By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Lori Drew, the helicopter parent from the St. Louis suburbs whose cyberspace meddling was a factor in a teen-age girl's suicide, was convicted of three minor offenses after a trial in Los Angeles.

A federal court jury rejected a felony charge of accessing a computer without authorization in order to inflict emotional distress on 13-year-old Megan Meier. Jurors convicted her of three counts of the lesser offense of accessing a computer without authorization, according to the Associated Press. She faces up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $300,000.

The cyber-avengers who tracked Drew down, ruined her business and drove her from her home after the story broke won't be happy with this verdict. They hold her responsible for Megan's death. Drew, her daughter and an employee designed a profile of a cute guy named "Josh" to flirt with Megan on MySpace and then dump her. Their motive was to gain access to Megan's MySpace page to see if she was saying anything about Drew's daughter.

What they did was cruel and incredible. A grown woman harassing a kid, for heaven's sake? But there's always been a problem, in my view, of holding Drew legally responsible for an unintended consequence. One wouldn't necessarily think that setting a teen-ager up for an Internet fall would result in suicide.

Drew will face minimal, if any, prison time. She'll just have to live with the knowledge that her pathetic interference in the lives of teen-agers was a factor in a tragedy. If she has any kind of a conscience, that will be difficult enough