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.
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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.