NBC sued for $105 million over man's death ("To Catch a Predator" show)

Reuters ^ | Jul 23, 2007 | Edith Honan

[tlb]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The sister of a former U.S. state prosecutor who killed himself after he was targeted by a television show as a suspected pedophile is suing NBC Universal for $105 million.

Louis William Conradt, 56, shot himself in November 2006 after he was confronted at his Terrell, Texas, home by police, whom the lawsuit said were carrying television cameras for a "To Catch a Predator" segment of NBC's Dateline program.

NBC has said Conradt had contacted a decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy.

But Conradt did not visit the "sting house" the show set up in Murphy, Texas, 35 miles from Terrell. The lawsuit said 24 men were lured to the Murphy home and arrested, but no charges were brought as a result of the operation.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Patricia Conradt on behalf of Conrad's estate, accuses NBC's Dateline of "steam-rolling" police to arrest Conradt, a retired district attorney for Kaufman County.

The lawsuit said police and members of the Dateline crew traveled to Conradt's house "with neither a search warrant nor an arrest warrant" that met legal standards.

"Both police officers and other members of the party were wearing cameras ... very large cameras, on the cutting edge of technology, that normally are worn only by television reporters," the lawsuit said.

"They were met by (Conradt). He told them 'I'm not gonna hurt anyone' and shot himself. Then a police office said to a Dateline producer, 'That'll make good TV.'

This is the second lawsuit filed against NBC in the last three months over the "Dateline" predator series. In May, the show's former producer, Marsha Bartel, sued the network in Illinois federal court, alleging she was fired after she raised ethical concerns about the show's methods.

[tlb]

I wish them luck. This program is far too close to a Howard Beal "Network" show.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

These days “Network” seems more like a documentary than fiction.

[FlyVet]

This program is far too close to a Howard Beal "Network" show.

Yeah, it was. One or two episodes, okay. But they turned it into a "Child Molestation is Entertainment" show. Sorry, seemed a bit sick to me and tuned it out.

"57 Channels, and Nuthin' On."

[raybbr]

How is someone else responsible for a person’s actions?

[WildcatClan]

Why weren’t charges filed against the 24? They thought they were meeting there with a child for sex I assume. So why weren’t they charged if they were arrested? This is not something for entertainment and is inappropriate for TV. That said, I hope she doesn’t get a penny if her brother was really out to offend.

[hawkeye101]

I agree. Watching (alleged) child predators on tv all of the time tends to lessen the severity of this repugnant behavior.

I don't have a problem catching scum who prey on the innocent getting caught, and incarcerated for life, or castrated, or even executed. But this show smells of entrapment, and through the "magic" of film editing, television can make innocent people look guilty. It doesn't appear that any of these people look innocent, but it was the media that 'convicted' Richard Jewell, and made O.J. appear innocent.

[GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco]

Au contraire, mon frer.

That show entertains the poo outta me. It’s not “Child Molestation is Entertainment” it’s “Catching Child Molesters is Entertainment.”

The fact that they don’t prosecute them after catching them red handed is the disgrace in this whiole thing.

As for the turd who shot himself, good ridance.

[FlyVet]

What else can you conclude except that the Black Robes don't give a rat's @$$ about the consequences of their actions?

Typical definition Level 3 Sex Offender: " The Board has determined that this individual is at a high risk to REOFFEND and that the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active community notification.

And yet they freely let these creeps back out into the community.

I've said a Level 2 (a fairly high risk) has been let into my neighborhood, and previously I saw lots of kids roaming around my neighborhood, but no more. Parents are afraid to let their kids out of their sight.

Level 1....well.....I'm a little more lenient on that. That could be an 18 year old boy with a 17 year old girlfriend. Though I didn't, I could easily have fallen into that trap back then, some 25 years ago. Partially luck, partially conscience, and I'm sure many of us could say that.

But there is no excuse for someone like the Level 2 in my neighborhood who is in his 40s and convicted of child molestation...what in the H is he doing out here?

I'm a big advocate for putting a Sex Offender's Half Way House in every Black Robe's neighborhood.

What? That's not going to happen? Why not?

[nyyankeefan]

could not care less about the predator that offed himself...but....

the smarmy chris hansen and the entrapment entertainment of nbc demonstrates that it is just doing the work law enforcement should be doing but nbc decides to do it NOT for public decency or for the good of society but rather what type of ratings and revenues it can draw!!!!

guess capitalism is working...but since nbc supports lib/dems and the lawyers of the US....let them defend the suit in court!!!!

[Alberta's Child]

Why weren’t charges filed against the 24? They thought they were meeting there with a child for sex I assume. So why weren’t they charged if they were arrested?

In order to film these things in a manner that makes for good television, I suspect the television network has to do quite a few things that would violate standard legal protocols if the cases were ever to come up in a courtroom.

[FlyVet]

Whatever spins your prop. I just got an ill feeling that they were milking the sickness for ratings, rather than being the Great Saviours of Society they were portraying themselves to be.

Notice they have switched to other subjects lately, like "To Catch an Identity Thief" and all that.

That's ratings and I'll bet you a lot of people thought like I did, that pounding on this sex offender thing week after week (for RATINGS, it seemed to me) was just a leeeeetle bit...creepy after a while.

[Alberta's Child]

See #10.

Anyone who was ever prosecuted as a result of one of these operations would likely stand a good chance of not only having the charges thrown out in court, but could even make a very strong case that the TV network itself was involved in its own criminal enterprise (solicitation for sex, for example).

[FlyVet]

could even make a very strong case that the TV network itself was involved in its own criminal enterprise (solicitation for sex, for example).

That seems a bit of a stretch, are you a lawyer? Because, even our local NBC affiliate did their version of "To Catch a Predator" and they came crawling out of the woodwork. But, I've never heard of the networks being sued for this. It's kinda hard for these creeps to make excuses when they've been caught on camera.

[Alberta's Child]

What happens if the police and TV network engage in this kind of sting operation, and it turns out that the person who shows up at the house looking for a teenage girl is actually a teenage kid who was reading the e-mails they thought they were sending to a convicted child molester?

[gridlock]

Hey, Generalisimo! How you feeling these days?

Suppose, for the sake of argument, this guy actually was lured into going to this house looking for sex...

And suppose when NBC came to "arrest" him, they ignored every safeguard procedure designed by the police to make sure the subject did not harm himself.

Suppose, further, that NBC hounded and humiliated the man, in a way the police would never do because it would likely lead to suicide or violence.

Would the fact that this man was lured to the house by NBC make them any less responsible for his death?

I know we all like to beat our chests and say it is a good thing when child molesters die and we should just string them up by various bodily parts, etc. etc... But do we really want our police to be hounding people to the point of suicide instead of bringing them to a court of law and proving their guilt in the conventional fashion?

And now, suppose that this former prosecutor was perhaps not interested in obtaining sex for himself, but was genuinely worried about the possibility that there might be exploited children in his neighborhood.

Suppose, for the sake of argument, he was merely trying to gather information that he could turn over to his former collegues in the Prosecutor's Office in order to save the children he thought were involved. But then he saw the police and the cameras, realized he had been entrapped.

As a former Prosecutor, he would have known that he was well and truly screwed at that point, that he would be tarred irrevokably as a child molester, and that his life was basically over, even though he was innocent of any crime.

How would you feel about his suicide then?

Because we will never know, now. All we have is NBC's word for it... And they lie, you know... All the time...

[FlyVet]

the person who shows up at the house looking for a teenage girl is actually a teenage kid who was reading the e-mails they thought they were sending to a convicted child molester?

Then it seems to me the teenaged boy whom they thought was an adult but who is not an adult and shows up to meet the teenaged girl is okay, right or wrong. And the stingers have nothing to say about it. But I'll bet the stingers are pissed. :P

[Alberta's Child]

Then it seems to me the teenaged boy whom they thought was an adult but who is not an adult and shows up to meet the teenaged girl is okay, right or wrong.

The teenage boy in this case might be "OK," but the TV network and the police sure aren't. They would be clearly guilty of soliciting sex with a minor, and every one of them should be sent to prison.

This is exactly what happens when you have these stupid sting operations set up this way along the fringes of what would be illegal behavior on the part of the police, prosecutors, etc. How can anyone be charged with a crime in these situations when there is no victim of the crime in question?

[RetSignman]

This show is pretty painful to watch but I think it probably has had a major effect on men visiting and responding on these websites and I think NBC should be granted a ‘atta boy’ for their effort.

It is hard for me to say that any part of the MSM is doing anything remotely productive and in the public interest but this kind of investigative reporting is reminiscent of what 60 Minutes used to do before they became a segment of the democrat party.

Now if only parents could gather up enough courage to prohibit their children from visiting sites where this kind of activity takes place, it could eliminate the need for shows like this.

[Liz]

It's kinda hard for these creeps to make excuses when they've been caught on camera.

"To Catch a Predator" is NOT entrapment, for several reasons:

(1) The shows take place only in certain states ---because those states have specific laws about soliciting children for sex online.

(2) The perps arriving have already committed crimes-----some of which involve (a) sending pictures of their genitals, or themselves in lewd poses, to individuals they believe are children; (b) conducted graphic on-line solicitations of children (real raw stuff that cannot be aired, it's that bad).

(3) Intent is very important to L/E. Even though the cameras show them denying it, the "intent" to have sex with a child is the "evidence" in their possession: condoms, sexual paraphernalia, massage lotions. Alcohol and food is sometimes brought which also serves to confirm their intentions since the items were mentioned online in conjunction with soliciting sex.

(4) Many of the perps indicate online they know it's illegal to solicit a child---thus indicting themselves.

[Gorzaloon]

But do we really want our police to be hounding people to the point of suicide instead of bringing them to a court of law and proving their guilt in the conventional fashion?

No, we do not want them to be like the IRS.