Friday, October 7, 2005 - 12:00 AM
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By The Associated Press
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The brother of a man who was killed with his girlfriend and her son has filed a $500,000 tort claim accusing a Minnesota judge and prosecutor of negligence in the earlier release of Joseph E. Duncan III.
Steve McKenzie, the brother of Mark McKenzie, also accused Becker County, Minn., officials who dealt with Duncan after he was arrested and accused of molesting two boys in March of negligently failing to supervise Duncan after his release on $15,000 bail.
Duncan, 42, a convicted sex offender, lived in nearby Fargo, N.D., at the time.
Tort claims are required by law to be submitted to a government entity for consideration prior to filing a lawsuit in court. If the government entity rejects the tort-claim notice or fails to respond within a certain period of time, the claimants can proceed to litigation.
Duncan has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the bludgeoning deaths of McKenzie, his girlfriend Brenda Groene, 40, and her 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, in May at their home near Coeur d'Alene.
Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, have written that Duncan killed the three so he could kidnap Shasta Groene, 8, and her brother, Dylan, 9, for sexual purposes.
U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Moss of Boise has said federal prosecutors will wait until the state case is resolved before charging Duncan with kidnapping Shasta and Dylan, killing Dylan and possibly other crimes. Dylan's remains were found in western Montana.
Duncan was captured July 2 in a Coeur d'Alene restaurant with Shasta, who has been returned to her father.
Becker County officials would not comment, saying they hadn't seen the claim.
Duncan was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Washington state for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in 1980. He was released in 1996 before probation violations put him back into prison until he was released again in 2000.
Charged in March with molesting two boys in Detroit Lakes, Minn., he was released on a $15,000 bail by Judge Thomas Schroeder.