Parents sue Nancy Grace, say show led to suicide
By Stephen Hudak
Tribune Newspapers: Orlando Sentinel
Published November 22, 2006
ORLANDO -- The parents of a woman who committed suicide after an interview with Nancy Grace filed suit Tuesday against the CNN Headline News talk show host. They say the ex-prosecutor is responsible for their daughter's death because of an insensitive, fist-pounding television interview.
The wrongful-death lawsuit accuses Grace and her producers of luring Melinda Duckett onto the show by misrepresenting their intentions to help find her missing 2-year-old son, Trenton.
"I believe it to be an ambush," plaintiffs lawyer Kara Skorupa said. The lawsuit, which claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeks an undisclosed amount of monetary and punitive damages from Grace and Cable News Network.
Melinda Duckett's parents, Beth and William Eubank of Lockport, N.Y., also want a judge to stop Grace and the network from rebroadcasting the interview. They say they and their younger daughter have sought psychological counseling to deal with emotional distress from the "continual and excessive airing of the interview."
CNN Headline News said in a statement, "We stand by Nancy Grace and fully support her, as we have from the beginning of this matter."
The show probed Trenton's Aug. 27 disappearance from his mother's Leesburg, Fla., apartment. Melinda Duckett killed herself with a shotgun at her grandparents' home in The Villages, Fla., Sept. 8, a day after Grace's interview. The taped interview was broadcast hours after the suicide.
The boy's father, Joshua Duckett, has also appeared on the show. He lashed out at the suit and his ex-wife's parents, who never met him or Trenton. The boy remains missing.
Skorupa and law partner Jay Paul Deratany described the interview as an attack in which Grace implied that the 21-year-old mother had murdered her only child.
Police have since labeled Melinda Duckett as the prime suspect in his disappearance.
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...,1,1588925.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
By Stephen Hudak
Tribune Newspapers: Orlando Sentinel
Published November 22, 2006
ORLANDO -- The parents of a woman who committed suicide after an interview with Nancy Grace filed suit Tuesday against the CNN Headline News talk show host. They say the ex-prosecutor is responsible for their daughter's death because of an insensitive, fist-pounding television interview.
The wrongful-death lawsuit accuses Grace and her producers of luring Melinda Duckett onto the show by misrepresenting their intentions to help find her missing 2-year-old son, Trenton.
"I believe it to be an ambush," plaintiffs lawyer Kara Skorupa said. The lawsuit, which claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeks an undisclosed amount of monetary and punitive damages from Grace and Cable News Network.
Melinda Duckett's parents, Beth and William Eubank of Lockport, N.Y., also want a judge to stop Grace and the network from rebroadcasting the interview. They say they and their younger daughter have sought psychological counseling to deal with emotional distress from the "continual and excessive airing of the interview."
CNN Headline News said in a statement, "We stand by Nancy Grace and fully support her, as we have from the beginning of this matter."
The show probed Trenton's Aug. 27 disappearance from his mother's Leesburg, Fla., apartment. Melinda Duckett killed herself with a shotgun at her grandparents' home in The Villages, Fla., Sept. 8, a day after Grace's interview. The taped interview was broadcast hours after the suicide.
The boy's father, Joshua Duckett, has also appeared on the show. He lashed out at the suit and his ex-wife's parents, who never met him or Trenton. The boy remains missing.
Skorupa and law partner Jay Paul Deratany described the interview as an attack in which Grace implied that the 21-year-old mother had murdered her only child.
Police have since labeled Melinda Duckett as the prime suspect in his disappearance.
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...,1,1588925.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
lol.