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"Dateline" Judged by Jury

Posted Feb 26th 2008 4:13PM by TMZ Staff

A New York judge has refused to throw out a $100 million lawsuit brought by the family of a man who committed suicide after police, accompanied by a camera crew from "Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator," showed up at his house to arrest him.

The lawsuit, brought by the sister of former Kaufman County, Tex. Districy Attorney Louis "Bill" Contradt Jr., alleges that NBC and police acted with deliberate indifference to Contradt and that cops had a duty to protect him. She says, "Apparently unable to face the humiliation of the public spectacle that faced him, Conradt took his own life."

Cops say Conradt solicited sex from a decoy online posing as a 13-year-old boy as part of a sting operation conducted jointly by "Dateline NBC" and the internet watch dog group Perverted Justice.

Amanda Leith, a lawyer for NBC Universal, had no comment on the ruling. The company previously called the lawsuit "completely without merit."

Bruce Baron, the lawyer for Patricia Contradt, tells TMZ, "This decision sends a strong message to law enforcement officials throughout our country, that you may not subcontract your uniform, badge, and the oath you take."

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31. Some of those young chicks are doable. If there is grass on the field play ball!

Posted at 4:35PM on Feb 26th 2008 by R Kelly

32. One pervert down, many more to go. He should have offed himself, no telling what would happen to his ass in prision. Go Dateline!!

Posted at 4:36PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Michelle

33. He deserved to die.

Posted at 4:38PM on Feb 26th 2008 by dust

34. The guy did himself, and the system a favor, saved taxpayer dollars, and, he would not last 5 minutes in the prison system, 1) he is a Lawman, 2) he is a MALE pedophile, he would be killed quicker than Jeffrey Dahmer...........

Posted at 4:36PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Special ED

35. Not only do I hope this bitch gets NOTHING.........I also take pride in the fact that her brother is burning in hell.

Posted at 4:38PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Paris Hilton made my pee burn

36. It really doesn't matter if you are not guilty if you have been accused, just the stigma of a child molestation accusation is enough to make someone want to kill them self because it will never go away, even if you are not guilty. This is highly irresponsible tabloid journalism at it's best. Sue their asses off !!!!

Posted at 4:41PM on Feb 26th 2008 by NYone

37. That fella did nothing wrong. You people should be ashamed of yourselves.

Posted at 4:39PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Steven

38. THIS PERVERT'S FAMILY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES FOR BRINGING THIS LAWSUIT! OBVIOUSLY THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE WHOLE FAMILY!!!!!!

Posted at 4:40PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Whatever

39. He shouldn't have been trying to have a sex with a 13yr old boy, I don't feel bad for him @ all!!!! The only sad thing is that NBC will most likely end up paying money for this!! BS

Posted at 4:39PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Canadian Gal

40. Here's the thing - sucide is the #1 most selfish thing anyone could do besides murder & rape. He did - or was at least trying to do - 2 out of 3 of these things. Feel sorry for him - I think NOT! His family needs to be mad at him and themselves for not figuring out he had a mental problem that would make him want sex from a 13-year old boy. I will kill anyone who would do this to my child, so I'm kind of glad he's no longer roaming the streets or surfing the web. SICK FREAKS!!

Posted at 5:39PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Sara

41. So what a child molesting pervert killed himself. He saved our tax dollars by locking him up and his own a** from being molested in jail. His sister better face the facts that her brother was a pervert and stop trying to make him sound innocent. What people will do for money these days is unbelievable!

Posted at 4:43PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Gidgeygirl

42. Was the guy who killed himself actually tried in court and found guilty of the crimes of which he was accused?

Should it be okay for cops to take camera crews around with them to film people who are being arrested? Does NBC pay the police depatment a fee? What if police departments across the country started permitting TV camera crews to go with them when they're arresting (possibly innocent) people?

The cops set a dangerous precedent by allowing NBC camera crews to go with them. Molesting a child is one of the most horrible crimes one can imagine. But NBC, in a pretty twisted way, profits from this. They make money by satisfying our desire to see molesters brought to justice.

Posted at 4:45PM on Feb 26th 2008 by nancy

43. So he made a choice to contact a 13 year old and want to have sex with him. He then hides in his house like a little rat when they come to ask questions. Then he kills himself so he won;t need to answer the questions. Who is to blame for this? Dateline? Is this for real? Really Dateline? What the heck is wrong with our justice system.

There was that story about the child that commited sucide over a parent pretending to be an another child on my space. Then she startes email attacks to the child.The parent was not even brought up on any charges. What the heck? I don't get it. What kind of world do we live in.

Posted at 4:45PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Come on

44. Are you kidding me NYone, do you know that this guy actually showed up to fool around with what he thought was going to be a 13 year old boy. He was guilty!

Posted at 4:46PM on Feb 26th 2008 by Whatever

45. Well, it finally happened - someone's dead over this Show ... I know these preds watch the show - and hope that NBC takes some responsibility to provide an 800 number or something to get some help BEFORE they appear on the show (i.e. before it can go any further). TCAP is not riveting, it's exploitative - I think NBC should pony-up and provide segments about how to deal with these urges and get those dudes off the internet and into treatment. I don't sexualize young unz but I do believe TCAP could be a great vehicle for providing help for those who do.

Posted at 4:48PM on Feb 26th 2008 by lameduck

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