Lori Drew and her daughter, Sarah
"You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.”
That was the last email Megan Meier ever sent to "Josh".
Later that day, she hanged herself.
A federal jury convicted Lori Drew, 49 of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud for her involvement in creating a phony account on MySpace to trick the teen.
No computer crime. No second degree manslaughter. Megan Meier is dead and the harasser is convicted of computer fraud.
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.
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.
Drew 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.
Interesting. As I asked back in May, isn't fraudulent access exactly how law enforcement gains access to conduct online sting operations? Isn't conspiracy exactly what is going on through the enlistment of online sleuths such as Perverted Justice, those who pretend to be someone other than themselves, all in the name of protecting the children?
Drew's attorney, H. Dean Steward accused the government of engaging in a misguided prosecution that was meant to exact revenge for the tragic death of a pretty young girl, even though Drew was not charged with her killing
Yeah, I'd say there's a whole lot of government avenging going on when kids end up dead at the hands of some jerk. Meanwhile, in the aftermath, lawmakers always find some way to gain votes off the kid's death, i.e. the passage of yet another Child Named Law.
I give it a year before someone pitches a Megan's Law to the Missouri legislature. Ooops. No can do. Already have a child protection law with that name on it.
I don't think Lori has too much to worry about. I'd say if the ultimate helicopter mom ever does jail time, once released, she'll have a fat job waiting for her as a cyber cop.
She'll do a fine job luring some poor schlub into paying the piper for the murder of Jessica Lunsford.
In fact, why not sign Drew up right now? Call it community service.
To sum up:
Real kid dead: misdemeanor
Fake kid solicitation: felony
Real kid dead: misdemeanor
Fake kid solicitation: felony
Read more about the whole sordid affair here.
Happy friggin' Thanksgiving.
