cyber bully case

[Homicidalheathen]

Nov. 18--ST. LOUIS -- The landmark cyber-bullying case against Lori Drew is set to go to trial today in a courthouse 2,000 miles from the quiet St. Charles suburb where Drew allegedly pushed her teenage neighbor toward suicide.

Drew is accused of taunting 13-year-old Megan Meier over the Internet, an act that embroiled readers from coast to coast after Megan hanged herself in a closet of her family's home in Dardenne Prairie.

The teen's parents, their neighborhood and an online community that has vilified Drew have called for justice, but it's unclear what will come this week.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles will try to prove that Drew knew she was breaking the rules of the social networking website MySpace by creating a fictitious 16-year-old heartthrob named Josh Evans to woo, then humiliate Megan.

Megan, who had been friends with Drew's daughter before a falling out, killed herself on Oct. 16, 2006, shortly after receiving a message that stated, "The world would be a better place without you."

Prosecutors say Drew used the site to try to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter.

They say it evolved into a plan to try to lure Megan to a mall, where Drew and others -- including an 18-year-old Drew family employee, Ashley Grills -- would reveal that Josh was fake and taunt Megan with her own messages.

Attorneys for Drew, 49, now of O'Fallon, Mo., will argue that Megan's death was more complicated than that. They say their client played a small role, if any, in the death of the already-troubled girl.

After weeks of courtroom comments leaning toward either dismissing the case outright or barring prosecutors from mentioning Megan's death, U.S. District Judge George Wu decided Friday that the case would go forward, suicide and all.

Drew's lawyers did get one victory: Wu will allow jurors to consider what is known as a "lesser included offense." It means if they decide not to acquit, they could convict Drew of a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Drew was indicted in May on one count of conspiracy and three counts of illegally accessing protected computers.

It marks the first time the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has been used to pursue allegations of cyber bullying rather than computer hackers. It also may be the last.

State and local governments have passed laws to address cyber bullying, in part out of frustration after St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas and federal prosecutors in St. Louis looked at the situation and said they could not find a criminal charge that would apply.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles tried the computer fraud approach, claiming jurisdiction because MySpace's computer servers are in that district.

The statute being used has been challenged so extensively in pretrial motions that the case, at times, seemed days away from being tossed out by an openly skeptical judge.

THE LEGAL ISSUES

In the final few days before trial, neither side would comment on the case, but based on court filings, prosecutors will have to prove four things:

-- That Drew "intentionally accessed a computer without authorization or in excess of authorization."

-- That the access involved interstate communication.

-- That Drew obtained information that way.

-- That it was done "in furtherance of a tortious act in violation of the laws of any State." In this case, the alleged tort is the intentional infliction of emotional distress, with the suicide as proof.

If the pretrial struggles are an indication, the biggest fights will be over issues of unauthorized access and emotional distress.

Prosecutors say Drew violated the MySpace "terms of service," which prohibit lying when registering, or soliciting information from someone under 18 and/or harassing other users.

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[zenaleigh]

burn the stupid immature cunt, I have followed this story on another web site, if the girl had not been a young impressionable teen, I would say get over it, but a "adult Mother" should know better