Duncan McKenzie (murderer)

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Duncan McKenzie

| birth_name = Duncan Peder McKenzie Jr.

| birth_date = {{birth date|1951|10|5}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|5|10|1951|10|5}}

| death_place = Montana State Prison, Deer Lodge, Montana, U.S.

| death_cause = Execution by lethal injection

| criminal status = Executed

| conviction_penalty = Death (March 3, 1975)

| victims = Debra Prety, 15
Lana Harding, 23

| date = October 26, 1973
January 21, 1974

| conviction = Deliberate homicide (1 count)
Aggravated kidnapping
Sexual intercourse without consent

| image = Duncan McKenzie.jpg

| caption = McKenzie in 1990

| country = United States

| states = Idaho and Montana

}}

Duncan Peder McKenzie Jr. (October 5, 1951 – May 10, 1995){{cite web|title=Death Penalty Stats|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/files/deathpenaltystats.xls|work=Death Penalty Information Center|format=XLS|access-date=November 28, 2021}} was convicted of the murder of a schoolteacher from Conrad, Montana named Lana Harding on January 21, 1974. After his conviction in March 1975, he was on death row for twenty years, receiving eight stays of execution. His ninth stay of execution was denied by the United States courts of appeals.Henry Weinstein, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-09-mn-64096-story.html "Denial of Stay Puts Montana Killer One Step Closer to Death"], Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1995.

McKenzie was executed on May 10, 1995. He was the first person executed in Montana since 1943, and also the first ever U.S. death row inmate to spend twenty years or more on death row and still eventually be executed.[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/11/us/montana-executes-killer-of-a-teacher.html "Montana Executes Killer of a Teacher"], The New York Times, May 11, 1995. He is one of only three people to have been executed in Montana since the reinstatement of the death penalty. He was the only person of the three to be executed involuntarily.

In 2021, DNA tests posthumously linked McKenzie to a separate sexual assault and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Idaho in 1973.{{Cite web |last=None |date=2023-11-12 |title=HUCKLEBERRIES: Cold case closure |url=https://cdapress.com/news/2023/nov/12/huckleberries/ |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Coeur d'Alene Press |language=en}}

Background

McKenzie was born on October 5, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois.{{cite news|last=Anez|first=Bob|title='Older, quieter and much easier going'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83037597/older-quieter-and-much-easier-going/|work=The Missoulian|date=May 8, 1995|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83037597/older-quieter-and-much-easier-going/ 15]|accessdate=August 11, 2021|via=Newspapers.com}} He married Shirley Marlene McKenzie (born July 1943). They had three children together, Richard, Michelle, and Jon and lived in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho at the time of his incarceration. Shirley passed away in May 2017 at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.[https://www.englishfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/shirley-mckenzie]{{Cite web |date=2017 |title=Shirley McKenzie Obituary |url=https://www.englishfuneralchapel.com/obituaries/shirley-mckenzie |access-date=May 29, 2024 |website=English Funeral Chapel}}

Crime overview

He was convicted of the murder, rape, and death by asphyxia of Lana Harding. He was sentenced to death for aggravated kidnapping.{{Cite web|title=State v. McKenzie, 171 Mont. 278 {{!}} Casetext Search + Citator|url=https://casetext.com/case/state-v-mckenzie-jr|access-date=2021-12-21|website=casetext.com}} The crime was committed on January 21, 1974, in the early morning. Harding was a schoolteacher in a small one-classroom schoolhouse and members of the community raised concerns of her well-being when she did not arrive at the school and her shoes were left in the driveway.Mark Downey, [https://img3.newspapers.com/clip/8120895/lana_harding_murder/ "Parents, students recall the day Harding didn't come to school"], "Great Falls Tribune", May 10, 1995.

Death row

He waited on death row for twenty years from 1975 to 1995. He was one of three inmates to be sentenced with the reinstated death penalty in Montana. The other two sentenced were Bernard Fitzpatrick and Dewey Coleman, although their appeals to their own executions were successful.Chase Doak, [https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/inside-montana-s-death-row/article_15fab538-23cc-5ef4-b505-e18160a9f682.html "Inside Montana's death row, 1985"], "Billings Gazette", February 15, 2016.

Execution

McKenzie was executed on May 10, 1995, at Montana State Prison, becoming the first person to be executed in Montana since 1943.{{cite news|date=May 10, 1995|title=Montana puts 1st man to death since '43|work=Deseret News|url=https://www.deseret.com/1995/5/10/19174511/montana-puts-1st-man-to-death-since-43|access-date=March 30, 2021}} His last meal was tenderloin steak, french fries, a tossed salad, orange sherbet and whole milk.{{cite news|title=McKenzie's last meal steak, fries|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83050630/mckenzies-last-meal-steak-fries/|work=Great Falls Tribune|date=May 10, 1995}} Upon his request, he was allowed to listen to country music as he was put to death.{{Cite web|date=May 10, 1995|title=Music Accompanies End of Killer's Life|website=Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/a126c92352b3954ca5ac34fcba6b8ddf}} McKenzie remains the first of only three people to be executed in Montana since the resumption of capital punishment. The others were Terry Allen Langford in 1998 and David Thomas Dawson in 2006. McKenzie was the only one of the three to be executed involuntarily.{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database?filters%5Bstate%5D=Montana|title=Searchable Execution Database|work=Death Penalty Information Center|access-date=March 26, 2021}}

Aftermath

In 2021, DNA tests linked McKenzie to the rape and murder of 15-year-old Debra Prety in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in October 1973, days before Halloween. McKenzie abducted and strangled Prety as she was returning home from a school dance. McKenzie had long been a suspect in her murder, but had not confessed to killing her before his execution. A DNA sample showed that the odds of the killer being someone other than McKenzie were 7.08 sextillion to one.{{Cite web |date=1995-05-10 |title=Family Hopes Killer Admits Cda Murder Police Have Long Suspected Mckenzie In Death Of 15-Year-Old Girl In 1973 |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/may/10/family-hopes-killer-admits-cda-murder-police-have/ |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Spokesman.com |language=en}}