Today a Los Angeles jury came back with mixed verdicts in the first ever so-called cyber bullying case. Lori Drew, a Missouri mother, is accused of conspiring with her daughter and a business assistant to send harassing Internet messages to 13-year-old Megan Meier who later committed suicide.
Prosecutor says Drew helped orchestrate a ruse to have a make-believe boyfriend humilate the emotionally fragile Meier on the MySpace social network. Meier was once a good friend of Drew’s daughter, Sarah. Meier hanged herself in 2006, after receiving a message from the hoax boyfriend saying the world would be a better place without her.
The jury found Drew guilty of three misdemeanor charges of illegally accessing a computer, but acquitted her on more serious felony charges. Drew faces up to three years in federal prison. Drew was never charged in connection with Meier’s death.
