Posted on 11/22/2006 3:06:33 PM PST by beyond the sea
(November 22, 2006) - - A Lockport couple who's suing a CNN journalist is breaking their silence over the death of their daughter and the search for their missing grandson. News 4's Michele McClintick reports.
21 year old Melinda Duckett was the mother of two year old Trenton Duckett, who has been missing since August.
Melinda did a phone interview on CNN's Nancy Grace Show on September 7th. One day later, the young mother took her life.
Her parents in Lockport were outraged by the talk show hosts harsh, accusatory line of questioning. The segment aired just hours after her death.
Melinda's father, Jerry Eubank: "It was 3-4 hours after I heard that Mindy died and I'm watching this woman banging the table, and screaming about why aren't you telling us this, I mean she was judge, jury and executioner."
Melinda's mother, Beth Eubank: "She physically makes me ill. The night she aired the show on September 8th, it was less than four hours since Mindy's death, family members had not even been notified."
CNN had this response to the news that the Lockport couple is now suing Nancy Grace: "While we have no comment on pending litigation, we stand by Nancy Grace and fully support her, as we have from the beginning of this matter."
Good. It's nice to see lawyers and reporters cannibalizing their own.
"we stand by Nancy Grace" --- how can you stand the stench?
Do you think Nancy was correct in going after this young mother?
It may take a little lawyer action to get across the notion that playing "junior prosecutor" and being a "reporter" are not the same thing.
Some years back Tom Brokaw got sued for saying that Richard Jewell was the Atlanta Olympics bomber just because the man had his mother living with him (he was her caretaker, it turned out). Brokaw had no business prosecuting Jewell in the media and Grace has no business doing the same. Just as Brokaw was held accountable for his misdeeds so should Grace.
Nancy is an unmitigated disaster and an embarrassment to the legal profession and a pseudo-journalist. She hasn't changed since she was reprimanded as a prosecutor by the judges in Atlanta for making material misrepresentations to the court and witholding exculpatory facts from a defendant entitled to it under the law. The disciplinary case was reported in Federal Supplement or Federal Rules Decision (I recall reading it in one of those) She, in her own presumed sense of consumate wisdom and insight, had decided the guy was guilty and thus she was justified in her unlawful act. By doing so she became judge and jury in addition to her role as an advocate. CNN should relegate her to the rank of the properly unemployed.
""we stand by Nancy Grace" --- how can you stand the stench?"
We don't expect CNN to do the right thing. As Rush says, words mean something.
Nancy Grace-less is a slime ball media whore and I hope the family can go after her PERSONALLY.
Nancy Grace-less is a slime ball media whore and I hope the family can go after her PERSONALLY.
hiccup
No, but she agreed to the interview. Grace is never Grace-ful, and it will be hard to prove Grace drove her to suicide. How will they prove the girl didn't commit suicide over her own guilt?
So now the girl was guilty because Nasty iplied it?
Last I heard the "young woman" in question was considered the prime suspect in her son's death.
Good hunting, Nancy Grace. From the sound of it she saved the judicial system a lot of time and effort.
Melinda Duckett Killed Melinda Duckett.
Nancy Grace had noting to do with Duckett's taking of her own life.
No, I don't think so, but it is always hard to prove intent. Nancy will just claim that she asked a very real question, one that was begging to be answered. I am not all for Grace here, but I do think it will be hard for these people to prove that Graces interrogation was the reason this young woman commited suicide. I thought Graces questioning was brutal.
Big deal. Just because she's 'the prime suspect' doesn't make her guilty and it doesn't give Nasty the right to prosecute her on TV.
Not to mention the fact that an awful lot of "prime suspects" are just the easiest people for the police to hang a crime on. It doesn't mean they're guilty, it just means that they're convenient.
Really? Looks like this thread is about the judicial system preparing to expend time and effort, isn't it?
Nancy Grace is not responsible for the mental health or her guests.
The woman's choice to take her life was her own decision.
"Inciting" a crime (in this case, suicide) is a crime in all fifty states. That Nancy incited her guest to kill herself will be the crux of the case before the court. I just don't see CNN winning this one.
She in no way incited this woman to do what she did.
BTW-If you and I were having a discussion on FR and I wrote something that offended you and incited you to kill yourself, would FR and I be sued by your family?
If Grace'less hadn't been so ham handed the authorities might have been able to prevail on the woman to tell what happened to the little boy.
In other words, Nancy Grace got caught doing what lawyers do all the time - LIE. She's a member of a profession where the falsehood is literally a tool of the trade. BFD.
My guess is that the girl's guilty conscience drove her to suicide.
While NG is truly a POS, there is no legitimate cause of action here that I'm aware of. Wrongful death? NG isn't responsible for someone else's suicide.
Besides, there's a tricky thing called the first amendment that, while it has some reasonable restrictions, still protects tough questioning. But even if that weren't true, there's no way to prove the suicide was caused by NG.
You haven't a clue, pity.
Yes, people commit suicide because they are very sick or perhaps very guilty.
The same reason people watch Jerry Springer.
Ok, Is it just me or is there a subliminal message in the imagery in the photo of Nancy Grace on the Drudge Report?
I bet Nancy feels very familiar in that position.
I hope this costs CNN a fortune, and nancy grace her job.
"From the sound of it"???
If this boy is found to be alive, it will be because of Nancy Grace. With all due respect, Nancy Grace asked very simple questions of Melinda Duckett. Melinda was uncooperative to say the least.
GRACE: Melinda, where had you been with him that day?
MELINDA DUCKETT: All we had basically been out is driving around. There is something about a convenience store. I don`t know where that came into play because whenever I go out somewhere, you know, I always have gas. I`m not shorthanded with anything. And I`m always prepared for it all.
GRACE: So where had you been that day?
MELINDA DUCKETT: We had been all through Lake county and up into Orange.
GRACE: Doing what?
MELINDA DUCKETT: Basically just shopping, going around driving.
GRACE: Shopping where?
MELINDA DUCKETT: Well we didn`t go anywhere specific.
GRACE: Well I mean if you went shopping you had to go into a store. What store did you go into on Sunday?
MELINDA DUCKETT: We went throughout the county.
GRACE: Any store? I`m thinking of video cameras Melinda. I mean maybe they have a picture of someone watching you, following you back out to your car. I mean what store did you go to, Wal-Mart, JCPenney`s, what?
MELINDA DUCKETT: I`m not going to get in any specifics.
GRACE: Why?
MELINDA DUCKETT: Because I`m not dealing with media very well.
I did not know about all that. Thank you.
It is nearly impossible.
I saw the interview. Those are the words. You do not include the ugly tone of her questions.
I believe that which you deem as ugly, I saw as Nancy Grace's frustration.
Here was NG trying to assist Melinda in finding her child. A mother desperate to locate a child would be beating herself up trying to remember where she was in the hours before Trenton "went missing."
This "mother"...this wonderful mother threw away toys, clothing, dishes which belonged to Trenton within hours of his disappearance. She threw away his sonogram. It's all too similar to Scott Peterson who had his wife's SUV up for sale knowing she wasn't ever coming home.
This was Melinda's bed, and she didn't want to sleep in it.
You may be right..... but read post # 7 for some background on her.
I heard her on the radio with Glenn Beck last week and she really seemed like a really nice, down to earth, and funny southern girl. It was amazing.
I am not sure what to think of her. I'll wait and see.
I don't know if a guilty conscience was responsible, or the utter humiliation of being accused on nation teevee--but I do wonder about the recent spate of sightings of the missing child. What if the child wasn't killed at all? What will Nasty Grace have to say then?
Drat--"nation" should be "national"--the cooking aromas are intoxicating around here! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Grace-less is on a vendetta against the cruise ship line where the hubby took a header off his balcony while his drunken wife was busy elsewhere. She's going to have a real law suit against her one of these days.
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