Jury selection in the death penalty trial of convicted sex offender Joseph Duncan was canceled Monday, giving rise to speculation that a plea deal is in the works.

Federal public defender Roger Peven confirmed Monday morning that jury selection in Duncan's triple-murder and kidnapping trial had been canceled. Instead, a hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. PT.

"I can't say what it's about right now," Peven told Courttvnews.com Monday morning, as he made his way to the hearing in Kootenai County District Court in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Duncan is accused of tying up Brenda Groene, her 13-year-old son, Slade, and boyfriend Mark McKenzie, and beating them to death before kidnapping Dylan, 9, and Shasta Groene, 8, in May 2005.

He was arrested with Shasta almost seven weeks later at a Denny's restaurant. Authorities later discovered Dylan's remains at a Montana campsite.

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Defense lawyers have made several overtures to prosecutors for a plea bargain that would diminish the likelihood Duncan would receive the death penalty.

Last week, Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney William Douglas rejected a settlement offer from John Adams, Duncan's lawyer in state court, in which he would have pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping in exchange for a fixed sentence of life without parole.

According to Adams, Duncan would stipulate to facts in the case as set forth by the prosecutor, who has alleged that Duncan killed the family so he could kidnap the two youngest children and molest them.

As part of the agreement, Duncan would provide authorities access to encrypted files on his laptop related to the period when Duncan and the two children were on the lam. Moreover, he would admit to killing Dylan Groene, "as well as other crimes committed against Shasta and Dylan Groene."

The proposed settlement offer also stipulated that Duncan would acknowledge that he could still face the death penalty in federal court for charges stemming from his time with the two younger children.

Forgoing a trial would also spare Shasta Groene the ordeal of testifying in the trial and facing her accused attacker. Last week, a judge ruled that the 9-year-old was competent to testify.

The case gained national notoriety after it was revealed that Duncan, a convicted sex offender who had spent most of his adult life in prison for raping a 12-year-old boy, was wanted in Minnesota for the attempted rapes of two minors when the murders occurred.