Judge Tosses Out Lori Drew Ruling
from the wow dept
The Lori Drew verdict finding her guilty of computer hacking because she may have broken MySpace's terms of service (without even having read them) was a classic example of prosecutors trying to stretch the law to punish someone who did something they didn't like, but which wasn't against the law. The implications of the ruling were quite troubling, in that they could turn almost anyone into a criminal if prosecutors wanted to charge them as such. For months, though, the judge in the case has been weighing whether or not to overturn the ruling. It's not clear why it took so long, but the judge has in fact acquitted Drew on the three charges she was found guilty of by the jury. This is good news all around. No matter what you think of Drew and what she did, prosecutors twisted the law in a way that would have set an amazingly dangerous precedent. It will be interesting to see if there's an appeal, but for now, this is undeniably good news.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: cyberbullying, hacking, lori drew, megan meier, sentencing, symbolic
Companies: myspace
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Nah
Doubtful. The DA's already got their names in the papers, increasing name recognition for their next round elections. Unless you mistakenly think that these assclowns actually CARE about the case?
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Jeebus
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why it took so long.
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Re: why it took so long.
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It's about time...
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And cops in cyberspace everywhere breath a sigh of relief.
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IANAL, but i play one online
This is a major win for rule of law. Hopefully this case will establish a precedent; just because the loud ones are morally outraged by a tragic set of circumstances, doesn't make it illegal.
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It's about time...
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Re: It's about time...
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Re: Re: It's about time...
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Re: Re: It's about time...
Yeah, the world would be so much better off without them...
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Re: Re: Re: It's about time...
Without Christianity, hunderds of millions of poeple:
Wouldn't have been burned to death as witches and warlocks Wouldn't have been raped in pilaged in the various holy wars over the centuries.
Nieghbors wouldn't have murdered each other over religious differences.
Socieities like the Jesuits wouldn't have become sanctioned assassins of the church, murdering for political profit in the name of 'the one true god'
But, yeah, your right. We would never have had things like medicine and education without the Chruch who forced western socieity into the Dark Ages buy killing as many scientists and philosophers as they could *rolleyes*
Our scientific, educational, and democratic foundation of our current society came from the polytheistic Greeks circa 3000 BC.
So bow down, Christian, and thank your so-called god that mere pagans forged the basis of what allows you now to practice your faith without fear of being murdered for it.
[My appologies for the hideous spelling errors]
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Re: Re: Re: Re: It's about time...
Basically, don't look to the "followers" to measure the faith, but look to the faith to measure the followers. And you'll find that many of the faith would not condone the aforementioned practices in any way, if you bothered to stop generalizing long enough to open your eyes.
Hate seems to blind you, why I don't know, but it clearly does. Perhaps you should take time to learn what the faith actually says before you bash it? There is no more misinterpreted, misrepresented, and misunderstood faith in the world than true Biblical Christianity. And it makes perfect sense that it is so, given the nature of this world and of our own selves.
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Re: Re: It's about time...
She didn't just *troll* - she used the MySpace account to befriend, betray, and attack a thirteen year-old girl. Including several conversations deeply sexual in nature - how they didn't charge a forty year-old woman with something along those lines, I don't know!
The night that the girl committed suicide was the night that Lori, her daughter Sarah, and a woman they hired on named Ashley "betrayed" Megan, flipping from "friend" to enemy mode and attacking her for anything they could think of, ending with the statement that the world would be better off without her and that Megan's entire life would be shit forever - and "he" would know, being her "boyfriend."
An hour later when the ambulance pulled up to Megan's house, Lori had the account deleted immediately. Later she attended the funeral, offered support to Megan's grieving parents, and then, in a police interview, said she didn't feel guilty at all about the suicide since the girl was already depressed.
This was no simple troll - I agree that something has to be done, but I would have taken it from the POV of the emotional/mental damage this woman did to a venerable child - and if NOTHING else that she KNOWINGLY contacted a 13 year-old and engaged in lengthy sexual conversations / mild cybering for months.
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Re: Re: Re: It's about time...
Trolls like lettuce drive me fricking crazy!
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Re: It's about time...
Goodness, what selective ethics we have here... I doubt Masnick or the rest of the lemmings would dare say the same thing about copyright theft.
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Re: Re: It's about time...
If you mean copyright infringement...well, then guys like Masnick argue the exact same thing: it's up to the courts to decide what is and isn't infringement. And hopefully change the laws so that less and less becomes infringement.
Either way, you don't have much of a point, despite your snide attempts at discrediting people.
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Re: Re: It's about time...
Although there is a time for civil disobedience, I would suggest that be reserved for more weighty issues.
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Agreed
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Bittersweet
1. I agree passionately and wholeheartedly with the outcome. I don't see that this judge had any other choice. The crime of bending the law to compensate for an incompetent prosecution would push us all down a dark and slippery slope.
2. IMHO, Lori Drew is a sick and twisted stalker b*tch. Yes, I know that her accomplice said "it was mostly me" once she was offered immunity, but I don't buy it and in any case, I don't think it matters. Lori Drew is a 50-year-old hag who had no business even just allowing this tragedy with a 13-year-old girl to occur. If Lori Drew had simply acted like a real person and said "No, this is wrong, let's not do it", an obviously troubled 13-year old might have lived long enough to get her scrambled brain back in order. It makes me feel sick knowing that Lori Drew is getting off without any penalty other than everyone knows her true character now. I hope that causes her a lot of grief. Ok, I've said my piece and I'm done with Lori Drew.
3. I believe the prosecution's failure in this case is yet another example of the problems created when empowered government organizations can't keep up with technology. It seems like they didn't know how to try this case and as a result they totally botched it. Our government is FULL of people in positions of power who don't have a clue how to deal with the Internet. So how do they govern? They fly by the seat of their pants or they listen to lobbyists! Yikes!
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Re: Bittersweet
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Re: Bittersweet
The law is the law, and cannot be biased, even in such an emotional case. Is it sad and tragic that a 13 yr old took her own life? Yes it is. Is it criminal what Lori did? Not by any strech of the imagination. Freedom of speech boils down to a simple dictum: To protect the ability to say what I want, I have to protect your ability to say what you want, whether I like it or not.
No matter how much you want Lori to suffer and die, no matter how hard you wish for her to be locked away forever, the law cannot allow it because she did nothing wrong in the eyes of the law! And as an aside, it shows how right we are to have laws, because if we left it up to the hate bandwagoner's, she'd be lynched and hung without a thought.
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Re: Re: Bittersweet
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Re: Re: Re: Bittersweet
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I don't see why the prosecution is stretching itself to use internet and computer law when it doesn't need it. This is not really a computer crime, it's abuse and intent to cause the death of a person.
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Re:
I honestly have no idea if that's a crime, but if the answer is 'yes', that's how I think the prosecutors should have framed this case. The Internet was merely a convenient communications medium.
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Re:
She did? I wasn't aware of evidence that she knew the girl was emotionally disturbed. FYI, in case you aren't aware, to be emotionally disturbed the girl MUST have been CLINICALLY DIAGNOSED as such. So it follows that to KNOW the girl was emotionally disturbed, Lori MUST know that she'd been clinically diagnosed. I may have missed it, but I wasn't aware of any evidence Lori knew this.
"Now, instead of having to come up with witnesses, everything she said is in print! It should be easy to prove that this woman had an agenda, why else would she create a fake account?"
Nice in theory, but not useful in law. There were two people using that "fake" account, and there is some discrepancy over who created the account to begin with. Not calling witnesses would also remove the 2nd person using the account, who claimed responsiblity for most of the actions in question once granted immunity. A win for the prosecution but how does that serve justice?
"This is not really a computer crime, it's abuse and intent to cause the death of a person."
You're right it's not a computer crime, and it's the lack of intent, or "malice aforethought" as the law refers to it, that precludes the manslaughter charge. Intent to murder or cause harm != manslaughter.
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The rest of my point stands. I don't think, unless I'm not reading the law correctly, that you can charge someone w/manslaughter AND state that they had malicious intent.
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Re: Re: Re:
Grills admits to creating the account, having the most interaction, AND sending the message that presumably caused Megan to commit suicide. This was all an emotionally-charged witch hunt by the prosecutors. Start reading.
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
1. Proving intent to cause harm is not required for manslaughter. Negligent behavior is all it takes.
2. Yes, it is on record that she knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it.
3. Lori Drew is a 5o year old fugly, she was a participant in what was going on, and the victim of the harassment was a minor. That should be enough to nail her ass to the wall. At a minimum, CPS should evaluate her fitness as a parent.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
> Negligent behavior is all it takes.
Actually it takes more than mere negligence. It requires a reckless disregard for human life (also sometimes called "depraved indifference" in some jurisdictions).
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Since you know everything...
This is the internet. This isn't a term paper or thesis. Sources aren't required. Since you are being a complete asshole... I won't bother to point it out. Find it for yourself.
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A great place to lie, huh?
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READ IT ALL
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Re: Re:
So the question becomes, how would you tie some of Lori Drews behavior into the equation - also given that she is an adult and the victim is a minor.
In any case, it is nothing to do with the Internet.
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She belongs in prison. I hope the parents of the girl find a way to get justice. Whatever that may be.
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Re:
...where exactly do you think the parents belong?
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Re: Re:
Depending on the outcome of the counseling...I'd either kill myself for causing my daughter's death or seek vengeance upon the person who caused her death.
While I can't say for sure, but my initial vengeance would probably be through legal means...but if that didn't work, I'd move to extra-legal means...
But that's just my visceral reaction as a parent.
If I were Lori Drew, I'd sleep with one eye open...
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Re: Re:
The girl was on depression medication and I'm fairly sure had been attending counseling although I can't say that for sure.
So where do they belong... More then likely in counseling.
If they had murdered Lori Drew... In court. But they would likely had never served a day. A jury would be extremely sympathetic and the defense could make a great case for temporary insanity.
and about a different question... Google about the case... depression medication.. best friend.. vacations.. something along those lines. The 2 daughters were best friends. The girl was depressed and fragile and on medication. She went on family vacations with lori drew and her family. You won't find video footage of her being told about her state.. But what is 100% provable? That is where "Beyond a reasonable doubt" comes in.
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Considering that you haven't provided a shred of evidence to back up claims that LD knew, then I'd say it's a lie, "beyond a reasonable doubt".
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Re: Re: Re: Re: to Annonymous Coward
http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2007/11/11/news/sj2tn20071110-1111stc_pokin_1.i i1.txt
"She was heavy and for years had tried to lose weight. She had attention deficit disorder and battled depression. Back in third grade she had talked about suicide, Tina says, and ever since had seen a therapist."
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/21/080121fa_fact_collins
"Megan had accompanied the Drews on several vacations, and they knew that she was taking medication."
- get a clue! The other poster is right, The fact that "Drews knew" is beyond reasonable doubt. (You may still continue to doubt however - because you may well be unreasonable)
This should've been a case of clear harassment of a minor with malicious intent resulting in manslaughter. Anyone participating should've been charged as instigator or accomplices. Prosecutors were clearly idiots - this crime had nothing to do with computers or phones or whatever other medium of communication.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: to Annonymous Coward
Tina was Megan's mother. If you're claiming that since Megan's mother knew that proves LD knew, then I'd say that's untrue.
"Megan had accompanied the Drews on several vacations, and they knew that she was taking medication."
An unverified claim that doesn't even say what kind of medication. Antibiotics? Again, a claim that this proves LD knew seems to be untrue.
You may still continue to doubt however - because you may well be unreasonable
I think it is reasonable to require evidence for such a claim as was made. However, the more I see of LD haters misrepresenting evidence and telling other lies, the more convinced I become that LD was railroaded and scapegoated. Thanks for providing that evidence.
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The poor get railroaded. The rich basically are able to buy a NG verdict. Executives can rape the country and be patted on the back. Oil companies can be behind the murder of multiple people in other countries, have it proven, and only have to pay MONEY.
People don't have to break a law to be punished. Many people are falsely accused and sent to prison. You can also be punished by corporations, even if you are the victim. Try suing over the death of a family member. Going against corporations is damn near impossible. On the other hand... You can get sued by a corporation and have everything in your life basically taken away. Lose everything you have worked your life for. Try having little money and defending yourself against a team of high priced lawyers.
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This was an incredibly emotional case and those involved at the state level should have taken special care to assign those with cooler heads to watch over it. If I were Lori Drews parents I'd no doubt want to see the women burned alive but that's why we don't allow those directly affected by such things to preside over the decisions or sentencing.
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Double Jeopardy?
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Might as well prosecute her mother as well...
It seems convenient that everyone seems to leave out this very relevant piece of information.
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cyberbullying
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lori drew
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lori drew
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Lori Drew
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