Nancy Grace Claims First (?) Scalp

The odious CNN and Court TV host Nancy Grace has finally achieved her Jenny Jones Moment. The only surprise is that it took this long.

Two weeks after telling police that her son had been snatched from his crib, Melinda Duckett found herself reeling in an interview with TV's famously prosecutorial Nancy Grace. Before it was over, Grace was pounding her desk and loudly demanding to know: "Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day?"

A day after the taping, Duckett, 21, shot herself to death, deepening the mystery of what happened to the boy.

I don't have much of a philosophical reason for opposing the presence of Grace on my TV screen; CNN can hire who it wants, I don't have to watch it. But she's emblematic of the mainstream news channels' ever-increasing focus on tabloid news to the exclusion of good economic coverage and foreign news. And as Jason Zengerle showed in the New Republic, she's a uniquely awful personality.

Comments

[Lamar]

It's Court TV. Is there a trashier channel? No. Even Robyn Bird reruns have more class than Grace.

[ChrisO]

Janine Iamunno, a spokeswoman for Grace, said in an e-mail that Duckett's death was "an extremely sad development," but that the program would continue covering the case.

Wow, that's just freakin' unbelievable. Janine and Nancy, I'm sure that the local cops really appreciate all of the "help" you've given them so far. Maybe you can get the father to shoot himself now.

[TrickyVic]

""It's Court TV. Is there a trashier channel? No. Even Robyn Bird reruns have more class than Grace.""

OUCH!!!!!

[Jesus of Norfolk]

Maybe the dingo ate her baby.

[John]

This is awful. That poor woman. I don't know if she murdered her child, but I think she deserves the benefit of the doubt.

What is scary about Grace is that she is all too typical. There is a breed of prosecutor in the country who is just like Grace. Not all of them mind you, but enough of them. To people like Grace every defendant is guilty and the only thing preventing justice from being done is some slimey defense attorney. There is never two sides of a story or any ambiguous facts; just a guilty defendant and a lone crusader (Grace or someone like her) for the truth.

It is people like Grace that gave us cases like McMartin and Amiralt. If Grace were just a lone, grating media bimbo, I could safely ignore her. Unfortunately, she is entirely representative of a certain mentality and class of people in this country. That is both depressing and scary.

[David]

She does seem to believe that every accused person is guilty regardless of how much or how little evidence exists. For her, mere suspicion is enough.

[martin]

John, You're absolutely right, I second that wholheartedly!

[Downward]

I watched Nancy Grace's show last night. I wanted to kill myself afterwards too.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Rita Cosby, the one of these who's on MSNBC, is a particular hoot. During the John Mark Karr dustup, she had this still photo of herself she kept showing during the intros, outros and image-poor periods of bloviation. It showed Karr getting the perp walk into the Boulder jail, with a media gaggle pressed up against the glass looking at him. Cosby's face, with her nose against the window, looked as hysterical, unhinged, and insane as any expression you've ever seen on a human. It was an unwitting reproduction of the opening credits shot from The King of Comedy, with Sandra Bernhardt pressed against the window of Jerry Lewis' limo, looking completely homicidal in her frenzy to get inside the car and devour him. Except that Bernhardt looked relatively cool and collected compared to Cosby. And this was the pic that Cosby was proud to have, to the point that she kept showing it off just so she could show people: "LOOK! I WAS THIS CLOSE TO AN OBSCURE LOSER WHO DIDN'T ACTUALLY KILL JONBENET RAMSEY!"

You had to see it, but it was really something.

[John]

Tim,

They posted that picture on the Corner over at NRO. Fortuneately, it is still archived and yes it is a hoot.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTU2ZDNmMTQwNGJhNjVjMDI0MzgwNzY5NGZmOTk1ZDg=

[TrickyVic]

I third John's post.

[Downward]

I watched Rita Cosby's show last night. How do you tie one of those noose thingies?

[Ayn_Randian]

I hate to put the kibosh on the "hate on Grace" parade here, but she is "famously prosecutorial". You're going to go on TV, after your child is snatched from her crib (say you what you want, those are suspicious circumstances, especially given the age of the mother) and not be able to answer basic questions the friggin' police would ask you? And expect to get treated with kid gloves from Nancy Grace? Get off of it.

If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

[emme]

What's up with her voice. It does not sound normal at all.

[John]

Ayn,

Maybe you are 21 years old, scared witless, not that intelligent, completly bewildered by the process, totally overcome with grief and guilt over your kidnapped child and your lawyer tells you to go on Nancy Grace. I don't think your guilt or innocence should be judged by your performance on a some cable TV shoutfest.

[Ayn_Randian]

What lawyer tells his "possible suspect" client to go on a talk show with a prosecutor?!

I am not assessing the guilt or innocence here, I still believe innocent before proven guilty; however, I am entitled to state what's suspicious about the mother and to say she mustn't have been very intelligent to go on a show with a prosecutor and not be able to keep her basic alibi straight.

[Ron Hardin]

mainstream news channels' ever-increasing focus on tabloid news to the exclusion of good economic coverage and foreign news.

Here's some news for you. The news business model is soap opera.

That's a large audience, it watches every day, and you can supply what they come for whether there's news or not.

They sell their eyeballs to advertisers. The audience is the product, not the news.

People say they want hard news, but they won't watch unless there's news, and usually there isn't, and so there's no advertiser support for it.

Either the news will survive on soap opera or it will die. There's no other viable market.

[Rick H.]

Ayn Randian, I didn't see the interview in question, but it strikes me that a young mother who lost her child two weeks previous (and who may not be an avid CNN junkie) might be excused for not thinking clearly enough to appropriately stage-manage her grief.

[Deus ex Machina]

But she's emblematic of the mainstream news channels' ever-increasing focus on tabloid news to the exclusion of good economic coverage and foreign news.

Uhh, has there ever been a period in the last 20 years when the news had good economic coverage? Besides specialized business shows like Wall Street Week or Maria Bartiromo most stories were of the "evil corporation did this to poor family" variety (John Stossel being a major exception).

[wingnutx]

Do any financial reporters aside from Maria Bartiromo have Ramones songs written about them?

[Jared]

No, but I'm pretty sure Black Flag wrote Swinging Man with Kudlow as an inspiration, for what its worth.

[bonethug]

u guys know that guy GB, glenn beckett or something like that? he is a real douche and he is really dumb. i dont like him and i cant believe he is on tv. cut nancy grace some slack...compared to gb shes an angel.

[plunge]

I hope no one missed what had to be the funniest Nancy Grace moment ever:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WDvJB9JoyBU

"I don't mean the athletic stats..."

Ug, so perfect, so priceless.

[joe]

"What lawyer tells his "possible suspect" client to go on a talk show with a prosecutor?!"

The kind who knows which of his ties look good on video.

[Silk Willow]

Odious is the perfect word for this host. It should have been Oprah doing the interviewing.

[Cab]

There are rational reasons for that mother to go on tv. Thinking the publicity will spark someone that may have seen the child and call the authorities seems reasonable to me. Maybe Ms. Grace can take it easy on the next grieving mother that does her a favor and comes on her tv show so that she can exploit someone else's pain once again. Nancy may not have blood on her hands, but she sure as hell doesn't deserve to sleep well for a while.

[destardi]

nancy grace is horrible.

Grating, mean, presumptious, "who will save the children" type.

I loved it when she automatically accused one man of killing his missing wife, and then she shows up about 2 weeks later, ALIVE.

HAHAH, nancy grace is a ridiculous loudmouth.

[Ayn_Randian]

Whatever.

You should be smart enough to find out about the program upon which you will be appearing and you should be able to manage an answer to a basic question about where you were when your child mysteriously disappeared. Not tough, folks.

Beat up on Grace all you like. Rick H, I never asked the mother to stage manage her grief, just figure out the nature of the program she's about to be on and have an answer to a basic police question before going on the show.

Grace has nothing to be ashamed of, Cab, she ran her show like she's always run it; she didn't treat this guest with kid gloves like other puffball talking heads and now everyone's mad about that? If anything, it's about time people started getting asked the hard questions.

[JW]

Yet another validation for why I stopped watching the **cough** news.

[David]

Just flipping through the channels now and happened on Grace. She's doing everything she can use the suicide as proof of the mother's guilt using her depressed mySpace posts, harping on the fact the she'd posted that people didn't know she had a child, and a sales ad for a carseat.

Including this gem from the ticker "Law states child up to 3 years old be secured in car seat; Why was mother trying sell it?"

I have no idea what the true story is in this case, but neither does Nancy Grace. She's a monster.

[Ayn_Randian]

Whatever.

You should be smart enough to find out about the program upon which you will be appearing and you should be able to manage an answer to a basic question about where you were when your child mysteriously disappeared. Not tough, folks.

Beat up on Grace all you like. Rick H, I never asked the mother to stage manage her grief, just figure out the nature of the program she's about to be on and have an answer to a basic police question before going on the show.

Grace has nothing to be ashamed of, Cab, she ran her show like she's always run it; she didn't treat this guest with kid gloves like other puffball talking heads and now everyone's mad about that? If anything, it's about time people started getting asked the hard questions.

[Nancy Grace or Jenny Jones]

This post made me kill myself.

[?]

I don't have a NR subscription anymore, so I couldn't read all of the linked article. But the bit at the beginning just talks about her being openly pleased about Scott Petersen's conviction and death sentence.

So, um... why's that bad? Grace may indeed have done many bad things -- I don't watch CNN or Court TV, so I wouldn't know -- but being happy that Scott Petersen is going to die certainly isn't one of them.

I guess she could have pulled the stunt that most journalists try (and usually fail) to pull off, and pretended she had no personal feelings about the news she was reporting. But isn't honesty a better policy?

[SxCx]

I'm never sure who to credit for Nancy's unbridled tenacity -- the courts or the chronic yeast infection.

[KyleG]

I will say this: Nancy Grace is fucking crazy.

Seriously, look at her eyes and tell me she isn't fucking crazy.

[madpad]

Grace has nothing to be ashamed of, Cab,

Uhhh...Yes, Randian...she does. Doing what she always does is not absolution if what she always does is sick to begin with.

[Rubyeyes]

Wow clearly most of you did not even watch the show.

The mother said she was NOT cooperating with local police. That she was only dealing with the FBI. She would not say if she had taken a polygraph. She would not even say what stores she was shopping in the day of her son's disapperance. She basically had one answer "I've done everything the FBI asked me", but would not say what the FBI had asked her to do, if anything. She spoke over the phone and it did not appear she had a lawyer present.

It was one of the most bizarre interviews I'd ever seen. I really don't know what compeled the mother to go on the show, because she did not want to talk about any details around her missing son.

[madpad]

Wow clearly most of you did not even watch the show.

Yeah, but most of us have watched her show before and, as Randian pointed out, she was just doing what she always does.

As for watching it...anyone know where some video of the exchange is posted? I couldn't find it on YouTube, Revver or Google Video

[kevrob]

I don't watch the cable "news channels", which, absent some real breaking news, are glutted with talking heads shows that are really more suited for radio. I suppose if I traded the market on a regular basis or was a weather junkie I might appreciate the crawls and graphics they fill the screen with, but I can read something on paper or my `puter screen when I listen to the radio. But I do know why prosecutors, defense lawyers and even suspects or defendants trot themselves out before the cameras: to poison the jury pool. Ever since the O.J. trial, going over the heads of the media gatekeepers to appeal to the public directly has been the choice move of the defense bar in notorious trials. Prosecutors have been doing it for a long time too, otherwise we wouldn't have the perp walk in front of a media gaggle so beloved of Rudy Giuliani & Co.

Kevin

[ed]

Who created Nancy Grace?
Oh yeah, it was you and me.

Who created the tabloids?
See above.

[Pug]

Grace has nothing to be ashamed of

Nancy Grace has everything to be ashamed of. Can you imagine her as a prosecutor? She's a zealot, not someone who would conduct an impartial search for the truth, which is what a prosecutor should do.

The only talking head who even approaches her for total witchiness is Wendy Murphy who, thank God, doesn't have her own show. Even those who have been acquitted are still guilty to Wendy Murphy.

I saw Larry King with a guest who had spent something like 15 years in prison for rape and murder and was later exonerated by DNA evidence. Wendy Murphy savagely attacked this guy because...well, dammit he was still guilty no matter what. It was despicable.

[Jennifer]

I loved it when she automatically accused one man of killing his missing wife, and then she shows up about 2 weeks later, ALIVE.

I'd never heard of Nancy Grace before reading this post (and then related stories on other sites), but I hope the man with the missing wife was able to sue for defamation?

[Pocket]

Let's not forget that while she was a prosecutor Nancy Grace was found "to have played fast and loose with her ethical duties." Or at least so thought a panel of three federal judges in the case of Stephens v. Hall. Fudging warrants, witholding exculpatory evidence, and so on and so forth. Yeah, she's a real luminary of the legal profession.

[Ken]

I wonder if we could send her to the Middle East? 2 or 3 appearances and ALL the terrorists would kill themselves.

[independent worm]

What is scary about Grace is that she is all too typical. There is a breed of prosecutor in the country who is just like Grace. Not all of them mind you, but enough of them. To people like Grace every defendant is guilty and the only thing preventing justice from being done is some slimey defense attorney. .

They say a lawyer who claims to have never lost a case isn't a very good lawyer. Nancy Grace claims she never lost a case.

[Janet]

Nancy Grace is a disgrace. CNN should drop her like a hot potato...This drama queen needs to be on a soap opera, not an investigative/talk show!

[K-Chub]

if nancy grace died i promise i would throw a party in celebration of her death... can't wait

[jude]

just ran across this site and oh boy what a riot you guys are! thank you for a much needed laugh! thanks, jude

[jude]

just ran across this site and oh boy what a riot you guys are! thank you for a much needed laugh! thanks, jude

[jude]

just ran across this site and oh boy what a riot you guys are! thank you for a much needed laugh! thanks, jude

[ex-arverne]

Uh,
Didn't Nancy also INSIST re: the Runaway Bride--'I can tell you people, this was NOT cold feet'.

[Ellen]

There is a definite line between professional journalism and "sensational" journalism. Nancy Grace appears to be more interested in how she is perceived as a celebrity than a journalist. Ms. Grace used another human being to better her "celebrity" status. There is no "grace" in such behavior and at the end of the day it most be difficult being, Nancy Grace.

[me]

nancy grace is evil, the end. but this woman also killed her son.

ps - glenn beck sucks.

[hank]

Doesn't Nancy Grace belong at the top of this list...

http://www.whotohate.com

[Chris]

Nancy Grace should be fired. I'll let the quotes below make my argument for me.

11th Circuit: Nancy Grace 'Played Fast and Loose' With Ethics
http://www.law.com/article.jsp.htm

"We conclude that the conduct of the prosecuting attorney in this case demonstrated her disregard of the notions of due process and fairness, and was inexcusable," wrote then Chief Justice Robert Benham. Carr v. State, 267 Ga. 701 (1997).

"The prosecutor clearly played fast and loose with her disclosure obligations in this case." Stephens v. Hall, No. 1:99-CV-1317 (N.D.Ga. April 2, 2003).

[Sam]

"They say a lawyer who claims to have never lost a case isn't a very good lawyer. Nancy Grace claims she never lost a case."

I've been thinking the same thing! All her prosecutorial record tells me is that she can convine anyone of anything- like a used car salesman! Are we honestly supposed to beleive that everyone she has ever accused was actually guilty?
No ones mentioned her attorney's shortfall here- she supposedly knew her well enough to tell her not to take a polygraph, but wasn't smart enough to handle her public comments? She knew enough to 'defend' the suicide but not enough to thwart it? And her family! Come on- someone who has attempted suicide in the past has a gun? And no one takes it from her while she's going through all this trauma in her life? Her ex wasn't smart enough to take it from the house knowing the suicide history and that HIS CHILD was living with a mentally unstable woman who has a gun?

[Plastik]

Nancy Grace is a loudmouth bigoted, prosecutorial BEEEEYOTCH!

THAT CHICK (and yes I did watch it) tried repeatedly to tell her that there were things that she didn't want to talk about because she hadn't been treated fairly in the media.. In which case the Yapping Bitch attacked and attacked her.. the girl puts a bullet in her head the NEXT FREEKIN DAY!! Now I'm no Einstein mind you but did it help the missing child that Nancie Graceless badgerd her like that??

Thats not a forehead she's got going there.. It's MORE head..

Plastik

[gilby]

'I really don't know what compeled the mother to go on the show, because she did not want to talk about any details around her missing son."

I read this and saw it on msnbc show-She came on the show because she was told they were going to help her to find the child, then grace turned around and prosecuted her, the woman was then up against a wall, she was told by her lawyers or fbi not to comment on the details, and she stated that twice or so to grace,who didnt listen and kept on.I agree with her getting Fired, and Hope soon .

[Chris]

I found the perfect word to describe Nancy Grace. She is a ghoul.

Webster defigns a ghoul as:
1 : a legendary evil being that robs graves and feeds on corpses
2 : one suggestive of a ghoul; especially : one who shows morbid interest in things considered shocking or repulsive

[Chris]

It makes me ill to read posts from supposed "mothers" who are sure that they would behave differently if their child was abducted. None of you have any idea how you would react in that situation until you are there. Such posts smack of ignorance and braggadocio. If she did do it, as you are already convinced she did, and she was disturbed, depressed, and suicidal, then wouldn?t that dictate a lighter sentence, or an insanity plea? So many mothers with so little compassion. Perhaps women aren?t the fairer sex after all.

[Chris]

I?ve read a lot of armchair psychoanalysis on this board and others. I?d like to give you all my analysis.

1. Melissa Duckett is adopted. She may not even know either of her birth parents.
2. She started a family in her late teens, and that family has broken up as well.
3. Her son is the only blood relation that she has in the whole world. He was the only thing in her life that was truly hers.
4. Melissa Duckett was fighting to keep sole custody of her son.

With these facts in mind, do you really think that Melissa Duckett would kill her only son? Oh, yes, that car seat she was selling. She had lost her job. Maybe she needed money so bad that she was going to sell it, and buy a new one when she found work again. What good is a car seat if you can?t make your car payment? Oh yeah, before she killed herself, she did say that her son was never coming home. Some might see this as an admission of guilt. The media was already speculating that the boy was dead and the searches had not turned up a single clue in two weeks. I think it more likely that she had given up hope that her son would ever be found alive. She also knew that she had already been tried and convicted in the press.

So, let?s recap: no birth parents, no husband, and now her son is gone. No one can find him, she is being vilified in the media, and people all over the country are convinced, in spite of the complete lack of any physical evidence, that she killed her only son. If she wasn?t suicidal before, that ought to about do it.

To all those who are so sure she did it, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You would want to be presumed innocent. You would want a chance to tell your story without interruption, badgering, and without having the intent behind your words misrepresented. You better pray that you never have to try to defend yourself against such an onslaught. We?ll see how strong you are then.

[gilby]

well said Chris !!!

[Thel]

I am going to do my part and no longer watch her.

[Abree]

I did not see the interview when it originally aired, but I was disturbed was her attitude after the mother committed suicide. It would have been one thing to send your condolences to the family and switch your focus to getting this little boy?s face on the news incase anyone has seen him?THAT is focusing on finding the child. Yet she would rather spend her time trying to convince people the mother must be guilty without actually knowing the details of the case.

There is no ?right way? to grieve or react in this situation, so I wish the media would have just left this investigation up to law enforcement instead of jumping to conclusions and taking the focus off where it should have been. The public and Nancy Grace certainly do not have inside information of the investigation and are not qualified to judge this mother on the scant information we do know. Just more idiots in the media trying to make a name for themselves?.

[monk]

This is the scariest thing I have seen this Halloween.

http://kevinallman.typepad.com/kevin_allman/2006/10/happy_halloween.html

[Michelle from Madison]

There is a Petition that just started regarding pursuing the option of
having Nancy Grace criminally prosecuted for her direct involvement
with the documented, emotionally-fragile mother seeking some "air-
time" to help in the efforts to find her missing child that resulted
in her suicide. As most already know, Nancy "crossed the line" in her
questioning and violent accusations towards this poor mother. Saddest
part is now Melinda cannot assist authorities as a direct result of
Nancy's documented unprofessional actions. This site is an attempt to
forward some concerns regarding Nancy's inexcusable and criminal
conduct to authorities who have the authority to render some
assistance to actual victims of Nancy`s continued misconduct. Take a
look and decide for yourself. Thanks.
http://www.petitiononline.com/nopetit1/

[Michelle from Madison]

Nancy Grace HATES Haiti victims, but why?

CNN's A. Cooper Rescues victim, S. Gupta Saves Girl, Nancy Grace wants to harm victims in Haiti?

Anderson Cooper is shown in a video helping a victim in Haiti who was struck in the head and sustain injuries from a rock thrown by a pillager. Sanjay Gupta has helped victims and even preformed several surgeries on victims to help them out. Nancy Grace wants a man prosecuted for what Nancy claims is felony-saltine-cracker-packet-extortion, and she demands the death penalty for this father that was given one extra packet of saltine crackers in a food line. Nancy says that is willful and intentional fraud in accepting the extra saltine packet given to him by the U.S. military personnel holding this food distribution line, but Nancy Grace is demanding this father's immediate execution. Nancy Grace states that if every victim received one extra packet of saltine crackers like that, then there may not be as many left over for Nancy to take back to her residences to gobble them up between herself and her two grandchildren she has residing with her at her four different personal residences back in the states. Turns out after an investigation, the father was given the extra saltine packet because he has two other children that could not get to the food line due to injuries they sustained in the earthquake, and the father also had a note hand-written by the President of Haiti indicating the father is approved to received an extra three-hundred packets due to the father's veteran-status. Still, the father maintains he was not looking to take any additional food items at this time due to the overall situation of so many needing basis food supplies. Nancy Grace, however, states that the father is not a victim of any earthquake because there is no proof, and she made allegations that there is not proof that any earthquakes ever did occur anywhere in the world since there are no court orders confirming that any such earthquake did occur ever in the history of the world. Nancy still denigrates the father and is also alleging that the father and the children are all faking the need for supplies, since they have not taken a polygraph test yet, and they would all likely fail a polygraph test if given the opportunity.

http://www.postchronicle.com/n.....9550.shtml

[Michelle from Madison]

Nancy Grace HATES Haiti victims, but why?

CNN's A. Cooper Rescues victim, S. Gupta Saves Girl, Nancy Grace wants to harm victims in Haiti?

Anderson Cooper is shown in a video helping a victim in Haiti who was struck in the head and sustain injuries from a rock thrown by a pillager. Sanjay Gupta has helped victims and even preformed several surgeries on victims to help them out. Nancy Grace wants a man prosecuted for what Nancy claims is felony-saltine-cracker-packet-extortion, and she demands the death penalty for this father that was given one extra packet of saltine crackers in a food line. Nancy says that is willful and intentional fraud in accepting the extra saltine packet given to him by the U.S. military personnel holding this food distribution line, but Nancy Grace is demanding this father's immediate execution. Nancy Grace states that if every victim received one extra packet of saltine crackers like that, then there may not be as many left over for Nancy to take back to her residences to gobble them up between herself and her two grandchildren she has residing with her at her four different personal residences back in the states. Turns out after an investigation, the father was given the extra saltine packet because he has two other children that could not get to the food line due to injuries they sustained in the earthquake, and the father also had a note hand-written by the President of Haiti indicating the father is approved to received an extra three-hundred packets due to the father's veteran-status. Still, the father maintains he was not looking to take any additional food items at this time due to the overall situation of so many needing basis food supplies. Nancy Grace, however, states that the father is not a victim of any earthquake because there is no proof, and she made allegations that there is not proof that any earthquakes ever did occur anywhere in the world since there are no court orders confirming that any such earthquake did occur ever in the history of the world. Nancy still denigrates the father and is also alleging that the father and the children are all faking the need for supplies, since they have not taken a polygraph test yet, and they would all likely fail a polygraph test if given the opportunity.

[Matty]

All I want to know is did nancy grace did any coverage on the 2010 Haiti earthquake? And if she didn't why? Because all I can remember is that she was talking about missing children during that time and maybe I missed it when she did any coverage. I try finding it on the internet but nothing is found. Could someone help me out?