Lawsuit against judge rejected

A federal lawsuit against a Becker County, Minn., judge has been dismissed, but attorneys for the plaintiffs plan to renew their claim that low bail for convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III enabled him to kill again.

The plaintiffs say that because Judge Thomas Schroeder set bail at $15,000 on an unrelated child molestation charge, Duncan was able to travel to Idaho where he’s charged with killing three people. The lawsuit was filed in Idaho on behalf of the estates of two of them.

U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill of Idaho dismissed the case against the county on jurisdictional grounds.

The decision didn’t surprise an attorney representing Becker County. “The (Idaho) court never had jurisdiction,” said Jon Iverson, of Bloomington, Minn.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Russell Van Camp, of Spokane, said procedurally the case against Becker County first had to be filed in Idaho. He said he plans to refile the lawsuit in Minnesota soon.

Iverson said state and federal law have long recognized that court officers are immune from lawsuits and refiling the lawsuit would “be throwing good money after bad.”

Van Camp filed the lawsuit on Dec. 5 on behalf of the estates of Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie. It claims both the county and Duncan share responsibility for the bludgeoning deaths of Groene, her teenage son and McKenzie at their home near Couer d’Alene in May 2005.

Duncan is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in Idaho state court in those killings. Federal officials have said that once the state case concludes, the government plans to charge Duncan in the abduction of Shasta Groene and brother Dylan, the killing of Dylan and sex crimes against both children. He’s accused of taking them to a secluded campsite in Montana. Dylan’s remains were recovered there.

Duncan is a computer expert who spent most of his adult life in prisons in Washington state for the sexual abuse of children.