Lori Drew was acquitted of three misdemeanor charges in federal court today stemming from her role in a cyberbullying prank on MySpace that left a young girl dead. Megan Meier committed suicide after being dumped by a fictitious boy made up be Drew and her accomplices.

The judge overturned the three guilty verdicts because of the “vague wording of the statute” used to prosecute Lori Drew.  Prosecutors used an Anti-Hacking statute to go after Drew and filed the case in here in California, where MySpace’s servers are located, but the case wasn’t strong enough.

There were no Federal statutes against cyberbullying at the time of the incident.

“Drew had been charged with four potential felony counts of unauthorized computer access under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The jury convicted her last year of three misdemeanor charges instead and deadlocked on the fourth charge.”

“Judge Wu told Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause that if Drew had been convicted of the felonies, he would have let the convictions stand, and would have already sentenced her. But the misdemeanor convictions troubled him, because of the vague wording of the statute.”

“The judge sparred with Krause for nearly 45 minutes over the government’s interpretation of the computer crime law, before granting the long-pending defense motion to overturn the jury verdict in the case.”

I really don’t think it’s right that this woman gets off free while her little scheme contributed to the suicide of a young, emotionally sensitive girl that was already on depression medication.

Megan’s death wasn’t in vain however, and since her death, cyberbullying has come into the spotlight, and laws have been written to protect other people from going through what she went through. Rest in Peace.

To get the whole story, check out the original source: Judge Acquits Lori Drew in Cyberbullying Case.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Lori Drew, the woman who laid an elaborate plan to humiliate her 13 year old neighbor named Megan Meier, who later killed herself because of the incident, was tentatively acquitted today on charges of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization.

The Judge said his ruling will become final when he issues it in writing.

“Drew was convicted in a trial in November, but the judge says that if she is to be found guilty of illegally accessing computers, anyone who has ever violated the social networking site’s terms of service would be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Prosecutors were looking to get the maximum punishment of a three year prison sentence and a $300,000 fine.

A defense motion to dismiss the conviction is currently being reviewed, so the sentencing is being postponed until May.

The case has received a lot of publicity due to the fact that it was our nations first Cyber-Bullying trial.

A quick recap of what happened:

“Prosecutors say Drew sought to humiliate Megan Meier by helping create a fictitious teen boy on the social networking site and sending flirtatious messages to the girl in his name. The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later in October 2006 in the St. Louis suburb of Dardenne Prairie, Mo.”

“During the trial, prosecutors argued that Drew violated MySpace service rules by setting up the phony profile for a boy named “Josh Evans” with the help of her then-13-year-old daughter Sarah and business assistant Ashley Grills. They posted a photo of a bare-chested boy with tousled brown hair. “Josh” then told Megan she was “sexi” and assured her, “i love you so much.”

“Prosecutors believe Drew and her daughter, who was friends with Megan, created the profile to find out if Megan was spreading rumors about Sarah. Grills testified she received a message from Megan in mid-2006, calling Drew’s daughter a lesbian.”

Grills, who testified under a promise of immunity, allegedly sent the final, insulting message to Megan before she killed herself. Prosecutors said Megan sent a response saying, “‘You are the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.”

Somehow the jurors decided that Lori Drew was not responsible for the felonies of intentionally causing emotional harm while accessing computers without authorization, and they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on the felony conspiracy charge.

Click to view the article on the Judge Tentatively Acquitting Lori Drew.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 5% [?]

A couple months ago I posted the cyber-bullying case involving Lori Drew. Drew, her then-13-year-old daughter, and a business associate created a MySpace profile of a fictitious boy and sent flirtatious messages to Megan Meier in the boy’s name to find out if Megan was spreading rumors about Drew’s daughter…

“The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her.”

Megan Meier hung herself shortly after.

“Prosecutors charged Drew with four felony counts, but jurors rejected these for the lesser misdemeanor convictions and deadlocked on a fourth felony charge for conspiracy.”

They also rejected a recommendation from probation officers that Drew be given only probation and a $5,000 fine.

“The defendant has become the face of cyber-bullying. A probationary sentence might embolden others to use the Internet to torment and exploit children,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause said in court documents.

“Prosecutors argued that Drew sought to humiliate Megan, who she knew suffered from depression and was suicidal. They also said Drew tried to conceal the scheme after Megan died and avoided taking responsibility.”

All in all the prosecutors want Lori Drew to serve over at least 3 years in prison and $300,000 in fines.

Drew was not directly charged with causing Megan’s death, but,  prosecutors did indict her under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,  in what is believed to be the nation’s first case of using this law related to cyber-bullying. In the past, the law has been used in hacking and trademark theft cases.

To view the original article, click here and here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com.
SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 3% [?]

This is one of those situations where I dont agree with a Law that is supposed to protect us.

Long story short, this lady in Missouri made a fake Myspace account posing as a 13 year old boy and contacted a girl who apparently did not get along with her daughter. This contact began an online “romance” with the girl.  A few weeks passed and apparently the lady (posing as the girls boyfriend) told the girl, “the world would be a bettter place without you”,  “broke-up” with her, and within the hour the13 year old girl had hung herslf.

A terrible terrible tragedy. It hurts my heart.

“Federal prosecutors accuse Drew and other unidentified co- conspirators of registering on MySpace as a fictitious 16-year- old boy named Josh Evans who, in September 2006, made contact with 13-year-old Megan Meier and flirted with her for four weeks.”

The Defense is looking to the the Suicide Evidence thrown out because the jury hearing about it might make them “too prejuidicial”

“Drew is charged with unauthorized access of computers to obtain information, a violation of the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that is unrelated to the suicide, Steward said in his request to exclude the evidence. Prosecutors claim the death of the girl is relevant because Drew’s motive for committing computer fraud, they say, was to inflict emotional distress.”

It’s obvious that if this evidence of suicide isn’t presented, it could make for a much lighter punishment, and a tougher case.  With something this malicious and evil, this lady will get what she deserves one day, regardless of  if it is from the state, or God when it is her time to be judged.

The trial starts on November 18th.

Check the original article out here

Popularity: 5% [?]