In 2006, the story of Megan Meier, a young girl who took her own life after being duped into a long and elaborate MySpace hoax, rocked the Internet world, bringing the concept of cyberbullying into sharp national focus. The case even prompted cyberbullying legislation to be drafted, the first of its kind.
Naturally, the subsequent trial of Lori Drew, the woman who allegedly instigated the MySpace hoax, has played out with extreme interest from all sides of the debate over cyberbullying. Today, in a somewhat surprising decision, a Federal judge temporarily dismissed the conviction against Drew as he reconsiders the facts of the case.
In a stunning move, a federal judge has tentatively decided to reverse a jury’s verdicts and acquit a Missouri woman who had been convicted of computer fraud charges stemming from an Internet hoax that prompted a teenage girl to commit suicide.
Lori Drew was convicted in November of three misdemeanor counts of illegally accessing a protected computer.
She was expected to be sentenced today in a widely publicized “cyber bullying” case that resulted in the suicide of a 13-year-old girl.
The charges stemmed from the death of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who committed suicide after being “dumped” on MySpace by a fictitious boy Drew helped create.
U.S. District Judge George H. Wu says his decision is tentative, and will not become final until he issues a written ruling.
We have covered the tragic story of Megan Meier previously at the ReputationDefender Blog, and we will continue to bring updates as news of the case continues to unfold.
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[...] of Megan Meier has finally come to an end. In July, we reported that a Federal judge had decided to reverse a jury’s decision and dismiss three charges of misdemeanor computer fraud against Lori Drew. Last Friday, Federal [...]
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