Legal News

Are Prospective Jurors Dripping With Venom for Lori Drew?

By Dan Slater

H. Dean Steward. (AP/Kevork Djansezian)

Mention of the MySpace suicide case inflames a broad spectrum of opinion — ranging from downright contempt for Lori Drew, the mother who is charged in the case, to outrage over what some see as an overly aggressive prosecution that never should’ve been brought. (For all prior Law Blog coverage of the case, click here.)

Presumably, this range of thinking would exist in any potential jury pool. But when jury selection began yesterday in the case against Drew, the Missouri mother accused of taking part in a hoax that allegedly led to the suicide of 13 year-old Megan Meier, the completed jury questionnaires prompted Drew’s lawyer, Dean Steward, to once again ask: How can my client get a fair trial?

Steward, according to this AP report, said the juror forms indicated that about 80% had heard about the case and half had formed “devastating” opinions about Drew.

He said he was particularly concerned about the views of six people. “These are the ones that drip with the most ‘venom’ for my client,” Steward told U.S. District Judge George Wu. Judge Wu dismissed at least two of those people from the jury pool.

Steward also reportedly asked Wu to reconsider his previous ruling that will allow evidence of the suicide in the trial. Prosecutors claim that Drew, who’s been charged under the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, violated the MySpace terms of service.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).