SPOKANE – The estates of two people who prosecutors allege were killed by Joseph Edward Duncan III sued Becker County, Minn., on Monday for releasing the registered sex offender a few weeks before Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie were slain in their Idaho home.
Authorities contend Duncan killed the couple so he could kidnap Shasta Groene, 8, and Dylan Groene, 9, for sex.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Idaho, contends Becker County was negligent in releasing Duncan on just $15,000 bail on a child molestation charge, and negligent in not monitoring him closely.
The lawsuit also seeks to prevent Duncan from profiting from his alleged crimes from book or movie deals.
“This horrible, horrible thing happens again and again in our mobile society,” said Russell Van Camp, who is representing the estates of Groene and McKenzie, and McKenzie’s brother, Steve McKenzie, who lives in Washington.
John Iverson of Bloomington, Minn., who is representing Becker County, said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. But he was surprised the civil lawsuit was filed in Idaho.
He said the lawsuit should have been filed in Becker County or in federal court in Minnesota.
But the lawsuit said Idaho was the proper venue because all the parties involved lived in different states, and the slayings occurred in Idaho.
Duncan, a Tacoma native who spent much of his adult life in prison for raping a boy, had lived in Fargo, N.D., since his release from prison in 2000.
According to the lawsuit, Duncan was arrested and later charged with child molestation in the case of a 6-year-old boy in Detroit Lakes, Minn. At a hearing on April 5, 2005, Duncan was released when a friend put up the $15,000 bail set by Becker County Judge Thomas Schroeder.
“It was foreseeable that Duncan would commit additional criminal acts once released,” the lawsuit said.
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