A federal grand jury has indicted in the MySpace suicide case, according to this article.
In a highly unusual use of a federal law generally employed in computer fraud cases, a federal grand jury here on Thursday indicted a Missouri woman accused of using a phony online identity to trick and taunt a 13-year-old girl, who committed suicide in response to the cyberbaiting.
The woman, Lori Drew, was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization and via interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
This comes after Drew was not indicted under state laws. It will be interesting to watch this case and see if the charges stick.
Someone’s running for office. Said it before, and will say it again – shouldn’t be a criminal matter (and the amount of stretching they had to do to find something to charge that cretin (Lori Drew) with illustrates that). Let the Meiers family take Lori Drew to civil court and put it in front of a jury (tho I’m not sure that Mrs. Meier wants to subject herself to any questioning).
Posted by MB | Friday, May 16, 2008, 11:54 amI concur. How the heck can ONE person be charge with conspiracy? To “conspire” is, literally, to “breathe together.” There must be at least TWO conspirators. Who is the other?
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Friday, May 16, 2008, 12:09 pmThey should have charged her with stealing cattle; at least that way they’d be able to hang her if they got a conviction. I think there should be a law against what Drew did, but society starts heading down a slippery slope when we’re willing to define any action by an individual that’s not explicitly illegal to still be implicitly illegal under the most convenient statute available.
Posted by anonymous | Friday, May 16, 2008, 12:58 pmthis is definitely a case to watch because the implications are very dangerous to internet users. Bloggers have to beware under these circumstances. I also wonder where the heck were the parents in this ordeal. A lot of unanswered questions.
Posted by Gene Magruder | Friday, May 16, 2008, 4:37 pmViolating TOS is now a federal crime? I guess we better all go turn ourselves in now. Jeez.
Posted by Brian | Saturday, May 17, 2008, 6:54 amSo when did Mike Nifong move to California?
Meanwhile, federal and state officials seem helpless to do anything about rampant credit card fraud.
Posted by spotter | Saturday, May 17, 2008, 9:04 amThe more I read about the law being used in this case, the less it makes sense. Sure, what this woman did was despicable, but this is truly a stretch.
Posted by vjp | Saturday, May 17, 2008, 9:32 amOne thing is for certain…whether convicted and sent to prison or not…the adult in question has destroyed her reputation, her life. She just as soon change her name and move to another country. And it is scary where they seem to be going with this as far as the law. The whole thing has opened up a big can of worms!
Posted by DAR | Sunday, May 18, 2008, 5:18 pm