COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - A judge on Wednesday ordered a prosecutor to make copies of graphic and disturbing videos found with sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III, and give them to Duncan's defense lawyers.

First District Judge Fred Gibler set strict guidelines to prevent the release of two 10-minute videos to anyone else.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas had refused to copy the material, saying it is too offensive, although defense lawyers can see the material whenever they want.

Douglas has gone so far as to have the contents of the cameras encrypted to prevent their release. However, he said earlier that if the judge ordered the material to be copied, he would comply.

Duncan, 42, of Fargo, N.D., is charged with killing three members of an Idaho family so he could abduct Shasta Groene, 8, and Dylan Groene, 9, for sex.

In court documents filed Monday, Duncan's public defender, John Adams, said Duncan was being deprived of his constitutional rights.

"The state is really arguing that it is unwilling to make and provide copies of this material to the defense," Adams wrote. "Absent the discovery requested, Duncan will be deprived of his rights to the effective assistance of counsel both in preparation of and in presenting a defense."

Douglas declined to say what the cameras showed, describing it only as "sensitive" and "graphic."

The Pacific Northwest Inlander, a free weekly in Spokane, citing unidentified sources, has said the cameras recorded the death of Dylan Groene. Duncan is accused of holding the children captive for seven weeks at remote campsites in Montana.

Shasta Groene was rescued the morning of July 2 while eating with Duncan at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene. She told authorities the children were molested and that Duncan killed her brother. She also helped direct authorities to Dylan's burned remains.

Duncan, a registered sex offender who was on the run from a molestation charge in Minnesota when he was arrested, faces the death penalty if convicted of the three counts of first-degree murder he faces in Idaho.

Duncan has pleaded innocent in the bludgeoning deaths of Brenda Kay Groene, 40, her 13-year-old son, Slade Vincent Groene, and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, 37, in May at their home near Coeur d'Alene.

U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Moss of Boise has said federal prosecutors will wait until the state case is resolved before charging Duncan in federal court with kidnapping Shasta and Dylan, killing Dylan and possibly other crimes.

Douglas said his office made thousands of pages of evidence available to defense attorneys.