MySpace Trial Judge: Suicide Not Relevant

Says Evidence Teen Killed Herself Because Of Woman's Online Hoax May Prejudice Jury

(AP)  Prosecutors in the trial of a woman accused of a MySpace hoax that allegedly led a 13-year-old girl to kill herself will likely be prohibited from presenting evidence of the suicide, a U.S. District Court judge said Monday.

Judge George H. Wu told attorneys he was leaning toward excluding the evidence from the trial of Lori Drew, who is accused of using a fictitious profile on the social networking site to drive Megan Meier, her daughter's former friend, to hang herself.

Drew has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing computers without authorization.

"I don't necessarily think the suicide is relevant to the crime charged," Wu said, adding he thought details of Meier's death would unfairly prejudice the jury. He said he planned to announce his final decision Friday.

Prosecutors say Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Mo., helped create a false-identity MySpace account and harassed Meier with cruel messages.

Meier, who was being treated for depression, hanged herself after allegedly receiving messages saying the world would be better off without her.

The government is prosecuting Drew under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which has never before been used in connection with a Web site's terms of service barring misrepresentation by users setting up new accounts.

Drew's attorneys have argued that cyber-bullying is not a violation of the act, which is typically used to prosecute hackers and those committing high-tech crimes.

On Wednesday, defense lawyer Dean Steward waived Drew's right to a jury trial in an effort to have the case decided by a judge, not jurors. But prosecutors refused to agree with the defense waiver, which automatically resulted in a jury trial.

Jury selection is set to begin Nov. 18.

[akpals]

I think it''s sad enough when a teen can''t take the bullying and ends their life, but it''s just sick that a woman would bully a kid the way she did. Why in the world would she get so far involved in teen drama? Like OMG!! this woman is sick.

[nothappyatall]

for those of you confused on whether or not harassment is a crime.

Posted by UrboyDigger

It doesnt count when YOU are the one willingly participating in the contact as the kid was to this fake "Josh" who the mother never bothered to check, phone or verify ANYTHING about him, including his age- could have been a pedo and she would havebeen just as clueless

[hambonehd]

CBS won''t let anyone comment on this article below. Talk about a piece of ***... and she is going to be let go too! Some system.


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[zendigity]

You know, the world doesn''t seem like a worse place without her here...maybe she made the best choice for everyone.

[lilly1232]

I cannot believe a judge would do thisL. She is supposedly an adult woman. You talk about the girl being sick? How sick is this woman that she would enter into this, instead of teaching her daughter this is not the way to behave? Not only should she be prosicuted to the fullest extent of the law. She should also loose custody if her children. The last thing we need is more screwed up kids.

[mydiatribe]

This woman''s Real Fear ought to be for the Ultimate Judgment! No doubt that doesn''t concern her in the least because if it did this whole thing would never have happened.

[rillifane]

Its hardly surprising that the Prosecution wants a jury trial and that the defendant wants a bench trial. This case is utterly absurd and exists only because the public "wants something done" without respect to what the law is. The idea that it is a criminal offense to hurt someone''s feelings is so blantantly ridiculous that the prosecution must try to base its case on a bizarre misreading of the law and then get itself a jury it can present teary eyed witnesses to.

[nobdehom]

Weather or not the court chooses to prosecute is the least of her problems she will have to face herself and the angry public....The Girl would have faced alot more verbal abuse in the future, that is just the sick society we live in. The fact of the matter is learning to let it all "roll of your back"! It is hard going through changes when you are a teen girl and dealing with your strong changing emotions.
My thoughts are with her parents.

[eggy1620]

The victims parents should also be charged with the neglect of their obviously mentally ill daughter.

[gramto8]

To all of you who are calling the girl who died ''nutty'':

Clinical depression is not ''being nutty''. It is a physical disorder caused by a chemical imbalance.

The witch that did this to the girl knew the family and knew she was on medication for this problem. She also knew that the meds hadn''t taken their full effect yet. She went ahead and did this to the girl, knowing full well that it would affect this child in a bad way.

Clinical depression is NOT a reason to forbid anyone from accessing the Internet. If that were the case, I would be blocked from my computer and I would go insane. This is my only link to the outside world, as I am disabled.

Don''t blame the child or her parents for what this person did to her. She knew she was doing evil and intended for it to be evil when she did it.

[hennighg]

Someday we''ll have cyber-space crimes figured out. Today, adults vs. children: throw the adults in jail. No fair.

[rawalker74]

ok my thought is this was a grown woman doing this, she should know better. How would she feel if it had been her daughter? The same way the other girls parents do! I think she should be punished because she is somewhat responsible, cmon she is 49 years old, so u are telling me the older you get the dumber and u have no common sense. She is responsible and she should be punished

[fiteit1]

tuckerndfw

Get help

[urboydigger]

http://www.letswrap.com/legal/harass. htm

for those of you confused on whether or not harassment is a crime.

[cheddarboy82]

email harassment through myspace is not a crime, come on. Why didn''t she block the person or not go on myspace, myspace is retarded anyways.

[cheddarboy82]

kids get picked on all the time, sorry but this girl killed herself cause she was wacky, not from myspace. 5,000 kids committ suicide yearly, and for several reasons. This girl had plenty of more problems then myspace harassment. This whole case is ridiculous. Half of the profiles on myspace are fake. Sad that is happened and the mother accused should be ashamed of ehrself, but this is a case of "*** happens"

[nlm2383]

The nutso girl who killed herself should have never been allowed to have access to a computer connected to the I''''net.

And, she most certainly should not have had a webpage with her personal info on it.

Her parents should be prosecuted for child abuse & reckless endangerment.


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Posted by tuckerndfw at 10:42 AM : Nov 11, 2008

You are ridiculous... Parents shouldn''t have to keep children from using the internet, especially when it''s harmless things like talking to friends on MySpace or FaceBook. People think these websites are just pure evil or run by the devil or something. If they would have taken away her internet use, she would have found other ways to contact the fictitious boy that this full grown adult woman made up.

[urboydigger]

It''s called harassment... it is a crime.

[differnet]

The woman''s intent is the key element to this case. This was not a situation where she created a false identity for fun. Her intent was malicious, even if it didn''t start out that way. Over time, she created and carried out the fraud to cause emotional harm to a minor. I can see the point about the suicide having a prejudicial element to the situation.

[waterandsand]

This lady is supposed to be a responsible adult. In a time where schools are trying to control bullying in our schools, so that incidents like Columbine don''''t happen. People on this blog are justifying this womans behavior and blaming the girl. If you as an adult go and harass a kid in your neighborhood, you''''ll either end up in jail or getting your a-- kicked. I think this lady should be sent to jail and her daughter should be sent to juvy. They will both be taught a lesson by the inmates and will think twice before they ever harass a child again. This woman and her daughter are mentally ill, you can tell by the way they show no remorse. They deserve everything they will be taught in prison. Let''''s see how tough these witches are when there faced with there own kind. I feel sorry for the girl who killed herself and her family. I''''m sorry that the help she was trying to get couldn''''t overcome the ignorance of some in our society. My condolences and prayers go out to the family.


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Posted by jrg1263 at 10:02 AM : Nov 11, 2008
+ report abuse

jrg,, i pretty sure most people wont argue that this lady is a piece of *****,, but i dont believe what she did was illegal. theres an extreme diffrence.