A suburban mother was found guilty
today of minor misdemeanor charges for
her role in an online hoax that
prosecutors said led to the suicide of her
teenage neighbor.
Lori Drew, 49, was convicted on three
misdemeanor counts of
unauthorized access to computers in
a case that drew nationwide
attention both for its novel use of
a computer hacking law to combat
alleged cyberbullying and for its
tales of suburban neighborhood
rivalries and teenage suicide.
The jury could not reach a verdict
on a single felony conspiracy charge.
Drew, who lives in a suburb of St.
Louis, was acquitted of several felony
counts of unauthorized access to
computers in order to inflict emotional
distress on 13-year-old Megan
Meier.
Drew faces a possible sentence
ranging from probation to a year in
prison and a $100,000 fine for each
misdemeanor count. She could have faced
up to 20 years in prison if convicted
of the felony charges.
Megan Meier committed suicide in
October 2006 after the end of her
online relationship with a 16-year-old
boy named Josh Evans. Prosecutors said
"Josh Evans" was the fictitious
creation of Drew, her daughter and her
assistant, who allegedly created the
fake MySpace account to spy on
Megan.
Legally, as Drew's lawyer Dean
Steward repeatedly reminded the jury,
the case was not about whether Drew
caused Megan to commit suicide.
Instead, Drew was accused of violating
MySpace's terms of service by obtaining
personal information to inflict
emotional distress on the teen.
But the emotional pull, and much of
the testimony in the trial in federal
court in Los Angeles, centered on the
suicide. "The tragedy in this case is
not just Megan Meier's suicide. It's
the fact that it was so preventable,"
U.S.attorney Thomas O'Brien said in his
closing statement.
Megan killed herself after "Josh"
told her the world would be better off
without her, prosecutors said. The
assistant, 20-year-old Ashley Grills,
testified under a grant of immunity
that she was the one who sent the final
message. Drew's daughter Sarah was also
not charged.
Sarah told jurors her mother thought
inventing "Josh" was a good idea but
changed her mind two weeks later and
told Grills to shut it down. But Grills
testified that Drew orchestrated the
hoax and knew Megan was depressed and
suicidal. Prosecutors also said Drew
later bragged about the prank to her
friends and co-workers.
Groundbreaking Case
Steward has said that Drew did not
encourage or participate in the hoax
and was not aware of the mean messages
being sent to Megan. He repeatedly
asked U.S. District Judge George Wu to
exclude testimony about Megan's suicide
and twice sought a mistrial.
The case is believed to be
one of the first of its kind to use
the statute barring unauthorized access
to computers, which has previously been
used to combat computer hacking, to
address so-called cyberbullying. Drew's
lawyers and outside legal experts have
argued that the unusual prosecution
could broaden the scope of what's
considered criminal conduct on the
Internet. Drew was charged for
violating the MySpace terms of service,
a set of rules that many users probably
do not read. "How can you violate
something when you haven't even read
it?" Steward asked, according to the
Associated Press. "End of case."
According to prosecutors, for
several years the Meiers and the Drews
were friendly. Both families had girls
the same age who attended school
together, and they had gone on family
trips together.
Megan's mother, Tina Meier, told
jurors that her daughter was taking
medication for attention deficit
disorder and depression, and that she
struggled with low self-esteem.
Concerned about her daughter's safety,
Meier said she had Megan's father
reverse the lock on her bedroom.
"I was nervous she would do
something," said Meier, adding that
Megan had previously tried to commit
suicide.
Prosecutors contend that Drew
suspected that Megan was spreading
rumors about her daughter. They said
Drew, her daughter and Grills set up a
fake MySpace account in the name of
Josh Evans, an attractive 16-year-old
boy who was new in town, to spy on
Megan.
They allegedly used the Josh Evans
account to contact and befriend Megan.
Within a few days, Drew encouraged her
daughter and Grills to flirt with Megan
and
planned to lure the teenager to the
mall to confront her with the hoax
and taunt her, prosecutors said.
Grills, who helped Drew with her
coupon magazine business, testified
that she told Drew they might get in
trouble for the scheme, but that Drew
replied, "It was fine and people do it
all the time."
Grills said Drew thought the MySpace
account was a funny idea and was
present about half of the time when
Grills and Sarah sent messages to
Megan.
In October 2006, another
neighborhood girl obtained the password
to the Josh account and sent Megan a
message saying that Josh no longer
wanted to be her friend. The next day,
an online argument escalated until
Grills, posing as Josh, told Megan the
world would be a better place without
her in it, prosecutors said.
About 20 minutes later, Tina Meier
found her daughter hanging from her
belt in her bedroom closet. She died at
the hospital the next day.
Grills said during an interview with
"Good Morning America" that she
wrote that final message in an effort
to end the online relationship with
Josh because she felt the joke had gone
too far.
Drew had previously denied
involvement in the hoax,
saying she didn't know about the mean
messages being sent to Megan.
Her daughter has not been
charged.
