Legal News

MySpace Defendant Convicted of Misdemeanors, not Felony

By Nathan Koppel

This just in. A Los Angeles jury has convicted, Lori Drew, the so-called cyber-bully, of three misdemeanor counts of accessing a computer without authorization. Each count is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The jury, however, did not convict Drew, 49, of the more serious felony charge of accessing a computer without authorization to inflict emotional distress.

Here’s the AP account. And here’s a story from the L.A. Times.

To recap, briefly: the case centers on events leading up to the death of 13-year-old Megan Meier, an eighth-grader in suburban St. Louis. Meier hanged herself with a belt in her bedroom closet two years ago after she was suddenly dumped by someone she believed was a 16-year-old boy she’d met on the MySpace website. But the boy, Josh Evans, was a fictitious creation of Drew, the mother of one of Meier’s friends.

During the trial, prosecutors sought to portray Drew as a callous and reckless woman who gleefully took part in the hoax on Meier. The government’s witnesses included friend of Drew’s, a business associate and her hairdresser, each of whom testified that Drew had admitted playing a role in the hoax.

But Drew’s attorney, H. Dean Steward, accused the prosecutors of engaging in a prosecution that was meant to exact revenge for the tragic death of a pretty young girl, even though Drew is not charged with her killing.

We’ll update with reaction when it comes in.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 26, 2008 (boomark / email).