ST. LOUIS, Dec. 22, 2008
Woman Accused Under New Cyberbullying Law
21-Year-Old Allegedly Sent Vulgar Text To Girl; Test Of New Laws After Girl's Suicide
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Megan Meier, 13, committed suicide after receiving cruel messages on MySpace. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
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(CBS/AP)
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Play CBS Video Video Bullies On The Web Lori Drew might be the most notorious cyberbully in the short history of the Internet, blamed for the suicide of a 13-year-old girl, but was only convicted of lesser charges. John Blackstone reports.
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Interactive Protecting Children Online What to say to your child about Web porn and online predators, and how to look for signs of porn on your PC. Plus: warning signs that an adult may be communicating with your child.
The 2006 death of 13-year-old Megan Meier prompted Missouri lawmakers to update state harassment law earlier this year so that it now covers bullying and stalking done through electronic media, like e-mails or text messages.
A handful of cases related to electronic communication have been filed statewide since the law took effect Aug. 28. Prosecutors do not track harassment cases based on the type of communication method used, so could not provide an exact count in recent days of how many people have been charged because of the new provisions.
In one of the new cases, Nicole Williams is accused of using electronic communications to harass a teenager in a dispute over a boy. Williams is scheduled for arraignment on one count of harassment on Jan. 8.
She allegedly sent the text message to the 17-year-old she had not previously met because she heard the girl had a physical encounter with her boyfriend. The two had just been talking, police said.
The 17-year-old girl received voice messages with lewd and threatening comments, including some threatening rape. Williams told police others sent those messages from her phone, according to a probable cause statement.
The case was filed in November and is the first involving text messages in the county where Meier resided, since the new law went into effect.
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Defense attorney Michael Kielty, who represents Williams, criticized the revised law on electronic harassment. He called the Meier case tragic, but said lawmakers had engaged in a knee-jerk reaction to try to address the high-profile case.It's not criminal. It might be mean-spirited, but it's not criminal.
Michael Kielty, Nicole Williams' attorneyIn a landmark cyberbullying trial, Lori Drew, 49, of Missouri, was convicted in Los Angeles on misdemeanor federal charges of accessing computers without authorization last month.
Prosecutors said Drew and two others created a fictitious teenage boy on MySpace and sent flirtatious messages from him to neighbor Megan Meier, 13. The "boy" dumped Megan in 2006, telling her: "The world would be a better place without you." Megan hanged herself. Drew has not yet been sentenced.
The trial in California came after Missouri prosecutors said they couldn't find state statutes that allowed them to file charges.
Kielty said Missouri's revised harassment measures are bad law. "It's probably one of the worst written laws I've seen in my career," he said.
He said kids used to say things face to face or pass notes in school commenting on someone's looks or weight. The new law "criminalizes behavior that otherwise wouldn't be illegal except for the medium," he said.
"It's not criminal. It might be mean-spirited, but it's not criminal," he said.
Prosecutor Jack Banas said the updated harassment law should help make it "easier to go after people who are going after people in unusual ways."
He said harassment over the telephone has been a crime for years in Missouri.
Banas said he's still not sure Missouri's current harassment law as it related to electronic communication would have allowed for prosecution of Drew, had it been in effect at the time of Megan's death.
About 45 states have updated their laws to address harassment through electronic communications or crafted new laws to respond to the concerns of cyberbullying or cyberstalking, said Naomi Goodno, an associate professor at Pepperdine University School of Law who has written about cyberbullying law. She said many of those changes happened prior to the Meier case or were fueled by other concerns.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 42 Comments
- Once again, technology has outpaced our legal system. Some of the laws that were passed when automobiles were becoming more and more common would have you rolling on the floor laughing - now, but at the time it was the confused response to something new and dangerous. We need a think tank at a major law school to make recommendations instead of waiting until some poor little girl kills herself after being abused by an adult. When that story hit, I wanted to make that woman walking around free an illegal act punishable by public beating, and so did a lot of other people. But even in my anger, I knew that we have no serious plan on how to handle this and we really need one.
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- If a bill like this is passed and "grandfathered", you and I and all of us who "cyber bullied" Bush and Uncle D.i.c.k.e.y will get the chance to meet in the "big house". Wouldn''t that be the height of irony?
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- There is a lot of problems with this law.
Posted by czmdm
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Yes there is, When someone can leave a message on your answering machine with threats of violence and they cant do cr@p, but they can arrest you over an email for the same thing. Please, this is beyond stupid. - Reply to this comment
- This law is stupid and needs to be abolished. www.theseriouspolice.com
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- Two things I don''t get:
1 We all know that the body of an email can be changed. Mr. A can send Mr. B and email. Mr. B can alter Mr. A''s email making it offensive and then mail it to Mr. C to complain of Mr. A''s harrassment. So I don''t see how this really works.
2) Why can somebody call me an SOB in public and there is nothing I can do about it, but if it is in an email I can press charges against them?
There is a lot of problems with this law. - Reply to this comment
- Ah, Mrs. Premise, I see you are back blaming everything on Gods retribution. I suppose the snow storms are his retribution too. And the Plane crash. Even the economy. Forgive me for saying so, but you must realize that Christians have been affected too. That snow storm isnt being selective about who it hits, the economy isnt being selective about who gets laid off. Instead of preaching Gods retribution on the computer, maybe you should be on your knees praying for all those souls who have been affected.
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- Start saving all those nasty emails and texts. And do not send any yourself...can be used as evidence against you. Big Brother and his little brother are certainly watching you and saving everything.
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- I have a solution to cyberbullying...turn off the stupid computer and go outside play basketball, skateboard, go to a movie...visit with true and real flesh and blood friends.
You can''''t be cyberbullied if the computer isn''''t on!
Posted by dragonmouse
LOL! Yep, but that opens you up to real physical bullying like we had to endure when we were kids. Nobody ever showed up with a lump on their head or a black eye from cyber bullying. - Reply to this comment
- I have a solution to cyberbullying...turn off the stupid computer and go outside play basketball, skateboard, go to a movie...visit with true and real flesh and blood friends.
You can''''t be cyberbullied if the computer isn''''t on!
Posted by dragonmouse at 11:55 AM
Well said! - Reply to this comment
- What loss? She''''s not the one who was driven to suicide. It was a 13-year-old who was unnecessarily harassed by a 49-year-old adult woman. The saddest part about that is that the woman has no remorse and doesn''''t feel bad in any way for what she has caused.
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Posted by nlm2383 at 10:55 AM
Stop it. The mother of that girl is as much too blame. Before the girl comitted suicide the mother had a fight with her about her being affected by her internet interactions. The girl shouted that her mother should at least be on her side, and then ran up to her room and committed suicide. The mother 1) should not have allowed this girl to have a computer in her room away from the family for observation and 2) yes, she should have been on her side. She should have really taken the time to listen to her daughter and then she should have contacted the police about the person on the other side.
How different it would have been if the girl would have found out that she was the victim of a fraud and that she was all upset about a person who didn''t even exist. - Reply to this comment
- I have a solution to cyberbullying...turn off the stupid computer and go outside play basketball, skateboard, go to a movie...visit with true and real flesh and blood friends.
You can''t be cyberbullied if the computer isn''t on! - Reply to this comment
- After torturing so many human souls where does God go when he dies?
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- Posted by FarRemoved
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Agreed. God sends those naughty ladies to the realm of Satan.
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Posted by mrs_premise
God is only in your imagination. - Reply to this comment
- Guns don''t kill people - people kill people with guns.
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- tj217 -- When will you learn not to feed the troll? Mrs_Premise is not a conservative -- he is a troll who poses as a "conservative", in order to whip liberals/democrats into a frenzy for his own enjoyment. He used to post under gop_will_win. The more you feed him, the more he will spew his vitriolic nonsense. Ignore him, please, for all our sakes. Save yourself some trouble and just go slam your finger in the door. It will accomplish the same thing as involving yourself in an exchange with this moron.
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- I have loads of talent.
Posted by mrs_premise
It doesn''t take much to have talent on your back, legs in the air Mrs. Premise! It''s the longest active profession and one garnering not much respect! - Reply to this comment
- So sad for the loss of the seventeen year old
Posted by panhandlpete at 08:41 AM : Dec 22, 2008
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What loss? She''s not the one who was driven to suicide. It was a 13-year-old who was unnecessarily harassed by a 49-year-old adult woman. The saddest part about that is that the woman has no remorse and doesn''t feel bad in any way for what she has caused. - Reply to this comment
- Guns don''t kill people - people kill people with guns.
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- AMERICA, land of the free!
NOT ANY MORE!!!
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Posted by tallinson2 at 06:37 AM : Dec 22, 2008
Which was obivously written prior to adults telling children they would be raped because they talked to or had interactions with someone. - Reply to this comment
- Lesson: Don''t be an idiot jerk, and teach your children not to be idiot jerks.
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