By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
The suicide of a 13-year-old Missouri girl in a nationally controversial MySpace hoax cannot be mentioned in court, a federal judge said Monday.
That stance makes no sense, and the judge now threatens the validity of the entire case.
A quick recap: Lori Drew of O'Fallon is charged in creating a false-identity account on MySpace that led Megan Meier to hang herself, after being told the world would be better off without her.
Meier was a former friend of Drew's daughter.
Drew has been charged with three counts of accessing computers without authorization and one count of conspiracy.
It's reportedly the first time the federal government has used the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to prosecute someone for violating MySpace's rules about misrepresentation of users.
But U.S. District Judge George H. Wu of California told attorneys Monday, "I don't necessarily think the suicide is relevant to the crime charged."
He's wrong.
The suicide is the only reason this case should move forward. If it's not mentioned or deemed irrelevant, then the case should not proceed.
The judge said mentioning the suicide would prejudice the jury.
No, it would give the jury the facts about the consequences of what Drew did.
Wu plans to announce his final decision Friday. The case is scheduled to go to a jury next Tuesday.
You can find a good backgrounder article on this entire case here.
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Sure, she made a false ID,
Sure, she made a false ID, and typed nastygrams to the girl, but the girl CHOSE to commit suicide- the woman didn't reach thru her screen and literally kill the girl.
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The place where O.J. got off
Why in the hell would a St. Louis case be heard in a Los Angeles Federal District Court? I assume the defendant's attorney finagled that one. That's the problem in a nutshell!
The suicide is the reason
The suicide is the reason for the trial.
cyberbully
I do not believe that this case has any merit or cause to proceed other than the charge of three counts of accessing computers without authorization and one count of conspiracy.
You cannot convince me, if I was a juror, that the result of these charges is the fault of the defendant.
Sure, she made a false ID, and typed nastygrams to the girl, but the girl CHOSE to commit suicide- the woman didn't reach thru her screen and literally kill the girl.
As a parent, I can understand the grief and anger this family would feel towards the woman, but all she did (literally) was create a false account within which she played an immature and cruel mindgame with a person.
What that person chose to do in their weakness and hurt state was their own doing.
She could have simply chose to turn the computer off.
It's that simple.
Court Should Here All Evidence
When one conveys a sentence as "This world would be better off without her" to a minor child that has mental problems as A.D.D, severe mental depression, on prescription medication for these issues and that the person to whom typed this message to do further harm - having knowledge of all the above problems with this child?
Soon after hearing of her "Megan's" death started informing her other accomplishes to not post any further remarks on said fake MySpace account and proceeded to cancel this account to cover up her trail - shows nothing but "criminal behavior".
Mrs. Drew should have this and all other evidence presented in court for what was taken from this young child was "her life".
For the person who quoted:
CYBERBULLY:
She could have simply chose to turn the computer off.
It's that simple.
Have you children of you own? Have you ever viewed or known someone who has the issues as this child?
You DON'T make such statements in person or written to anyone - to whom you know nothing about both physically or mentally.
Old Gadawg
You are right, one should never assume they know who is on the other end of the net nor would any sane or decent individual make such horrid comments to anyone else.
As for your question,Yes, I speak from experience. That teen who committed suicide,could have easily been mine, however, I interveind and found out all the stuff my teen had been into. I put stop to all internet usage except for when I was present and monitoring.
In my opinion, a teen has no reason nor business owning an email acct, a myspace, facebook or any other online "social" tools.
It is only a door to trouble. Period.
For my experience, it started with texting and email of my teen to others and the scope broadened to a pinnacle of secracy for mine.
Like I said, I stuck my nose right in the middle of their business and took my right as a parent and stopped the process.
If I hadn't, I am quite certain it would have ended in disaster.
Believe me when I say, I feel for the family and all, but if a teen has those kinds of issues the net is the single worst place to allow a teen to navigate alone.
Wrong
This a forty something year old woman who created an environment where a thirteen year old felt so betrayed she committed suicide. She wrote vile,hateful things that pushed a vulnerable child over the edge, things a kid is not equpped to handle.
This woman knew exactly what she was doing and she truly is a
dispicible human being.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
Where was the thirteen yr
Where was the thirteen yr old's parents? Were they aware of the drama online?
Parents are responcible to be involved in their teen's life offline and online.
Too many people assume their teens or tweens lack the knowledge to navigate online, or think they know their teen well enough to trust what they do.
Myspace is a cyber drama place where you can befriend ANYONE. Nobody knows who is on the other end of that chat room or email.
If they were not in tune with the fragility of their daughter's emotions, they shuold have been.
They should have gotten nosy and got right smack in the middle of that teen's business.
Let me ask it this way-
If this had gone on face to face, or on the phone, would the parents have put up with it?
Would the teen have been able to cover it up so well?
The answer is NO.
It is a crying shame that a forty year old woman thought it worth her time to try and destroy another person in any fashion. She is very despicable, I agree.
But as far as to charge her (by law) for the death of this teen, I cannot subscribe to that.
The teen needed help obviously and if her parents didn't catch on to it, their unfortunate loss is a hard lesson that all families should learn from.
Yes, parents are RESPONSIBLE
But the hell as the other mother doing taunting a kid over the internet?
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
That woman is a piece of
That woman is a piece of crap as far as I am concerned. She will reap what she sows, one way or the other. You'll get no argument from me there.
I just doubt she will get charged with anything more than the cyber crimes she is charged with.
I seriously doubt they will ever have a sentence for death by internet or death by bullying.
Although by all rights and fairness, they should.
But defining where those boundaries should be would be an arduous task.
There's always the wrongful death suit
I just doubt she will get charged with anything more than the cyber crimes she is charged with.
I seriously doubt they will ever have a sentence for death by internet or death by bullying.
Although by all rights and fairness, they should.
But defining where those boundaries should be would be an arduous task.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
peskime
Wrongful death suit,that would be an interesting twist indeed.
Again, I am not saying this woman who did this is innocent of being cruel, evil and guilty of malicious behavior.