February 11, 2009 3:47 PM
- Text
No Charges In Deadly MySpace Hoax
(CBS/AP)
The St. Charles County prosecutor said Monday he will not file criminal charges in the case of the teenage girl who committed suicide after being bullied on the Internet.
County Prosecutor Jack Banas, announcing his decision at a news conference here, said no charges could be applied under current law.
The parents of 13-year-old Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, who hanged herself last year, said her suicide was the result of harassment after she created a profile on the MySpace social networking site.
They have said an adult neighbor fabricated a teenage boy online who pretended to be interested in Megan before he began bullying her. The mother is quoted in a police report as saying that she and an 18-year-old employee created the boy's account.
Banas said the fake MySpace page was not created by the mother of one of Megan's friends, as has been reported. He said the page was created by an 18-year-old employee of that mother, though the mother knew about the page.
The messages were being sent by the 18-year-old and by the neighbor's daughter.
The prosecutor's office had been investigating whether any laws were broken or charges could be filed.
Messages to the 13-year-old girl's MySpace page included "Megan Meier is fat," "Megan Meier is a slut" and "the world would be a better place without you," reports CBS News station WBBM-TV.
The neighbors admitted to police that they created the account.
Jayne Hitchcock, 49, understands like few others how devastating online harassment can be. In 1996, someone falsely assumed her identity and posted messages that she liked group and sadomasochistic sex, even circulating her phone number and address. To her horror, strangers started calling.
Even as Megan's hometown, Dardenne Prairie, has adopted a law making Internet harassment a crime, Hitchcock wonders if it has any value.
"In the Megan Meier case, from the messages I've seen and read, they're not considered harassment. They're cruel, yes. Demeaning, yes," she said.
"That law, I hate to say it, is meaningless."
But others disagree.
Dardenne Prairie's assistant city attorney, John Young, said this week that harassment and stalking already are illegal. The town's new law expands the definition to include electronic media.
The law is limited to violators in the small town of Dardenne Prairie, a bedroom community of St. Louis, but officials there call it a starting point. They're encouraging state and federal changes.
Hitchcock, however, says a local change in the law doesn't fix the wider problems.
She would like Web sites to better police themselves, perhaps by requiring identification or small fees via credit cards to register on social networking sites.
Naomi Harlin Goodno, an assistant professor at Pepperdine University School of Law in California, thinks the Dardenne Prairie measure looks comprehensive and well thought out.
Her overview of U.S. cyberstalking law, published in the Winter 2007 Missouri Law Review, was used by lawyers who drafted the new measure, Young said.
She found that as of January, that six states - Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Washington - have state laws specifically dealing with cyberstalking. Four others - Florida, Nevada, Delaware and Virginia - have amended their laws to address aspects of cyberstalking.
County Prosecutor Jack Banas, announcing his decision at a news conference here, said no charges could be applied under current law.
The parents of 13-year-old Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, who hanged herself last year, said her suicide was the result of harassment after she created a profile on the MySpace social networking site.
They have said an adult neighbor fabricated a teenage boy online who pretended to be interested in Megan before he began bullying her. The mother is quoted in a police report as saying that she and an 18-year-old employee created the boy's account.
Banas said the fake MySpace page was not created by the mother of one of Megan's friends, as has been reported. He said the page was created by an 18-year-old employee of that mother, though the mother knew about the page.
The messages were being sent by the 18-year-old and by the neighbor's daughter.
The prosecutor's office had been investigating whether any laws were broken or charges could be filed.
Messages to the 13-year-old girl's MySpace page included "Megan Meier is fat," "Megan Meier is a slut" and "the world would be a better place without you," reports CBS News station WBBM-TV.
The neighbors admitted to police that they created the account.
Jayne Hitchcock, 49, understands like few others how devastating online harassment can be. In 1996, someone falsely assumed her identity and posted messages that she liked group and sadomasochistic sex, even circulating her phone number and address. To her horror, strangers started calling.
Even as Megan's hometown, Dardenne Prairie, has adopted a law making Internet harassment a crime, Hitchcock wonders if it has any value.
"In the Megan Meier case, from the messages I've seen and read, they're not considered harassment. They're cruel, yes. Demeaning, yes," she said.
"That law, I hate to say it, is meaningless."
But others disagree.
Dardenne Prairie's assistant city attorney, John Young, said this week that harassment and stalking already are illegal. The town's new law expands the definition to include electronic media.
The law is limited to violators in the small town of Dardenne Prairie, a bedroom community of St. Louis, but officials there call it a starting point. They're encouraging state and federal changes.
Hitchcock, however, says a local change in the law doesn't fix the wider problems.
She would like Web sites to better police themselves, perhaps by requiring identification or small fees via credit cards to register on social networking sites.
Naomi Harlin Goodno, an assistant professor at Pepperdine University School of Law in California, thinks the Dardenne Prairie measure looks comprehensive and well thought out.
Her overview of U.S. cyberstalking law, published in the Winter 2007 Missouri Law Review, was used by lawyers who drafted the new measure, Young said.
She found that as of January, that six states - Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Washington - have state laws specifically dealing with cyberstalking. Four others - Florida, Nevada, Delaware and Virginia - have amended their laws to address aspects of cyberstalking.
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