That has not been proven, particularly not in the case of former Kaufman County District Attorney Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr. After all, Conradt did not even go into the house. He did not talk to the decoy.
Under the rules, such as they were, NBC would have let this one go. But a former county District Attorney was too big a fish to let off the hook, so they pursued him to his home. They barged into his home with cameras rolling instead of arresting him at the door, in order to get good footage of him running away. Unfortunately, at the end of the hall was a room with a gun, and Conradt wound up killing himself.
So, a man is dead. Let's pause over the body and look at what went wrong, here. Assuming that you consider a dead guy a problem, of course...
1. We don't know the guy was guilty. There are a lot of alternate explainations for his behavior, one of which is that he was actually trying to help a child whom he thought was being exploited. This is the very thing a proper arrest and trial would determine.
2. The police did not follow their own rules. The police did not even follow NBC's made-up rules when deciding to raid Conradt's house. Those rules are there for a reason, which is to protect the innocent from police harrassment. Without sufficient cause, the police are simply not allowed to barge in and ruin your life. Nor should they.
3. The police did not control the arrest. This is the most unforgivable error, IMHO, and the one that is going to put NBC on the hook for a huge settlement. As a former DA, it was entirely forseeable that Conradt would have a gun in the house. But instead of asking him to voluntarily surrender, the police raided the house without controlling the subject first. The chase down the hallway and the subsequent suicide was entirely avoidable. But NBC was interested in dramatic footage for TV, and so they came in with their bright lights and cameras and hounded this man to death.
And note, the man they hounded to the point of death is the one for which they had the least reliable evidence.
I don't know. An innocent man wouldn't blow his brains out. I think it is safe to assume he was guilty. He was a DA, not a garbage truck driver. He could have OWNED NBC if he was innocent and he knew that.
He knew he was busted.
Innocent, mentally stable people don’t shoot themselves.
I have no sympathy for the devil. This guy propositioned a minor over the internet. That’s guilt. That’s what compelled him to kill himself...guilt and the premise of getting caught.