Distraction

The parents of Melinda Duckett are filing a lawsuit against Nancy Grace.

The parents of Melinda Duckett will file suit today in Lake County against CNN Headline News talk-show host Nancy Grace, accusing the ex-prosecutor of pushing their daughter to suicide with an insensitive, fist-pounding TV interview.

The wrongful-death lawsuit accuses Grace and her producers of luring the young mother onto the show by misrepresenting their intentions to find her missing 2-year-old son, Trenton.

"I believe it to be an ambush," South Florida lawyer Kara Skorupa said. She provided a copy of the nine-page complaint and said it would be filed today in Circuit Court in Tavares.

The lawsuit, which claims intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeks an undisclosed amount of monetary and punitive damages from Grace and Cable News Network.

Melinda Duckett's parents, Beth and William "Jerry" Eubank of Lockport, N.Y., also want a judge to stop Grace and the network from rebroadcasting the interview. They say they and their younger daughter have sought psychological counseling to deal with emotional distress from the "continual and excessive airing of the interview."

Grace, who broadcast shows from Leesburg on Thursday and Friday, declined comment through CNN Headline News spokeswoman Janine Iamunno. Iamunno, however, e-mailed a response on the network's behalf.

"While we have no comment on pending litigation," it read, "we stand by Nancy Grace and fully support her, as we have from the beginning of this matter."

Joshua Duckett also named

The lawsuit also will name Joshua Duckett, 21, Melinda's estranged husband, who appeared on the show that probed into Trenton's Aug. 27 disappearance from his mom's Leesburg apartment.

Melinda Duckett used a shotgun to kill herself at her grandparents' home in The Villages on Sept. 8, a day after Grace's grilling. The taped interview was broadcast hours after the suicide.

As a parent who lost a child, I can sympathize with the Eubanks. I know the pain they are suffering.

However a lawsuit at this moment is premature to say the very least. Does anyone involved in this lawsuit know for a certainty what happened to Trenton? Till Trenton's fate is ascertained, no one should be held at fault for Melinda Duckett's suicide. We may still find out that the mother is responsible for the boy's disappearance and maybe even Trenton's death.

Right now all parties involved should have one goal. Finding out what happened to this little boy. There will be plenty of time later to judge who was at fault in the tragic story of Melinda and Trenton Duckett.

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