I think that criminals should fear the consequences of society as much as the consequences of law enforcement (I don't mean getting shot by a vigilante, I mean being outed and ostracized for the horrible behavior). If the PJ people want to out every pervert they can find that we can't, I am whole heartedly for it.

That doesn't mean the criminal justice agencies will be able to prosecute, because that is a different set of consequences. The threat of freedom being taken away by the state requires the use of all the constitutional protections that we all uphold. But we cannot protect communities from their own neighbors and school teachers and family members who hide what they do--we just can't--and I don't think we want to the rules to change so much that we are allowed to be invasive enough to do so. So let PJ scare these people with a different set of consequences!

The Constitution does not require that all the citizens sit back and watch atrocities and say "it's not my job to protect my own family/neighborhood/community--that's what the government is for." I am impressed with people who care enough about a problem to get involved--not with guns--but with knowledge and awareness and community consequences.

I think the question is not whether private citizens have a role in law enforcement, but whether it is kosher for those private citizens to financially profit from those activities.

Prosecutors are prohibited from being paid based upon the outcome of their work to avoid impropriety; why should that rule be different for private citizens?

I agree that PJ did a good job in bringing this problem to the public's attention, but that doesn't mean they are automatically doing a good job now; that comment sort of reminds me of Marge Schott's comment that "Hitler was good in the beginning." We aren't talking about beginnings anymore. We're talking about PJ personnel being paid six figures for drumming up business for the infotainment industry.

p.s. - This is a good debate; thanks to all for participating!

I enjoyed it too Shannon !

I guess only time will tell us if PJ really did wear the white hat. As we all know, the fickle public will be on to bigger and better "issues" soon, Dateline To Catch a Predator will only be found on TNT and WE at 3 in the morning, and the $$$ will dry up, but the pervs will remain. Hopefully, some group of pissed off citizens will continue to give their time to out them, if only on their website.

Ex-Kaufman prosecutor caught in 'Predator' sting had child porn
Images found after Conradt's suicide said to include children
10:50 PM CST on Monday, November 26, 2007

By STEVE THOMPSON / The Dallas Morning News

With Dateline NBC cameras focused on his home and a SWAT team busting through the door, prosecutor Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr. pointed a gun at his head and pulled the trigger.


Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr.
Since that day a year ago, many have wondered aloud what the former Kaufman County district attorney was thinking during those last moments.

Was it really him who sent lurid Internet messages and photos to someone posing as a 13-year-old boy? Did he, as the search warrant suggested, have something in there to hide?

Records released by the state from its investigation of Mr. Conradt's death suggest the answer to both questions is yes.

Three laptops, a cellphone and several computer disks found in the home "all contained pornographic material [and] some included child pornography," says a computer forensic analysis report.

The analysis, which was done by the Kaufman County Sheriff's Department at the request of the Texas Rangers, also showed that one of the laptops contained graphic Internet chatting between Mr. Conradt and the supposed 13-year-old "Luke," who was really an adult working for the Internet watchdog group Perverted Justice.

That organization has worked extensively with the Dateline NBC television program To Catch a Predator to expose pedophiles on the air.

"Do you have a shower cam ... hehe," read one message sent from the computer.

"No no cam," Luke responded.

"What will you do in the shower ... hehe."

"Like to get clean."

"Nice ... be sure to get everything clean."

Much of the rest of the chat logs � covering sex, erections and masturbation � is too graphic to print here.

The Texas Department of Public Safety released the report in response to a public records request by The Dallas Morning News. The agency asked the state attorney general to exempt some of the report's contents from public disclosure because it "contains images the Department believes may constitute child pornography."

The attorney general's office granted that request, noting in a letter: "The submitted documents consist of photographs of unidentified males who generally appear to be juveniles."

Mr. Conradt, 56, was the Kaufman County district attorney for more than two decades. He gave up his position in 2002 to run for a judicial seat. He lost and later became Rockwall County's chief felony assistant district attorney.

He was caught up in a child sex predator sting organized last year by Dateline NBC, Perverted Justice and Murphy police.

On Nov. 5, 2006, Terrell and Murphy police officers, armed with warrants authorizing Mr. Conradt's arrest and a search of his Terrell home, forced their way in after he didn't answer their knocks or his telephone.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone," Mr. Conradt said to police before shooting himself with a handgun.

Patricia Conradt, sister of the dead prosecutor, has filed a $105 million federal lawsuit against NBC.

In the suit, Ms. Conradt says the show's host and producers are more interested in "sensationalizing and dramatizing the Predator series for profit than in news reporting."

The lawsuit says the circumstances of Mr. Conradt's death � such as television cameras outside his house and a blocked-off street � and his position in the legal community made his suicide "reasonably foreseeable."

A motion by NBC to have the case dismissed is pending.

NBC officials say the suit is completely without merit and they are defending themselves vigorously.

Buck Wood, Patricia Conradt's husband, said Monday that his wife did not wish to comment on the latest developments concerning her brother.

But Mr. Wood, who also is an attorney and is consulting on the civil suit, said he has spoken with investigators who told him that the suspect photos may not be child pornography.

"There was some pornography on there with persons that you could not ascertain whether they were underage or not," Mr. Wood said.

"It's certainly something that you couldn't prosecute on, and I would assume [Mr. Conradt] wouldn't have thought it was child pornography."

And whether what was found in Mr. Conradt's home was child pornography or not, that has no bearing on the civil suit against NBC, Mr. Wood said.

"It has no effect on it one way or the other."

"sensationalizing and dramatizing the Predator series for profit than in news reporting." Although I do wonder whether that a lawsuit makes.

JAS

May 28, 2008

Texas police chief involved in "Dateline NBC" sting fired


MURPHY, Texas (AP) � The city council of a suburban Dallas town on Wednesday fired the police chief who worked with the "Dateline NBC" television show to arrange a sex sting in 2006, but said the dismissal had nothing to do with the television show.

That sex sting ensnared former Kaufman County District Attorney Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr., who killed himself when police arrived at his door.

The council fired Murphy Police Chief Billy Myrick, but said his dismissal had nothing to do with the "To Catch a Predator" segment and the subsequent legal fallout.

"It was the best thing for the department, for the community and for Mr. Myrick," City Manager James Fisher said in a story on The Dallas Morning News Web site.

Myrick could not be reached at the police department Wednesday night, and no working home number could be located.

Conradt's sister, Patricia Conradt has sued NBC, saying its show "steamrolled" police to arrest her brother after he failed to show up at a sting operation.

In a ruling in February, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin permitted the $105 million lawsuit to go to trial, saying a jury might conclude the network "crossed the line from responsible journalism to irresponsible and reckless intrusion into law enforcement."

NBC News has said "the evidence will ultimately show that 'Dateline' acted responsibly and lawfully."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5806673

NBC Settles 'To Catch a Predator' Lawsuit

Both Sides Are Saying the Agreement, For An Undisclosed Amount, Was Amicable

By VIC WALTER and MADDY SAUER
ABC News
June 24, 2008

NBC has settled a lawsuit that blamed the network for the suicide of a Texas prosecutor who was targeted in an undercover sting against alleged pedophiles as part of the Dateline: To Catch a Predator show

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5238922&page=1