Not Guilty Plea In Cyber-Bully Suicide

Mo. Woman Faces Federal Charges In Internet Hoax Blamed For 13-Year-Old Girl's Death

(CBS/AP)  A Missouri woman pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles federal court Monday to charges in an Internet hoax blamed for a 13-year-old girl's suicide.

Forty-nine-year-old Lori Drew stood quietly beside her attorney Monday. She pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress. She is free on $20,000 bond.

The proceeding lasted only a few minutes. Drew and her lawyer declined to comment to reporters waiting outside the courtroom.

Drew, of suburban St. Louis, Mo., is accused of helping to create a MySpace account that appeared to belong to a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. The boy did not exist.

Drew's daughter had been a friend of 13-year-old neighbor Megan Meier and the fake account was used to send cruel messages to the girl, including one stating the world would be better off without her. Megan hanged herself in 2006.

Drew has denied creating the account or sending messages to Meier.

The charges were filed in California where MySpace is based. MySpace is a subsidiary of Beverly Hills-based Fox Interactive Media Inc., which is owned by News Corp.

Drew's case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge George Wu and her trial scheduled for July 29. A status conference was scheduled for June 26. U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said Drew would be allowed to return home pending trial.

Each of the four counts against Drew carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Drew's lawyer has said he will challenge the charges.

Experts have said the case could break new ground in Internet law. The statute used to indict Drew usually applies to Internet hackers who illegally access accounts to get information.

U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien has acknowledged this is the first time the federal statute on accessing protected computers has been used in a social-networking case.

Rebecca Lonergan, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Southern California, has said use of statute, known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, may be open to challenge.

Lonergan said the crimes covered by the law involve obtaining information from a computer, not sending messages out to harass someone.

"Here it is the flow of information away from the computer," she said. "It's a very creative, aggressive use of the statute. But they may have a legally tough time meeting the elements."

James Chadwick, a Palo Alto attorney who specializes in Internet and media law, said he has never seen the statute applied to the sending of messages.

He said it was probable that liability for the girl's death would not be an issue in the case. "As tragic as it is," he said, "You can't start imposing liability on people for being cruel."

Missouri police didn't file any charges against Drew in part because there was no applicable state law. In response to the case, Missouri legislators gave final approval to a bill making cyber harassment illegal.

"This is an extremely rare case of an adult woman posing as a teenage boy but the cyberbullying is very real and very hurtful," said CBS News technology analyst Larry Magid. "About one-third of teens say they have been bullied or harassed online and though suicide is rare, there are plenty of cases where it has led to depression and extreme anxiety."

[bleem3]

Not only Lori Drew, but her employee and sidekick Ashley Grills should be charged. They were BOTH in on it, BOTH doing it. It gives Drew a loophole that only she has been charged. Anyone and everyone who helped set that elaborate and hateful trap ought to be charged, not just Gory Lori.

[avigil2]

This is a new kind of crime. The poor girl obviously had poor self-esteem. But Lori Drew should have known much better than to pull a hideous prank on a teenager. The outcome will be interesting.

[patriot12436]

If the facts have been acurately reported in this case, then i hope she gets the maximum sentence allowedby law. I also hope she loses everything she has in a civil law suit. This woman was supposed to be an adult. She should pay for her actions. She should have been mature enough to act like an adult.

[dobbershome]

This whole story is very sad.

[eggy1620]

How many of these liberal, save-us-from-ourselves narcissistic moms realize that their children are spending so much time on a FoxNews website?

[jeannec3]

What gets me is when Lori Drew told Megan Meier''s mother to '' Get over it. And there''s nothing Megan''s mother can do about it. '' Can you BELIEVE that woman !!! I don''t blame Megan''s mother for finding some way for this woman to pay for what she did. And for anyone else that helped this Lori Drew. They should all pay a price !

[juliuswillis]

cruelty should be a liable. that chadwick sounds nuts, heartless.

[nlm2383]

Of course shes going to say she''s not guilty... She somehow honestly thinks she wasn''t the cause of this girl killing herself. She''s adult and not setting a very good example for her children or anyone who sees it okay to bully people. She needs to take responsibility for her actions and quit acting the age of the boy she pretended to be.