Nancy Grace is a nutcase

Nancy Grace has made an industry out of trashing the Constitution and ridiculing the notion that in America, a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. She speaks and writes often about the roots of her crusade: the 1980 murder of her fiancé.

Well now, it turns out that she’s been lying about it!


The New York Observer (which did a fine write-up on Tabloid Baby some years back) does a Smoking Gun on Nancy Grace, and it’s downright headscratching.

After reading the article, you can only come to the conclusion that Nancy Grace is either a mental case in deep need of therapy, or a cynical huckster whose manipulation of the facts equals James Frey’s exploitation of a high school classmate’s death in his book, A Million Little Pieces.

Or maybe a little of both.

What’s the matter with these people? From Grace to Dimond to O’Reilly to Cosby (Rita & Bill, for that matter), why are we subjected to the pompous bullying and sermonizing by these cynical, lying, hypocritical, untelegenic gaseous windbags on our newscasts? Is the need to fill the cable airwaves with rabid, hate-filled ideologues so great that they have to pull out the genuinely mentally ill?

Here’s the best of the Observer:

“Every crime-fighting superhero has a creation story. Nancy Grace, the prosecutor turned breakout star at CNN Headline News, has a particularly moving one. As she tells it, in the summer of 1980, she was a 19-year-old college student in small-town Georgia, engaged to Keith Griffin, a star third baseman for the Valdosta State University Blazers. The wedding was a few months away.

"Then, one August morning, a stranger—a 24-year-old thug with a history of being on the wrong side of the law—accosted Griffin outside a convenience store.

"The killer, Tommy McCoy, was 19, not 24, and had no prior convictions.

"He shot him five times in the head and back, stole $35 from his wallet, and left him dead.

"Griffin was shot not by a random robber, but by a former co-worker.

"Police soon tracked down the killer, and a new phase of suffering began for Ms. Grace. The suspect brazenly denied any involvement.

"Mr. McCoy confessed to the crime the evening he was arrested.

"At trial, Ms. Grace testified, then waited as jury deliberations dragged on for three days.

"The jury convicted in a matter of hours, not days.

"The district attorney asked her if she wanted the death penalty, and in a moment of youthful weakness, she said no.

"Prosecutors asked for the death penalty, but didn’t get it, because Mr. McCoy was mildly retarded.

"The verdict came back guilty—life in prison—and a string of appeals ensued.

"Mr. McCoy never had an appeal; he filed a habeas application five years ago, and after a hearing it was rejected. The justice system, in other words, apparently worked the way it was supposed to.

"Ms. Grace has also misreported the date of the incident—it was in 1979, not 1980—and has given Griffin’s age as 25 when it was 23."

What a nut!

Your move, Nancy. Maybe an hour-long special with Dr. Phil? Or how about an O’Reillyesque statement and a vow never to speak of it again. Or a nice suspension?

There’s lots more disturbing information in the Observer article. Read it here .

And read the Observer’s piece on Tabloid Baby.