The Megan Meier Myspace suicide case *Update: Conviction overturned* see page 23

[LouiseyPeasey]

I'm not sure I understand why Ashley Grills is not also being prosecuted. Has anyone seen an explanation for this?

[robertsn6534]

^I do too...that Drew woman does not have any compassion or guilt at all otherwise she would've stood up and admitted to her heinous crime! I felt a lot of anger when I read this news but most of all sadness for Megan's family who is now childless. Their wound will never heal; their daughter only a teenager and to have passed away so tragically is a very sad case. The Drew woman is just using her daughter Sarah to make it appear that they were best friends. Real best friends would not allow their parents or business assistants or in fact anyone to betray and hurt them the way Sarah's family has hurt Megan. What a conceited liar, the whole Drew family.

[ayla]

While I think this the wrong law to prosecute her under, she deserves everything thrown at her (including physical books, instead of the figurative "book").

[Veelyn]

I hope the Drew family and all involved pay for what they did. They are truly sick and twisted individuals.

[natalie78]

I think this is a prime example of parents trying to be "friends" with their children rather than parents. Another teenager is teasing yours or saying bad things about your teenager? That's what most teenagers do. They sometimes act immature and say immature things. Be a parent, not a buddy...stay out of it.

[ayla]

Originally Posted by LouiseyPeasey

I'm not sure I understand why Ashley Grills is not also being prosecuted. Has anyone seen an explanation for this?

She's the star witness.. prosecution has built a case built on her testimony.

Quote:

Grills, who has received immunity in exchange for her testimony, recalls receiving a final message from the victim that prophetically read, "You are the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over."

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by ayla

While I think this the wrong law to prosecute her under, she deserves everything thrown at her (including physical books, instead of the figurative "book").

[Roo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us/27myspace.html

November 27, 2008
Verdict in MySpace Suicide Case

Text of the Decision (Findlaw.com) (PDF)

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

LOS ANGELES — A federal jury here convicted a Missouri woman of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud for her involvement in creating a phony account on MySpace to trick a teenager, who later committed suicide.

The defendant, Lori Drew, 49, faces up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines, according to federal sentencing guidelines.

The jury rejected felony charges against Ms. Drew, and was deadlocked on a conspiracy count. Judge George Wu declared a mistrial on that charge.

Ms. Drew, who showed little emotion during the trial, sat stone-faced as the clerk read the jury’s findings. Tina Meier, the mother of the girl who committed suicide, shook her head slowly until the misdemeanor findings were read. None of the jurors would comment as they left the courtroom, nor would Ms. Drew, whose face was red and twisted with rage as she departed.

Her lawyer requested a new trial on the three misdemeanor counts, and the judge scheduled a hearing on that matter for late December.

The trial was an unusual use of computer fraud statutes prohibiting accessing a computer without authorization through interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Local prosecutors in Missouri declined to bring charges. But Thomas O’Brien, the United States attorney here, asserted jurisdiction on the theory that MySpace is based in Los Angeles, where its servers are housed.

Mr. O’Brien, who tried the case himself with the firepower of two subordinates, said he was pleased with the verdict. "The overwhelming message,” he said, “is if you are going to attempt to annoy or go after a little girl and you’re going to use the Internet to do so, this office and others across the country will hold you responsible.”

Ms. Meier said that she hoped Ms. Drew would serve jail time, and that even without the felony convictions, she felt satisfied. "This day is not any harder then the day when I found Megan," she said. "This has never been about vengeance. This is about justice. For me it’s absolutely worth it every single day sitting in that court hoping there was justice."

During the five-day trial, prosecutors portrayed Ms. Drew as working in concert with her then 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, and Ashley Grills, a family friend and employee of Ms. Drew’s magazine coupon business, to create a good-looking teenage boy, “Josh Evans,” as an Internet identity to communicate online with Ms. Meier’s daughter Megan.

The purpose of the hoax, several witnesses testified, was to use Megan’s e-mail exchanges with "Josh" to humiliate Megan in retribution for her unkind acts toward Sarah. But the jury appeared to reject the idea that there was malicious intent behind the e-mail messages, which is required for a felony conviction. Instead, it seemed to accept the theory presented in defense testimony that the account was created simply to get information about Megan.

While it was clearly established during the trial that Ms. Grills, not Ms. Drew, set up the MySpace account, prosecutors contended that because the computer was in Ms. Drew’s home and because she frequently participated in sending e-mail messages to Megan, she violated both the user agreement of MySpace and committed felonious computer fraud, made all the more egregious because she knew that Megan had struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts since the third grade.

After weeks of online courtship with "Josh,” Megan was distressed one afternoon in October 2006, according to testimony at the trial, when she received an e-mail message from him that said, "the world would be a better place without you." Ms. Grills, who is now 20, testified under an immunity agreement that shortly after that message was sent, Megan wrote back, ”You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.” Megan hanged herself that same afternoon.

The last e-mail message from Megan was revealed for the first time in the trial. Ms. Drew’s lawyer, H. Dean Steward, argued that his client had minimal knowledge of the account, and had never read the user agreement. He also argued that prosecutors were trying the case as a homicide rather than as a computer fraud case.

Each day of the short trial was punctuated with highly emotional testimony, including that of Ms. Meier, who tearfully recalled finding her daughter after she hanged herself, and of Sarah, who testified, although her mother did not, about events over the 28 days that the Myspace account for “Josh” was open.

[robertsn6534]

^yeah, I just read it and I think the Drew lady is very lucky to have gotten away with only 3 counts of misdemeanour. But honestly, no matter how many years this lady stays in jail, nothing will bring poor Megan back but I just hope that the Drew family realises the pain and suffering that Megan's parents are going through right now...

[ayla]

To be honest, I'm surprised she was convicted of anything at all. Prosecution truly had an uphill battle here.

I AM glad that they made an example of her though, the type of behaviour and misjudgent she exhibited just should not be tolerated.

[Drop Dead Red]

This whole thing makes me sick..What kind of twisted soul could torment a child the way she did Megan

[Juicy]

I am sickened and disgusted to read this story!! I just don't have the words!

[Veelyn]

Lori Drew is being sentenced today.

[Veelyn]

http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-lori-dre...,6789454.story

Sentencing Monday for Lori Drew In MySpace Suicide Case



7:58 AM CDT, May 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- - A defense attorney says prosecutors are the real bullies for seeking a stiff sentence against a Missouri mother once accused of scheming over the Internet to humiliate 13-year-old neighbor Megan Meier who later committed suicide.

Lawyer Dean Steward represents Lori Drew, who is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court after being convicted in November of three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization.

Drew was found not guilty of the felony charge of intentionally causing emotional harm while accessing computers without authorization. The jury deadlocked on a felony conspiracy charge.

Steward said in recent court documents that prosecutors were trying to save face after they didn't get the verdict they sought.

"The government's case is all about making Lori Drew a public symbol of cyberbullying," Steward said. "The government has created a fiction that Lori Drew somehow caused (Megan's) death, and it wants a long prison sentence to make its fiction seem real."

The government has asked U.S. District Judge George Wu to send Drew to prison for three years for violating the terms of service of the MySpace social networking site and fining Drew as much as $300,000.

Steward wants the judge to dismiss the charges. Probation officials have recommended a year of probation.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Drew violated MySpace rules by helping set up a phony profile for a boy named "Josh Evans" with her then-13-year-old daughter and a business assistant.

Prosecutors believe Drew and her daughter created the profile and sent flirtatious messages to Megan Meier in the boy's name to find out if Megan was spreading rumors about Drew's daughter.

The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later in October 2006.

Prosecutors argued that Drew sought to humiliate Megan, who she knew suffered from depression and was suicidal. They also said Drew tried to conceal the scheme after Megan died and avoided taking responsibility.

"A probationary sentence might embolden others to use the Internet to torment and exploit children," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause said in court documents.

Drew was not directly charged with causing Megan's death. Instead, prosecutors indicted her under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which in the past has been used in hacking and trademark theft cases.

The trial was held in Los Angeles because the servers of the social networking site are in the area.

[Veelyn]

I hope this b*tch gets prison time!