyond a single event. Traffic in drugs and firearms may be related to the murder, according to Park City Police Chief Frank Bell. At the time of his death, Duncan, a Miami resident, was on leave from Pan Am Airlines. He was recuperating recupera-ting from a head injury received in a skiing accident at the Park City Ski Area in January 1984. Duncan was in the living room of the Woodside Avenue house with an unidentified Miami woman at the time of the murder. The woman was not injured in the shooting. Police have not disclosed whether she can identify the assailant. The prime suspect in the murder is a 26-year-old Miami man. On Aug. 24, a large caliber handgun was found by two juveniles fishing for golf balls in a pond on the Park City Municipal Golf Course. Ballistics tests revealed the gun was the murder weapon. The gun is owned by an unidentified Salt Lake City man, who claims to have sold the gun more than a year ago, according to Bell. The man does not remember to whom he sold the weapon, Bell said. |