Judge Not Ready To Dismiss Lori Drew Case

from the needs-more-time-to-think-about-it dept

We've made it clear that we feel the criminal charges filed against Lori Drew for her participation in creating a fake persona on MySpace, which eventually resulted in the suicide of Megan Meier, a teenaged ex-friend of Drew's daughter is highly questionable. It is not against the law to be a jerk online -- and many people seem to be reacting emotionally rather than rationally to the facts of this case. Drew wasn't trying to make anyone commit suicide, and no one has explained how the lawsuit would be different if the fake "boy" had been a real boy. Since there was no real law broken, prosecutors twisted a computer fraud law in a way that would basically make most internet users felons.

However, while the judge in the case is examining various briefs pointing this out, as well as ones taking the other side, he's not yet ready to dismiss the case, as he rejected two motions to dismiss the case. However, that may change, as he says he wants more time to consider a third motion to dismiss the case, concerning whether or not the case actually states the offense. Assuming he agrees not to dismiss the case, the actual lawsuit will begin early next month.

Filed Under: computer fraud, lori drew, megan meier

If Lori Drew Is Guilty, So Are Most Internet Users

from the being-a-jerk-isn't-illegal dept

While we can understand the anger some folks feel at Lori Drew -- the woman who some blame for the eventual suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier -- it was quite troubling the way in which prosecutors indicted Drew. Since there didn't appear to be much of a law concerning being a jerk online to a child, she was instead charged with computer fraud for using a fake name on MySpace. This is an extremely weak case, and Drew's lawyers have now asked for the charges to be dropped, noting that almost any internet user could probably be found guilty under the same rationale. This was pretty clearly a political attempt to prosecute Drew for something, even if there's little evidence that she actually broke a law. While many people who comment on stories concerning Drew do so out of emotion rather than logic, hopefully the judge will recognize that this particular charge is a misuse of the law in question.

Filed Under: computer fraud, lori drew, megan meier