NBC sued for $105 million over man's death (suicide because of "reality show")

Source: Reuters

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.

"To Catch a Predator" involves Dateline and Internet watchdog Perverted Justice luring suspected pedophiles to a "sting house" by using online decoys. 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.

<snip>

"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.' Death was an hour later," it said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2334094320070724?sp=true

This makes me mad as hell.

(Gets off shiftless lazy ass and does her own research) Apparently so:

...(P)olice said Mr. Conradt had not gone to the Murphy sting house but they believed he would. Police were attempting to serve a search warrant for his computer equipment and an arrest warrant for soliciting sex with a minor.

If Conradt never went to the sting house, what liability does To Catch A Predator have? And if he never left his house before he shot himself, how can we know if he even knew there WAS a camera crew, never mind where it was from? In that respect, maybe Conradt was done a favor by being served before he had a chance to show up anywhere even more incriminating. And why did he shoot himself--was it simply that being a prosecutor, he was that embarassed? They've got no case at all.

:shrug:
rocknation

cameras and turning a sting operation into primetime entertainment for the masses strikes me as too much bread and circus - not enough honest policework.

If the police have reason to believe a person has committed a crime, the suspect ought to be confronted privately by law enforcement - not publically by a tv crew.

I hope the sister wins her suit, and I hope the predators at NBC have to fork over a hundred fucking million dollars.

(if it gets that far) laughs her out of court.

Is Dateline a sleazy show? Sure. But they let parents know that kids should not be unsupervised on the Internet. And I don't mean regulating the hours, but tracking EVERY place your kid goes. If you don't know how to do this, ask a geek.

I hope it also builds support for two-strikes laws, where they lock them up forever. The fact that a significant number of those caught have seen the show means that they really don't have a deterrent mechanism, the predators need to be locked up, and the key thrown away.

when most predators are a lot closer to home, parents need practice due diligence not by monitoring the internet, but by educating their children.

or thats the dumbest thing anyone has every said.

And people who watch it are sick.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x295212

:)

I feel sympathy for this family, but the man made his own choices - no matter how stupid, exploitative, and inappropriate this show is.

My sympathies to the sister, but the lawsuit is ridiculous.

NBC is not responsible for her brother having been a pedophile and mentally disturbed enough to take his own life after having been exposed. His behavior and his death were all of his doing. I know that may be hard for her and her family to accept, but it doesn't change the reality.

He saved us all the millions in $$$ it would have taken to try and then lock his ass up.

the only good pedophile is a dead pedophile... well... I don't believe in capital punishment, so I'd have to say that the only good pedophile is one that is locked up for life in a secure mental institution.

but I have a 16 year old daughter and twins (boy and girl) aged 13, so maybe my value system is a little skewed. But really... pedophiles are the very lowest form of life on earth.

The only good pedophile is a dead pedophile.

But, since the justice system is not infallible, I cannot support the death penalty.

However, I'm not going to get too upset when a pedophile decides to take his own life.

Say NO to cruel entertainments!

No pedophiles, no TV shows designed to expose/catch these perverts.

...the significance of this. For the most part, you sound like a bunch of idiot freepers, reacting emotionally without really thinking about this at all, and it's going to come back to bite you in the ass! I don't think you understand why NBC should lose its shirt over this.

So... insults aside, now that I've got your attention, let's start with this notion:

"Pedophiles are lowest form of scum that the human race has to offer."

I agree. It's true. Anyone who is CONVICTED of preying on youngsters deserves to have their genitals mutilated. They should be locked up, or otherwise removed from society permanently. That's not the problem here.

The problem is this:

"They (the police and TV crew) were met by (Conradt - the accused pedophile). 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.' Death was an hour later," it said."

Law enforcement shows up to arrest a suspect with a TV crew in tow? "That'll make good TV???" FUCK YOU OFFICER!!! Where is the line here? Just because it's someone suspected of the lowest form of behavior, that means that they can be exploited so that NBC CAN MAKE A PROFIT? What if it wasn't someone suspected of something so disgusting? What if it was YOU and you were innocent?

You see, what this does is set a precedent. If NBC gets away with this, what will they do next? Seemingly good people (YOU!) are allowing these capitalists to take the most basic issues of life and death, justice and fairness, and turning it into a spectator fucking sport. If they get away with this, the next time it will be something that isn't quite as disgusting, and there we are, on the slippery slope.

The next time, it may be your son or daughter, the one who enlisted for the meatgrinder in Iraq. "America's Grossest Military Injuries." Yeah, you'll want your kid being exploited so that the shareholders at NBC can get even richer. Right. "Liberal Death Squad." See how many liberals Ann Coulter can murder in one hour. Ridiculous, right? Just keeping cheering for the pedophiles to commit suicide on camera, and that's where we'll end up.

This is just about the most disgusting thread I've ever seen here on DU, and you people should be ashamed of yourselves. You fell hook, line and sinker for this bullshit, and THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO, SO THEY CAN KEEP RAKING IN THE BIG BUCKS!

Suckers...

These Dateline shows have always turned me off. I'm no child molester fan but I don't think there is a benefit to such exploitation of it for profit. These people are sick, tormented human beings. I despise what they do but when we rob people of their humanity I think it negates any real power of understanding. Without understanding then we'll never be able to prevent this behavior, diagnose it, or at least recognize easier. I think the show just puts these people on display for thrill and profit and I support the lawsuit. He wasn't hurting anyone, for all we know he only had thoughts and fantasies, is that worthy of death? the question is would he have killed himself if a TV crew and the police didn't come to his door? Every day his sister tells herself no, so I can understand why she would want some sort of justice.

He never went to the Dateline sting house, and that stupid remark was made TO Dateline, not BY a member of their crew. There might be a case against Perverted Justice's methods, but all NBC is guilty of is accompanying the police to the takedown.

:headbang:
rocknation

public displays of vigilantism for entertainment are disgusting.

let the police do their jobs -- and let the media report the news.

People complain about our slide into fascism, and yet when it happens in an area that they don't like, they applaud it.

Fascism is fucking fascism. And fascism as entertainment should not be tolerated.

I am concerned about the financial motivation behind Perverted Justice and NBC in this as well as the potential for it to do more harm than good. The "Criticisms" section on the Wikipedia entry of PJ are quite important when considering the merits and morality of the show itself and the guilt of their targets. I hate to see such exploitation of people in the name of ridiculous profits for all involved at the expense of hundreds of people and their families.

Are they for profit?

Holy shit...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/technology/13justice.html?ex=1323666000&en=a5d324dfb0a25999&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

"...NBC was paying the group roughly $70,000 for each hour of television produced."

In looking, I also found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverted-Justice
Criticism

Perverted-Justice, as well as its volunteers, have been criticized over the years by a number of individuals and organizations.

The critics of the site include the U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), among others. Tina Schwartz, NCMEC director of communication, has said: "It's really not the safest, most effective way to combat this problem ... From what I've seen ... they embarrass the people, but I don't know that complete justice is ever served".<30>...

Scott Morrow runs Corrupted-Justice, a Web site set up to challenge Perverted-Justice. Morrow told ABC News there is currently no way to hold Von Erck or any other administrators, operators, or volunteers at Perverted-Justice accountable for mistakes. "When you're running an organization or running a group of people with the potential to do as much damage to people's lives as this does, I think there also has to be some accountability....

Lee Tien, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is quoted as being concerned that the organization could send real predators into hiding...

Some law-enforcement agencies have also stated that, while they appreciate the site's mission, they do not agree with some of the operators' and volunteers' practices. In a December 2004 article in the New York Sun, Bradley Russ, the training director for the federal Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, which employs about 200 federal agents nationwide, said the tactics of Perverted-Justice sometimes run counter to the task force's standards. For instance, Russ said, by accepting child pornography from their "busts" to bolster a potential legal case, the volunteers are themselves in possession of unlawful images. He said federal authorities have begun considering whether to seize Perverted-Justice contributors' computers. "It's a noble effort gone too far," Russ told the newspaper. He also said the site's tactics can make it more difficult for law enforcement to prosecute cases they present because those cases can be considered tainted by entrapment claims.<36> According to Russ, "I have a real problem with any citizens' group conducting any investigation into any crime... It's a mistake for law enforcement to abdicate its responsibility to citizens." <37> Said Russ, "I think it's a huge mistake when law enforcement partners with citizens to do investigations. ... I'm very concerned about entrapment issues."

In May of 2007, Perverted Justice was criticized in an employment lawsuit brought by former Dateline producer Marsha Bartel. In the filing, Bartel alleges that NBC provides financial incentives to the group to use trickery and to humiliate targets to “enhance the comedic effect of the public exposure." According to Bartel, some of the men caught in the Predator sting operations have reported that the decoys begged them to come to the sting houses, even after they had decided to walk away. Perverted Justice responded to the criticism by labeling Bartel a disgruntled former employee motivated by financial gain.

I'm not sure what the law allows in cases like these.

Trashy reality TV is getting to be a pretty serious blight on the airwaves. As far as To Catch a Predator is concerned, mark my words: someday, somewhere a case is going to get thrown out of court as result of some reckless collaboration between media and law enforcement. I wonder what they'll say for themselves then?

Do we want spectacle and titillation, or convictions that will stick? 'Cause we can't necessarily have both.

As it should be. Frivolous lawsuits are bad for the country.

Nothing but sensationalism masquerading as justice.

This work needs to be left up to law enforcement alone. Let the undercover cops pose as underage kids but leave civilian vigilantes ("Perverted Justice" indeed) out of it.