A “script” written by a woman who killed herself after being interviewed for “Nancy Grace” shows she was thoroughly prepared to be questioned about the disappearance of her two-year-old son, the talk show's producers say.

Melinda Duckett	Nancy Grace

“The only person who was not surprised during Melinda Duckett's appearance on the Nancy Grace program was Melinda herself,” CNN argues in a motion for summary dismissal of a “talk-show tort” case filed by Duckett's parents.

As evidence that Duckett was not a victim of “ambush journalism,” the motion cites a “script of talking points” she created on her laptop computer the evening before her Sept. 7, 2006 interview with host Nancy Grace. Investigators found a printed copy of the script at the home of her grandparents where she shot herself the day after the interview.

The “talking points” discuss, among other things, the circumstances of Trenton Duckett's disappearance and how Melinda Duckett would respond if asked whether she had taken a polygraph test. Trenton was reported missing by his mother Aug. 27, 2006, sparking national media coverage.

“All of the evidence unequivocally shows that Melinda knew precisely what she might be asked on Nancy Grace, and — word-for-word — how she planned to respond,” attorney Charles D. Tobin says in the summary judgment motion.

Duckett's parents, Beth and William Eubank, allege “Nancy Grace” producers misled her into believing the interview would help in the search for her missing child when, in fact, “the real purpose of the show ... was to try to obtain a confession as to 'where she was' on the night that [the child] disappeared.”

During the interview, Grace allegedly subjected the “anguished mother” to “severe interrogation, fist-pounding, and veiled accusations that she was responsible for her child T.D.’s disappearance and death.” Among other things, she repeatedly asked if Duckett had taken a polygraph.

A Harvard University psychiatrist has said in a report commissioned by the Eubanks that “Duckett's experience with Nancy Grace and her associates at CNN ... substantially diminished her capacity to protect herself from suicidal ideation and thus was a substantial contributing cause of her suicide the following day.”

Trial in the case is set for July on the Eubanks' claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, which requires them to show the producers' conduct was outrageous. CNN says the plaintiffs cannot meet that “very high” standard and the claims also

run afoul of the First Amendment — and sound public policy — which fully support the news media's efforts to enlist the public's help to find a missing child, and to report the news that his mother had killed herself while he was still missing.

According to the summary judgment motion, Duckett agreed to be interviewed by Grace against the advice of an attorney. One of the show's producers told her “the purpose of the program was to help find Trenton” and the evening before the interview, she created her script under the heading, “CNN Interview — September 7th  2006, From the Mother's point of view.”

The script includes a “prepared answer related to where she was the weekend Trenton went missing; and a paragraph of material anticipating a question about a polygraph examination,” CNN notes.

“Clearly, far from being ambushed or surprised, Melinda had prepared a scripted answer to the simple question about a polygraph,” Tobin argues.

In the answer, Duckett did not disclose whether she had taken a polygraph, saying only that she had "fully cooperated" with law enforcement. During the interview with Grace, she “read this response nearly verbatim,” CNN says.

Highlighting the potential importance of the script, CNN attached it to the end of the motion. But while the pleading goes into great detail about the content of Grace's interaction with Duckett, it does not address whether the interviewer's tone went beyond anything the “anguished mother” could have anticipated.

By Matthew Heller
5/15/10