Prosecutors Ending Lawsuit Against Lori Drew

from the good-news dept

Mon, Nov 23rd 2009 7:30am — Mike Masnick

While there was some concern that prosecutors would push forward with an appeal of a judge's decision to toss out the ridiculous ruling against Lori Drew, federal prosecutors have now said that they're dropping the case and will not pursue it further. Drew may still face a civil lawsuit, but it's a good thing that the government is out of this. No matter what you think of Drew's behavior in dealing with her daughter's friend, Megan Meier, it was never a good idea to twist computer hacking laws to try to convict her.

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Filed Under: lori drew

14 Comments

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Matt Bennett, 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:21am

It seems to me a civil lawsuit is a pretty appropriate way to handle it. A criminal trial was not.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:31am

Re:
"It seems to me a civil lawsuit is a pretty appropriate way to handle it. A criminal trial was not."

Two civil lawsuits would seem appropriate, actually. One from the family of the girl that killed herself against Lori Drew.

And one from Lori Drew against the DA's office....
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Ryan, 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:42am

Re: Re:
Agreed, although I still find it pretty troubling that merely being deceitful online suddenly makes you financially liable for any overreaction another Internet user may have.

We'd be much better off as a society if we weren't so entitled and with so much liability for anything and everything. For whatever reason, it has become so important in the U.S. to make somebody pay anytime something bad happens.

Lt. Jake Stone: You arrested a waiter?
Norman Robberson: Jake, he was rude.
Lt. Jake Stone: Norman, you can't arrest people for being rude. If you could, all of New York City would be on Death Row.
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DH's love child, 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:44am

Re: Re:
And chances are really good both would be settled out of court...
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Matt Bennett, 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:45am

Re: Re:
Sure.
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Matt Bennett, 23 Nov 2009 @ 8:48am

Re: Re: Re:
Yeah, I think we live in an overly litigatious society too, but there is a recognized concept of "unreasonable harassment" and if there was ever a case for it, I would think this woul be it.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2009 @ 9:28am

I hate Lori Drew, but yea, I'd hate to see our legal system become (more of) a joke.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Nov 2009 @ 9:47am

Sorry. Couldn't resist. This was one of the Google contextual ads that popped up on the right side of the screen when I was reading this TechDirt story.

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DS, 23 Nov 2009 @ 9:55am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Really? Voluntarily engaging in a conversation with somehow becomes "unreasonable harassment"?
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Anonymous1, 23 Nov 2009 @ 10:10am

My momma always said "stupid is as stupid does"....a derhh....
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Steve, 23 Nov 2009 @ 11:32am

Re: Re:
"Two civil lawsuits would seem appropriate, actually. One from the family of the girl that killed herself against Lori Drew.

And one from Lori Drew against the DA's office...."

If Lori Drew knows what's good for her, she'll take her lumps and just crawl back under the rock from which she came.
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Shawn (profile), 23 Nov 2009 @ 12:24pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I would say it was more then just a conversation. She purposely set this all up because this girl stopped being friends with her daughter. She built it up like some guy was interested in her then shot her down with comments that were cruel and mean. As an adult she should have known better. This is just helicopter parenting at it's worst.

On that note though I am glad this is being dropped as it was such a stretch that it was rediculous. What she did was wrong but if she didn't break a law then she didn't break a law.
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Manfriend, 24 Nov 2009 @ 9:32am

Methinks Everyone is Missing the Point Here
The criminal lawsuit and the going of to court while the whole world watched and argued about the whole thing, her name and her kid's name constantly coming up in discussion on the internet, radio, and television talk shows--becoming a touchstone of conversation to be referred to whenever a parent does helicopter parenting... THAT was the punishment. The DA had to know that this type of harassment was unwarranted, that any decisions would be appealed, that the law he chose to charge her with was inapplicable and would result in an overturning of any verdict given. All of which was immaterial--the DA's goal was not legal justice, but street justice. One wonders if the DA hoped the attention and stress of court and the media circus would result in Lori Drew committing suicide the same way her victim did?

The punishment though, has been served and is being served without any need for prison walls or for expensive police supervision and there is no appeal...
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Anonymous Coward, 1 May 2014 @ 9:07pm

Instead of twisting Internet hacking laws to charge Lori Drew, criminal hates smelt charges ARE appropriate.

Good on the Governor for broadening the law around harassment to include cyber bullying & causing emotional distress to someone else.
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