A federal jury's decision Wednesday to acquit a Missouri mother accused of using MySpace to intentionally perpetrate a cruel Internet hoax on a vulnerable teenage girl marked a setback for prosecutors who had wanted to send a message that cyber-bullying was a serious crime with serious ramifications.
Instead, the jury in Los Angeles convicted 49-year-old Lori Drew of three misdemeanor computer crimes for her role in setting up the MySpace account in the name of a fictitious 16-year-old boy and using it to lure 13-year-old Megan Meier into an online relationship.
Megan committed suicide two years ago after the "boy" whom she had come to know as "Josh Evans" sent her a message saying, "The world would be a better place without you," prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors had touted the case as the first of its kind in the nation, and it was closely monitored by the online social networking industry. Had Drew been convicted of the felonies with which she was charged she would have faced up to 20 years in prison. The misdemeanor convictions mean she faces a potential three-year prison term, but probably less. The six-man, six-woman panel deadlocked on a conspiracy charge that prosecutors are considering whether to refile.
Rebecca Lonergan, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who now teaches law at USC, said she doubted the case would have been prosecuted absent Megan's death. Because of her death, Lonergan said she was not surprised by what she called the jurors' "compromise verdict" in the case.
"They didn't want to let the defendant completely off the hook because what this woman did was distasteful at best," Lonergan said.
Online safety experts said the verdict puts the onus on social networking sites to police their customers' activities.
"I think the industry was hoping there would be a strong verdict blaming one user for abusing another because that way it's not their fault," said Linda Criddle, a safety expert. "These companies claim to have good standards and then do nothing to enforce them. They let people breach their terms and conditions and do nothing about it."
Asked at a news conference whether he was happy with the outcome of the case, U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien said, "We don't deal in terms of happiness or sadness" in criminal cases.
Drew's attorney, H. Dean Steward, said his client was relieved that she was not convicted of a felony but that she continues to feel "deep sadness" over Megan's death.
