MySpace suicide mum handed mixed verdict

 

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Posted on 27 Nov 2008 at 14:29

The mother accused of driving a 13-year-old girl to suicide through MySpace has been acquitted of the most serious charge levelled against her.

Lori Drew was found guilty of three misdemeanor counts related to her role in setting up a MySpace account in the name of a fictitious 16-year-old boy.

However, the US District Court jury cleared her of three hacking felonies that alleged she gained unauthorised access to MySpace in order to inflict emotional damage on Megan Meier. The jury was deadlocked on a fourth count of conspiracy.

Drew, who created the fake profile after her daughter and Meier had a falling out, showed no reaction as the verdicts were read and declined to answer questions from reporters as she left the courtroom.

The Missouri woman will face a sentence ranging from probation to three years behind bars for the misdemeanor convictions. She could have been sent to federal prison for up to 20 years if she had been convicted on the felony charges.

Prosecutors say Drew and others created the fake MySpace persona of a 16-year-old boy to woo Meier for several weeks, then abruptly ended the relationship saying the world would be better off without her.

Meier hanged herself in October 2006, just hours after she had read those final messages.

Prosecutors claim Drew, her daughter and a teenage employee created the profile to embarrass Meier publicly and get back at her for saying bad things about Drew's daughter.

Juror Shirley Hanley admitted outside of court that she and her fellow panelists cleared Drew of the more serious charges because they could not be sure who typed the MySpace messages that so upset Megan.

"This is about justice," Tina Meier, Megan's mother, said after the verdict. "It's justice not only for Megan but it's justice for everybody who has had to go through this with the computer and being harassed."

Compromise verdict

Experts say the indictment, which was handed down in Los Angeles after Missouri authorities declined to prosecute Drew, was a first of its kind and an awkward fit for the federal statute on which it was based.

"I'm not surprised at all at the verdict. It's what prosecutors commonly call a compromise verdict," says former federal prosecutor Rebecca Lonergan. "The main problem is that the charges weren't about the suicide. They were about computer hacking, essentially."

Lonergan claims she has already heard from members of Congress who wanted to write new laws that specifically address cyber-bullying and harassment.

Author: Stuart Turton and Reuters