08:52 AM MST on Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Associated Press

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. -- A deadline is looming for serving a county in Minnesota with a wrongful death lawsuit over the release of Joseph Duncan the third is approaching.

AP

Joseph Duncan

Officials in Becker County say they haven't gotten the paperwork, which is required by April fourth, and the county's lawyer, Jon Iverson, says that's unusual at this late date.

Russell Van Camp of Spokane, one of the lawyers handling the lawsuit on behalf of the estates of Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie, says they'll make the deadline.

The lawsuit was filed against Duncan and the county in December in U.S. District Court in Idaho.

It claims that a county judge set Duncan's bail too low at $15,000 on an unrelated child molestation charge.

It also claims that the county failed to supervise him adequately after he posted bail.

Duncan, a Tacoma native, is charged with first-degree murder in Idaho.

He spent most of his adult life in prison for raping a boy in Tacoma and moved to Fargo, North Dakota, after being released from prison in 2000.