Lawsuit Filed Against Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator”

I must admit I am one of those who believed that Dateline NBC was doing the right thing in creating entrapment operations against online predators. But what happened to Bill Conradt Jr. proved to be more than that – he was harassed to a point that he killed himself.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin of New York has ruled that a $105 million lawsuit filed against Dateline NBC could move forward and go to trial. According to the case filed, it can be argued that Dateline caused the suicide of assistant district attorney Louis “Bill” Conradt Jr. during a sex sting episode of “To Catch a Predator.”

Mr. Conradt was a former Kaufman County district attorney. He was one of the persons being followed as a child sex predator by Dateline NBC, Perverted Justice (an online vigilante group) and Murphy police.

On November 2006, the said police officers forced their way into his home while camera crews were waiting outside to film the entire thing. They were hoping to serve a warrant authorizing Mr. Conradt’s arrest and a search of the premises due to possible acts of soliciting a minor (in his case a 13 year old boy). They were forced to barge their way in after he didn’t answer their knocks on the door or their telephone calls.

“I’m not going to hurt anyone,” Mr. Conradt said to the police officers who forced themselves in — mere seconds later he shot himself with a handgun.

It is possible that a jury might come to a conclusion that NBC “crossed the line from responsible journalism to irresponsible and reckless intrusion into law enforcement,” according to the judge’s ruling.

The lawsuit was filed by the dead prosecutor’s sister Patricia Conradt. According to her, the NBC show’s host and producers were more interested in “sensationalizing and dramatizing the Predator series for profit than in news reporting.”

The circumstances around the incident – the cameras, the surrounded house, and Mr. Conradt’s position in the community – pushed the suicide as “reasonably foreseeable.”

A heavily armed SWAT team was used to extract the 56 year old prosecutor from his home; even if he was not accused of violence nor was he believed to be in possession of a gun. Judge Chin believes a jury could find that this “act” was only done to sensationalize the arrest and to add entertainment value — thus proving that NBC was not after news reporting or serving justice but rather ratings and profits.

“A reasonable jury could find that by doing so, NBC created a substantial risk of suicide or other harm, and that it engaged in conduct so outrageous and extreme that no civilized society should tolerate it,” the judge added.

One of the more subdued episodes of the series

According to NBC spokesperson Jenny Tartikoff: “We think the evidence will ultimately show that ‘Dateline’ acted responsibly and lawfully. The judge’s ruling was based solely on the plaintiff’s version of the facts. For purposes of this motion only, the judge was required, under the law, to accept the plaintiff’s allegations as true.”