Woman's Family Sues CNN, Nancy Grace

[LiviaOlivia]

Woman's Family Sues CNN, Nancy Grace
By STEPHEN MAJORS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Relatives of a missing boy's mother who killed herself after aggressive questioning by CNN's Nancy Grace sued the network and the talk-show host Tuesday, claiming Grace caused emotional distress that led to the suicide.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide Sept. 8, a day after Grace's show on CNN Headline News aired a segment in which Grace grilled Duckett about her whereabouts Aug. 27 _ the day 2-year-old Trenton Duckett was reported missing.

Authorities, who said last week they believe the boy is alive, have named Melinda Duckett as the prime suspect in his disappearance.

Jay Paul Deratany, the attorney representing Duckett's estate, said Tuesday that Grace encouraged Duckett to appear on her show by saying the goal was to draw public attention to help find Trenton.

~snip~

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112100643.html

[Christa]

1. Rightly so as well

Nancy was way out of bounds, I don't know how CNN can condone her behaviuor.

[depakid]

7. CNN put's Falwall and Coulter on as well

Despite their outrages.

Not so many years ago (when we had responsible media regulation) people like that would have been blackballed from the airwaves.

[Drum]

2. Now the shrew's on the other foot....nt

[Az_lefty]

3. Good...hope it sticks.

[truebrit71]

4. I hope she has to pay out of her flaming nostrils....

...I really dislike nancy grace and her fake outrage and the flaming nostrils of "justice"... I hope this will also lead to her removal from any and all airwaves and cable programming on the planet...

[ronnykmarshall]

25. Stand back!! She's gonna BLOW!

[mconvente]

5. Thank god - Nancy Grace is unfathomably awful

Every male suspect is ALWAYS guilty, no matter any evidence that points otherwise. Hell, there could be DNA evidence PROVING that a suspect is not guilty in this crime, and boom, Nancy Grace still says you're guilty.

Serves her right to get sued. The mother kills herself one day after being on the show - it has to have something to do with it. Get Nancy Grace off the air - my ears will thank you.

[Umbram]

22. Actually several DU'ers remind me of her...

anytime the alleged crime is rape or molestation.

No need for a trial or evidence, guilt is just assumed.

[warrens]

6. What she did is simply criminal

That is not what a TV host is supposed to be doing, trying and convicting people on national television. Whether this woman was guilty of anything or not, Grace had no business doing what she did. She's a vicious sociopath.

[Scairp]

8. I actually used to kind of like her

But she has gotten so bombastic and outrageous that she just completely alienated me. I do not understand why anyone goes on her show anymore. She even verbally abuses those who are supposed to be on her side of an issue. But if you watch her on Court TV, she is much more restrained. I guess they don't let her get away with murder over there.

[rocktivity]

9. But she also could have killed herself out of guilt

or consciousness of guilt. It will get laughed out of the courtroom--too much reasonable doubt.

:headbang:
rocknation

[depakid]

11. Reasonable doubt is not the standard

A preponderance of the evidence is 51% to 49%.

A clever attorney could pick a sympathetic jury, and Ms. Grace's own behavior and CNN's acquiescence could well be all the evidence anyone would need. Given the facts I know, I'd "convict" for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The elements of the tort are there...

[AngryAmish]

12. No reasonable doubt

In a civil case the standard is generally preponderance of the evidence - more likely true than not true.

Also, there must be a connection between Ms. Grace's treatment of her and her suicide. In the law it is known as proximate cause. In IL, the negligence jury instruction is

"When I use the expression "proximate cause," I mean any cause which, in natural or probable sequence, produced the injury complained of. It need not be the only cause, nor the last or nearest cause. It is sufficient if it concurs with some other cause acting at the same time, which in combination with it, causes the injury."
There could a hundred reasons why she killed herself but if Ms. Grace's tirade was one of the reasons then a jury could find negligence.

There are a dozen potential problems with this case but the burden of proof is not one of them.

[Scairp]

14. This is true

I highly doubt this will ever go to trial. Nobody forced Melinda Duckett to go on that show, or to continue the interview when it got so intense. It was a telephone interview, and frankly, she could have hung up on the witch.

[TheWraith]

19. The police don't think so.

At this point, the police don't believe anymore that the woman had anything to do with her son's disappearence.

[AngryOldDem]

10. Good. I was hoping they would

Grace bullied this woman into suicide. May this finish off Grace professionally once and for all, and may she FINALLY get the help that she so desperately needs. I don't think I've ever seen an angrier personality than Grace's.

[Generator]

21. Are you freaking serious

Is the cult of victimhood mentality so high that you really believe you can bully someone into suicide? Yes, call me a murdering pedophille and I will slit my wrists. Someone suggested she could have hung up on her. That would have beat leaving your kid forever by dying. I guess she didn't want to find her son THAT bad, she'd rather DIE and leave him forever for being "bullied". Which reminds me, isn't the good left position that we have TOO many people in prison, so NOW you would like to put thousands of people in JAIL for life and MURDER for saying mean things to people? No wonder we get laughed at as Americans for the nanny state and trying to legislate everything. Sorry, but the reponses to this are ridiculous.

[cmkramer]

23. Nancy has a schtick

which is based on her being a fromer prosecutor and also a victim of a violent crime. She goes ridiculously overboard as far as assuming everyone is accused is guilty but it's not like people don't know that. It's like going on Howard Stern and being shocked when he asks you questions about your sex life. If it's something that's going to affect you negatively, then don't go on the show.

I wonder what cheap ambulance chasers are involved in this one.

[AngryOldDem]

24. You're absolutely right

I take back what I said.

The woman was probably hoping that by going on Grace's show, someone would help her find her son. Silly her, she should have known that it was going to turn into a third-degree interrogation, with Grace making the woman out to be the prime suspect in front of millions of people, without one shred of evidence to support that supposition, other than her wild idea that everyone is guilty until proven innocent. The woman just should have bucked up, put aside her grief and whatever other guilt she may have felt over not having her son, and withstood it. What a weak, weak woman.

ON EDIT: And yes, I do think a person can be browbeaten into such an extreme act as suicide, depending on their state of mind and other psychological factors.

[kdpeters]

26. Yes. I'm quite serious.

Nancy Grace was a ticking time bomb. She has anointed herself investigator, prosecutor, jury, judge and executioner in many cases before this. It was only a matter of time before someone wound up dead. She doesn't care about law, justice or any god-damned victims unless she can use them for sensational television. She cares about Nancy Grace and no one else.

The family is suing for at least one count of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Seems painfully clear they have a damn good case to argue. They deserve their day in court. Nancy Grace needs to start taking responsibility for her own actions and stop trying to blame the woman she tried to convict to entertain her audience.

What an ignorant, inhuman, sadistic, narcissistic, soulless human being.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. Nancy Grace is what happens...

When you give someone with Histrionic Personality Disorder their own TV show.

I certainly hope both she and CNN get millions dragged out of their asses with a D-10 Legal Caterpillar. In PTO. If only for the entertainment value, but the object lesson in journalistic responsibility would be a lot more valuable.

[Vidar]

15. Hope Grace is raked over the coals & left penniless.

[NOLADEM]

16. Awesome...May they even be awarded her nostrils

Nancy, who used to drag you around by your nostrils? Jebus baby, you is UGLY inside and out.

Hope Nancy loses everything. She deserves it.

No talent hack who only became famous for being a media whore during the OJ trial.

[madrchsod]

17. jenny jones case

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Jones_%28presenter%29
Jenny Jones (presenter) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AnneD]

18. It is not the place....

of a journalist to act as a prosecuting attorney. Those questions are best asked in a court of law, WITH MELINDA'S ATTORNEY PRESENT. The Melinda was lured to the show under the guise of publicizing the kidnapping. I've seen the video and guilty or not, the questions were unconscionable and more like a torture than investigating. And the fact that Nancy Grace shows NO remorse is all the more reason to take her down and taken off the air. Remember the case of the Jenny Jones show. She had a secret crush show and someone wound up dead. I think her show never recovered after that. I hope Nacy ends up in the same dust bin.
Edited to add like minds think alike-some are just quicker.

[Supply Side Jesus]

20. Bloody Leech Woman

hope she's the one gets drained dry.

[Alfalfa Wolf]

27. This lawsuit is nonsense

Say what you will about Nancy, but she had every right to ask the questions she did. She broke no laws in asking the mother about her role in her child's disappearance. Besides, it turns out the mother did indeed have something to do with it. She was an irresponsible parent, period.

[newyorican]

28. Nancy?

:nopity:

[newyawker99]

29. Hi Alfalfa Wolf!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: