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The verdict is in on Lori Drew, 49, the Missouri "MySpace Mom" accused of setting up a fake account to taunt 13-year-old Megan Meier, reports CNN. More than 2000 news stories have hit the web since the verdict came down in this case that some litigation and civil liberties experts believed could establish legal precedents on "cyberbullying."
A lead on one of The Los Angeles Times stories about the case in its technology section reads as follows:
A federal jury delivered a mixed verdict today convicting a Missouri mother of misdemeanor charges in a nationally watched cyber-bullying case in which the woman was accused of using a fake MySpace account to torment a teenage girl who later committed suicide.
The jurors, however, rejected more serious felony charges against Lori Drew, 49, who was involved in a hoax on 13-year-old Megan Meier. The panel deadlocked on a conspiracy count. (LAT)
The story quotes Drew's attorney, H. Dean Steward, to say that it was a "compromise verdict" and that he believes "the U.S. attorney's office never should have brought this case," calling the verdict also a "message from the jury."
In the end, while she faces penalties, Drew was convicted of what--playing around on MySpace? She was not indicted for premeditated murder nor negligent homicide and faces, per The LA Times story, "anywhere from probation to three years in prison."
The Meier story at Wired calls the ruling a "slap-on-the-wrist verdict" and its blogger Kim Zettner suspects Drew will serve little if any time. She writes, "jurors found Drew guilty only of three counts of gaining unauthorized access to MySpace for the purpose of obtaining information on Megan Meier ... ." More from Wired:
After just over a day of deliberation, the six-man, six-woman jury acquitted Drew of three felony charges of violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ... The jury unanimously rejected the three felony computer hacking charges that alleged the unauthorized access was part of a scheme to intentionally inflict emotional distress on Megan. ...
The novel use of the statute was criticized by numerous legal experts who said the case set a "scary" precedent and potentially made a felon out of anyone who violates the terms-of-service of any website.
But testimony in the case offered by prosecution witness Ashley Grills under a grant of immunity showed that nobody involved in the hoax actually read the terms of service. Grills also said that the hoax was her idea, not Drew's, and that it was Grills who created the Josh Evans profile, and later sent the cruel message that tipped the emotionally vulnerable 13-year-old girl into her final, tragic act.(Wired)
On November 18, 2007, I wrote a post for BlogHer.com about 13-year-old Megan Taylor Meier's suicide, how bloggers outed Lori Drew after mainstream media opted not to reveal her name in order to protect her daughter, Sarah Drew, a friend of Megan's who became a frienemy. Back then news sources said witnesses alleged that Lori Drew, also a neighbor and friend of the Meier family, had, with the assistance of her own daughter and another teen (Ashley Grills) had established a fake MySpace.com account for a fictitious dream boy, "Josh Evans," and convinced Megan that the new boy in town liked her.
Then it was alleged that Drew sat back as the hoax turned into an ugly game of teasing Megan. Finally its players delivered a fatal kick to the girl's fragile ego, having "Josh" reject her.
Sources report that the hoax morphed:
Complications arose when another neighborhood girl obtained the password for the "Josh Evans" account and sent messages to Megan saying Josh no longer wanted to be friends with her. A dispute erupted and on Oct. 16, 2006, Grills typed a message telling Megan "that the world would be a better place without (her) in it." (CNN)
Twenty minutes later, say sources, Megan Meier hung herself in her bedroom closet. She died in the hospital the next day.
Here is video of one of the early television stories on her death and its circumstances:
In my first post, I asked "When should cyberbullying be considered a crime?" I also explored online shaming, the type faced
