CNN being sued for woman's suicide

[theHawk]

TAVARES, Florida (CNN) -- Relatives of a missing boy's mother who committed suicide after taping an interview for Headline News' "Nancy Grace" show sued CNN and Grace on Tuesday, claiming the former prosecutor's questioning of the woman contributed to her death.

The wrongful-death suit was filed in Lake County, Florida by Bethann and Jerry Eubank, the parents of Melinda Duckett and the representatives of her estate. It seeks unspecified damages and funeral costs.

Duckett committed suicide September 8 after taping a telephone interview for Grace's show. The suit claims that Duckett agreed to appear on the show after being promised her appearance might help find her 2-year-old son, Trenton Duckett.

Those promises were made by Headline News employees, the suit said, "knowing that they intended to surprise Melinda Duckett with accusations, questions and verbal assaults clearly intending to intimate that she murdered her child."

"We've alleged that Nancy Grace and her producers deliberately misrepresented the reasons for wanting Melinda on the show," Eubank family attorney Jay Paul Deratany said in a written statement.

"Why aren't you telling us and giving us a clear picture of where you were before your son was kidnapped?" Grace asked. Later, she told Duckett she was not divulging her whereabouts "for a reason."

"The spitfire questioning, fist-pounding and cross-examination tactics, all in hopes of obtaining a public confession, were despicable," said Eubank attorney Kara Skorupa.

Just hours before the interview was supposed to air, Duckett shot herself in a closet of her grandparents' home, the attorneys said.

"Even after learning of Melinda's death, CNN and the show's producers made the decision to air the interview between Melinda and Nancy Grace," Deratany said. "It was with complete disregard for the family and without their consent or authorization, which is morally repugnant."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/21/nancygrace.sued/index.html

 

[Hobbit]

Oh...please. That's just stupid. She committed suicide because she couldn't handle her child being kidnapped like that, not because Nancy Grace, an interested party trying to publicize her case, asked her about it. It's tragic, not lawsuit material.

 

[William Joyce]

Whole thing's pretty sordid, but the lawsuit should be dismissed.