I hope the laws are being changed nation wide so if some other adult thinks of this to do, the can be punished to the fulliest!!!!!

Yes, she 'pre-meditated' the violation of a website's terms of service....oh me oh my!!!! Someone lied on their profile!!!! Quick, get the cops and let's round up all these people that post a picture of someone else pretending it is them, or the people on the dating sites claiming to be of 'average' build when they're really ++++ size build. That guy claiming to be an ex-special forces turned lawyer, and that woman saying blonde is her natural color. Get em all!!!

*Sigh*

Maximum is right.

The woman created the site to TARGET A SPECIFIC TEEN!!! Wake up Ringo & Karlo! Would you feel the same if your kids were cyber bullied to the point of suicide?!?! Didn't think so.

I agree with you 1,000,000,000%.

"Drew was convicted in a trial, but the judge said that if she is to be found guilty of illegally accessing computers, anyone who has ever violated the social networking site's terms of service would be guilty of a misdemeanor."

OK, so rather than following the letter of the law, this empathetic judge decided to take the blinders off Lady Justice. Give me a break. Either she was guilty or not. Just because someone else breaks a law does not make it OK.

This women should not be allowed near children. She is a predator!

This "women" acts/acted like a 12 year old. She should be charged as an accessory to murder.

Although I thought what Ms. Drew did was morally wrong, I believe the conviction was unjust. I would sooner fault the dead girls mother for allowing her emotionally unstable, barely teenage girl access to sites such as MySpace. My daughter is almost 16 and just starting her MySpace page.

Everone ,don't miss the point. She was convicted, 1st time in american history, of being a CRIME, to violate a corporations policy on use of their web site. This is not a civil case of a buisiness going after a person who broke a contract. This is the Government making new laws to control all persons who use the web. The judge ruled the government actions in violation of the Constitution of the United States.Look at the bigger picture here.

she didnt violate ANY LAW, tos for a private run company is NOT LAW, and for someone to kill themselves for any reason is their own fault, period!!! it was wrong what they did but we ALLLLLL have personal responsibilities and that girl failed at hers. so tell me oh mighty ones WHAT LAW DID SHE BREAK?

"Jurors decided Drew was not guilty of the more serious felonies of intentionally causing emotional harm while accessing computers without authorization"

intentional EMOTIONAL harm IS NOT A CRIME and she didnt access anyojne comp she jus made a fake profile!!!

IF U HAVE A BULLY THEN YOU DO SOMETHING BOUT IT, DONT GO CRYING TO SOMEONE ELSE WHEN  IT ONLY MAKES THINGS WORSE!!!!!!!

I hope Megan's parents sue this socipath for "Wrongful Death." 

I agree about her not getting enough. That is a horrible thing to do in the first place and there is obviously a serious problem with this woman. That is so childish to do in the first place and not to mention, vindictive. If anything getting charged with the death of the young girl would show some sort of guidance to the daughter. After all, it looks as if she may be needed a roll model at this point since her mother is doing a horrible job at it.

This woman is lucky it wasn't my child.  She wouldn't have seen a trial.

Swagganaut - if you know someone is emotionally or mentally unstable and target them to push them over the edge, it is considered pre-meditated murder. Intentionally causing emotional harm is a crime, which is why someone can be charged with it or not charged with it. Bullying can also be a crime. Yes, the teen was responsible for her uicide instead of seeking help, but this woman is also responsible for hor own actions and the consiquences of those actions. She purposefully caused someone emotional harm but sees nothing wrong with that and has no regrets for what she did. She is not without blame, but I don't think she will go without punishment either, even if it is not in the form of jail time. Her case has been so high profile I doubt that she will ever be trusted with children or young adults and people everywhere will know what she did and that she's not sorry for her actions or the outcome of them.

Make the entire internet unavailable to everyone except the military complex.

This is B.S., this women got off scott free now ????? She got Acquitted ??? This is such BS to the Max.... This women deserves at least 20 years behind bars with no parole... Just look at her, she even looks Evil...... I hope the Parents of Megan sue her for Wrongful Death.... Good job you Idiot Judge, you have now sent a message to the rest of the States, that it is ok to go ahead and and be deceitful on the web in order to make someone kill themselves, or what ever reason they feel fit to do, and it's ok now to commit crimes against juviniles over the web too... That is the message you have sent...........This women has got to be banned from ever using the web again... I sure hope that Street Justice now will be taken, since the so called Justice system has failed us again... If it were a Judges or a Politicians kid or grand kid, then you know dam well that she would be in prison already...

Oh my god. has the world gone insane. This judge absolutely made the right call. Sure it sucks that this girl killed herself. The lady's guilty of being stupid and using poor judgment. If that was a crime, we'd all do some time now and then. She's no more at fault for this girls death than the cheer leader that laughes at the nerd that asks her out, so he kills himself. People are mean to other people all the time. But just because somebody's mean to an emotionally unstable person and this person kills themself, that doesn't make the bully a criminal. Just a jerk.

The judge did not rule the law unconstitutional. He said the law was trivial and unenforceable based on his assumption that everyone violates their Terms of Service. This renders this law the societal impact equivalent of jaywalking and loitering laws. This is a fine reason to dismiss a case brought for "no good reason".

There was a good reason here, a very good reason.

This woman's behavior was ethically equivalent to Charles Boyer's behavior in "Gaslight". She is a villain and a good judge would not go out of his way to help her weasel out of justice. This woman's rights were not violated, there was no improper use of police power or disregard for correct protocol. This was a judge doing the work of a defense lawyer and not the work of justice.

I hope this dismissal can be and is appealed.

I think what Lori Drew did was evil. And I think she deserves some sort of punishment. But the conviction for violating the TOS is laughable. What really needs to happen is that Megan's parents should sue for child abuse, intentional infliction of emotional cruelty on a minor, and wrongful death.

As a father I will make this simple, this is a case for a revenge killing! Plain and simple! This is where cowboy justice takes over. This woman could not have been more guilty is she had tied the noose herself and kicked the chair out!

Dont tell me about an eye for an eye, or one killing does not justify another, this woman is a monster and should be removed from society, permanently!

This is not about lying about oneself on line, this is about targeting a child with the intent to do harm. This is an adult bullying a child to the point that the child took her own life. This is not about "illegally accessing" computers.

Mentally tortured? Seriously? Where did you spend your childhood, Never Never Land?

If you bumped into me in a store and didn't say sorry, and I got emotional and hung myself, that means you should have the book thrown at you, and be given the "maximum"?

Some people feel suicidal after being insulted once, some you can insult all day every day for a decade and still be OK. You can't expect anyone else to know your breaking point, and you can't call her unusually cruel when this (teasing) happens to millions of people around the world every day.What she did is no different than what teens do to other teens ALL the time... so don't act like she's some monster from the pitts of hell that the world has never seen before.

Either way, if she didn't hang herself then she'd do it when she experienced the real world...

Hey Sick of Party, don't put us all in the same boat. After this headline leaves the news, I wouldn't know this woman from Eve. I don't care enough to remember the face and name of every person who's ever committed a crime or been acquitted of a crime.

Like others have said, it's tragic this girl died. But where were her parents? Why weren't they aware of the content of the messages being sent back and forth? And why was this girl so emotionally unbalanced that she hung herself over a boy she'd never even met? If it wasn't this woman's actions, it could have easily been any number of other interactions with someone that could have caused her to commit suicide. She should have been in therapy, not playing on the 'net.

I commend the judge for the decision he made, because he was in an intenable situation. He cannot set a precedent that breaking some TOS on a website (i.e. setting up a fake profile) can result in throwing someone in jail. Look at the bigger picture.

Not only should this monster-of-a-woman--cyberbully exceptionale--see hard time for at least a decade, others complicit in this foul deed--causing the death of a 13 year old girl--should be brought to task, as well! And a judge, jury & defense attorney who feel otherwise should be severely punished, as well. Bullying in any form, if not a crime, should be enacted as one with the most severe of penalties. Please remember what the other side of the coin can be: The case of that young Korean college student who--having been severely bullied throughout his life & forced into a shell--one day snapped & shot all those people. I wonder what would happen, if a little kindness, instead of rancor might do, instead of promoting bullying of any kind...

Right KY engineer, but by the posting of all the people here, anyone who has ever been teased or made fun of and not had their parents do anything about it, then there parents should be guilty of a crime, if not guilty of a crime then they should have to pay civil damages. Man if that was the law I wouldnt have to worry about my finances ever again as much as I used to be tormented when I was in school The mother showed poor judgement but as far as I am concerned didnt do anything illegal.

Hey, let's not question the parenting skills of the teen girl's mother! Where was she when her daughter needed help? See, it goes both ways...Better yet, all of you who claim that you have been following this from the start, GET A LIFE...

if i find some one does such to my kids , well, courts dont count ! hope someone is watching her whereabouts . she needs a short leash .

Spencer, You say this is just like a cheerleader laughing at a nerd, but this is not true. The cheerleader in your example didn't specificly set the nerd up to fall in love with them and then use that deep love to hurt the nerd. The Cheerleader also wasn't a parent who is supposed to teach thier child right from wrong. I think this issue has a lot of gray areas, and should get a new law specific to cyberbullying and its consequences. If a sexual preditor makes a false account to lure in childeren you wouldn't see it the same way, why is this any different? She set this poor girl up for a big and very personal failure and helped her own kid to do it. She as a parent is supposed to be the example of how to let things go, not seek revenge. How did you feel the last time someone you totally fell for dumped you? I bet you were pretty low. Now what if that same person knew from the begining they were going to set you up to fail and specificly targeted your deepest and most private thoughts told only to your love, how do you think you would feel? Parents need to be an example, not a lowlife piece of scum.

why is a 13yr old "emotionally unstable" girl on the internet and especially on myspace where she is violating the TOS by her age? where is the parents of this girl supervising her? bullying IS NOT A CRIME i dont care what any judge say or w/e, its fking words and u gonna tell me words hurt? fking get real. if i tell u to kill urself and u do u jus a dummy for doing it and then to tell me if u see words on the internet ur gona call that cyber-bullying? wtf? is that for real? words on the internet that u have FULL control over seeing or not would be considered bullying if it gave u "emotional harm" lol its too unreal what society has broken down into.

Swaggernaut, perhaps bullying of any kind--cyber or otherwise-- is not a crime. However, in what is supposed to be an "enlightened" society, it should be!

Although this girls suicide was tragic, it was not Mrs. Drew's fault. This poor young girl was obviously suffering emotionally. Something tells me the girl's mother had no clue as to her child's emotional stae of being. as for Mrs. Drew, as childish & immature her actions may be, they were not and should not where the blame lies.

I have read this analogy before regarding this case, and it fits perfectly. What about that outsider in school who everyone picked on because, he was poor, nerdy, stupid, ugly or whatever. If that child commits suicide then should every person who picked on that kid go to jail? What about the person that made the last comment that sent them over the edge, are they going to be accused of murder or bad timing and poor judgement. (Now if those 2 things become illegal then everybody on this planet will serve jailtime because no one is immune that every now and then.)

Everybody needs to realize that suicide is a voluntary act. The very definition of suicide exempts everyone else of blame.

All I'm saying is, that as tragic as this situation is, we do not need make an example, and villify her, when we should be making an example out of clueless mothers and depression amongst teenagers.

If the judge aquits her, the judge should be held for murder.

How can these flagrantly evil people always get off like the

Bush administration. If we let these people get away with it,

then it will keep happening over and over and over...

Why can't she charged with predatory laws.  If a 30 year old man were to say he was 16 and hit on a teen he could be charged as a pedophile so why can't she be charged the same way.  If you want to argue motive and that it was not her intention to really hit on this girl I will remind you that in those cases they rarely take the motive into consideration.  That fact of the matter is you are trying to establish a romantic relationship with the teen.  This lady does not in any way feel she has any responsibility and she does.  They could at least force her to not use the Internet.

All of you who ask where the teens parents were, and saying she was emotionally disturbed, do you not realize, the reason she was so disturbed was BECAUSE of this woman and her daughter pulling the strings? They had the ammo and specificlly wanted to cause emotional harm. This woman could have went and punched the teen in the nose, but didn't because she knew she could get arrested for that, so she went for the throat and tried to emotionally hurt the teen. People recover from fist fights, but emotional scars can last a lifetime and this woman directly tried to hurt this teen. What else could she possibly want to achieve with her tactic?

So, using alot of other's logic, I deduce that if I have a girlfriend who falls in love with me and I don't love her, I break it off with the words 'The world would be a better place without you', and she commits suicide, I'm liable for murder?!?!?! hell, SHE DIDN'T EVEN MEET THE GUY IN REAL LIFE!!! When Megan was first on MySpace she was in VIOLATION of their TOS because she was 12!! What is a 12 - 13 year old girl with mental issues doing on the internet unsupervised???

ymerej80, while I agree with you that suicide is a voluntary act, and the very definition of the word suicide exempts everyone of blame, why do you blame her mother? Just because the mother didn't know each and every one of her daughter's thoughts doesn't make her at fault, either.

All I'm saying is, that as tragic as this situation is, we do not need make an example, and villify her, when we should be making an example out of clueless mothers and depression amongst teenagers.

Clueless mothers are also created by young teenagers who don't talk to their parents, even if the parent is willing and ready to listen, open-mined and open-hearted. Many teenagers don't want to share their lives with the people that love them best-- for whatever reason. I don't blame the mother for this, nor should anyone else. It was a senseless tragedy. Period.

Make an example out of teenage depression. That is the message here.

My prayers are with the child's parents, who will blame themselves and torture themselves more than I or anyone else can hurt them. They will have to live the rest of their lives without their daughter-- wondering, each and every day, if there is something they could have done to stop it.

I think that it is disgusting if I read this article correctly, the Judge threw out the conviction????? How can he do that? This woman needs to be punished, she snuffed out the life of a young girl, who felt devastated by what this woman did to her, it is worse that she got her kicks out of hurting a little girl, and if she is that tough, she's tough enough to go to prison.

Lori Drew is a pathetic human being. She sat at a computer with vicious intent against a CHILD!!! She killed that child's spirit, she mutilated that child's self-esteem, and is responsible morally, if not legally for that child's death...and did it in conspiracy with her own child...She may not serve any time for her actions, but by God, she will hopefully pay for what she did. I would file a wrongful death law suit against her, that does not need a purpondurance of proof, just 8 out of 12 jurors. Hopefully, those 8 would have children who had been bullied at some time in their lives, let alone by a sick, disgusting adult who will pay a price either here or someday when she does face God for her actions... she is a vendictive sociopath and unfortunately, she has set a model for the next generation in her family as well.

Swagganaut,

I'm pretty sure I've seen civil cases for verbal and pyschological abuse so clearly there is some law against it.

She didn't even commit a crime, why do you think she wasn't charged in Missouri?

They tried prosecute her in Cali on a misdemeanor for violating terms of service.

It's not against the law to set up a fake profile or make fun of someone.

Kid kills herself over an internet boyfriend she never met in person? She had deeper issues than the break up. Reinforces my belief that kids don't need to be on the web corresponding, using cell phones, or joining "social networks". And what is an adult doing getting involved in this bullspit? We have some disturbed people in this country. Here's a thought, get a job, go outside and enjoy nature, go to church, have dinner with your family, etc.

She killed herself over an imaginary boy.

It is sad, suicide is such a waste. Most people do not know that it is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds.

Nothing is worth killing yourself over. Things always change in time. You will like different people, music, and clothes in the future. Let the moment pass without doing something you can't change.

Having said that. This lady is morally corrupt. But she did not commit a crime. People will mess with you. You can't trust that anything on the internet is real until you see it outside the internet.

I even find it crazier when the police will have a thirty-five year old pretend to be 13 on the internet and then arrest someone for being a pedophile. Think about if they try that in the real world. A 35 year old policeman goes into a store pretending to be 13. He buys some beer and then arrests the clerk for selling to a minor. See how that doesn't work? You are really 35. Pretending to be someone else is not real. But then the pedophelia would be pretend as well.

The fact that you don't know who you are dealing with on the internet is the first rule. Please teach you kids this if they are going to be on it.

I can't understand why this woman was not charged wtih reckless endangerment of a minor.

Brian...

Actually...she did commit a crime. In 2006, Pres. Bush signed into law a protocol which prohibited"annoying messages over the internet without disclosure of the senders true identity". Missouri chose not to prosecute her under that specific Federal Law, they used a law which had never been sucessfully prosecuted before. Psychological Harassment of a child is also a crime, even in Missouri, but they did not charge her with that either. She broke that law by making verbal comments, actions, or gestures to cause harm emotionally or physically to a child. But because she used the Internet My Space site to do it, they chose not to charge her under that statute either. Unfortunately, what Missouri did charge her with as a misdemeanor for violating terms of service is actually a service contract agreement default...not a crime and CA had no choice but to overrule her conviction. The Prosecutor in Missouri is to blame for being more concerned about making a name for himself in this national news case than actually filing the correct charged against this monster.

First, I have to say that this was a horrible thing to have happen. We cannot blame the parents for not knowing that their daughter was so emotionally unstable. Just as we cannot blame others for our own actions. When suicide is the solution, the person is not of a sane mind. I cannot imagine what pain a 13 year old could have been feeling to end her life so early. As a mother and teacher of 13-14 year olds, they are all semi-emotionally unstable. Hopefully, they gain some understanding as they age. Unfortunately, this other cruel, vindictive, pathetic mother never gained that understanding. She is an extremely immature person. I cannot imagine how she sleeps at night knowing what her actions led this little girl to do. What a poor example of a parent and role model. That being said, even though what she did was vile and disgusting, I do believe that the judge made the right call. We do not know what other pain this poor young girl was in and this cyber bullying might have been the straw that broke the camels back.

Hopefully, this mother will wake up, grow up, feel extreme remorse for her actions, and try to change. She is a pathetic human being. I am disgusted by her and also I pity her for who she has chosen to be. I feel very sorry for the family who lost their daughter. I don't think I would point fingers at them because I'm sure they will blame themselves for the rest of their lives. This incident is extremely sad and tragic. Hopefully the public can learn from this and realize the dangers that bullying can cause.

As a parent of a teen, I find it bizarre that the mom got involved in High School drama! That woman provoked this poor girl and encouraged her daughter to do so as well. If that is no bullying, I don't know what is.

Also, if you solicit a minor over the Internet, isn't that a crime? Why isn't she charged with that?

I think the judge ruled right.  That decision could have set a precedent that opened up just a ridiculous amount of frivolous lawsuits.   

But still the woman did a stupid and mean thing.  I doubt she intended on the girl killing herself, but she acted in a very juvenile manner that also set a bad example for her own child.  I think had they charged her with what she really did, which was slander of the worst degree, they probably would have gotten a proper conviction.

This whole thing was such a horrible event, such a tragedy.  

The cyber vigilante's have already learned how to make this vicious guttersnipes life miserable and you can bet that regardless of the outcome of the verdict they will hound her until she looks forward to death. I for one applaud them for their diligence.

Wow, some of you people are completely retarded.  You want to charge someone for a crime that wasn't even commited?  Do you have any idea how many people have killed themselves because of something someone else said?  It's not a crime.  The girl killed herself.  If they absolutely HAVE to do something, they could put the girl's corpse in prison for murder.  The woman was exercising her freedom of speech for one, protecting her own daughter for two, and doing nothing more than violating the ToS of a private company for three.  No laws were broken.

At the very least, child abuse.

I think the moms should have to fight it out on UFC. Either that or curling irons at dawn.

I'm with you R. Williams. This woman needs to get on her knees and thank God that she didn't do this to my daughter. I would make her life a living hell.

An adult has NO BUSINESS messing with a minor!

Drew was convicted in November, but the judge said that if she is to be found guilty of illegally accessing computers, anyone who has ever violated the social networking site's terms of service would be guilty of a misdemeanor. "You could prosecute pretty much anyone who violated terms of service," he said.

This much is true. The thing of it is, that there are so many laws here in the U.S that people violate them all the time. The question is whether or not to put forth the time and effort to prosecute. In this case, where the woman contributed to the untimely death of a young girl, I'd say "YES!!". Using fake pictures, representing yourself as you aren't, doesn't show intent to cause harm to another human being.

And the girl that killed herself called the daughter of the woman that was convicted a lesbian. If that rumor had hurt the girl so much that she killed herself, should the girl that killed herself been thrown in jail?

From what I have read, pretty much all of the conversation with the girl and the woman was positive, and only at the end did it get ugly. Not any different than millions of adolescent breakups. People say things like this all the time without the other person killing themselves. Should we lock up everyone that breaks up with someone and tells them that they wish they would die, or that the world would be a better place without them?

It would be different if it could be proved that the woman knew the girl was suicidal, that she knew and was trying to push her over the edge with what she was saying. But this never was the case.

This woman knew before hand that this girl suffered from depression and even admitted that she probably was part of the reason that this kid killed herself. She went on to also state that she didn't feel bad about it.

If I were the parent of the girl that killed herself... I don't think I'd feel I have anything else left to lose.. and I think that cruel pathetic excuse of a human being would be in very deep poo.

She'd be safer in jail.

She deserves the same fate as the poor girl who committed suicide because of her premeditated and cruel actions.

I just heard on the news (radio) that all charges are being dropped. Just as the judicial system failed the Goldmans and the Browns, it failed the mother and friends of an impressional 13 year old. At least now they can go after her in civil court for wrongful death and will prevail just as the Goldmans and Browns did.

A federal judge on Thursday tentatively threw out the convictions of a Missouri mother for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor girl who ended up committing suicide.

12 idoits in a jury box in LA, that's how they are, disgusting all the same. Shows how misguided the values of society are these days. Yeah, I am dating myself, but their is no sense of right of wrong. The end DOES NOT justify the means.

Treat others as you want to be treated, or however the expression fits into your perspect, Golden Rule, etc.

This mom is disturbed as is not fit to be part of society, putting other children as risk. Oh sure, they will stipulate about no computer use, blah, blah, blah. Like gun laws only keep the honest people from protecting themselves.

Society's views are misguided, if her behavior is acceptable.

Lori Drew is like a wart on Gollum's penis.

So this judge is essentially saying, since she didn't read the fine print, "the User Agreement," she's free to go. HOLD UP DUDE!! That's like saying, don't read the fine print on any agreement you sign. For instance, don't read the fine print on that new credit card you get that states if you miss one payment your APR goes up to 29%. So then according to this judge, all you should be able to do is call the credit card company and say, hey I didn't read the User Agreement sorry, please put my APR back down to 15%. YAH RIGHT!!

And I'm quite sure that most users of internet sites don't read the fine print, however, they are not using the sight for malicious intent. Most, not all, unlike this...person...I had another word in mind, but I'll remain civil. Sure, some people use fake names on certain sites for the sake of privacy or to prevent ID theft. I for one don't use my real name on the site that begins with a Y. But then again, I use a nom de plume (pen name) on the registration for many other sites that I know I will end up getting junk mail to that particular site that begins with a Y. For instance on this site, how many of you out there are using your real name and address?

But about this case, I don't understand the charge of "illegally accessing a computer." WTH is that? Did she sneak into a neighbor's house and use theirs without their permission? But the real question here is intent. There is no doubt this woman had the intent of, at the very least, inflicting emotional distress upon the unfortunate victim. I don't think she intended for the young lady to kill herself. Sounds to me as if the victim got caught up in the fantasy world of the internet and lost her own identity. A common phenomenon amongst teens today. They create a "virtual self" and forget, or get lost, in the world of the internet. They see it as an escape from the real world. They form relationships with persons they don't know or have never met and take the person they meet at their word that they are who they say they are. In a nutshell, they are creating a fantasy and living vicariously through their computer. The reasons for the this are too many to go into, but a few are: lack of normal social life in the real world, mental problems or simply, naiviety.

The accused here is certainly guilty of something and to walk free is a crime against the justice system. Technicalities set her free. Or a liberal judge afraid to make a decision that might cause a precident or an overuling of his decision. That is what judges fear the most, is to have one of their rulings overturned and then end up in a law book for future law students to cite their names when defending a client against a similar crime. So the accused is free of criminal charges; I feel that won't be the case in a civil trial. She'll get the OJ--walk free criminally, be held responsible civilly. That judge may not have wanted his ruling to be overturned, or set a precident, well I'm afraid he has, in both cases. The parents of the victim need to take this to the Supreme Court if they can.

This ruling isn't justice by any means. It's an incompentent, liberal judge letting an obviously guilty person go on a technicality. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of his name. And to his chagrin when his ruling is overturned, I doubt he'll remain on the bench much longer. Doesn't sound like he needs to be there in the first place. He's not objective and for one man to overturn the verdict of 12 people that found her guilty in the first place, there's something wrong with the legal system, at least in this case.

I meant liberal in the sense that he didn't want to be the point of an overuling or setting precident with his name on it, not in the political sense. Sorry I didn't make that even more clear that I thought I did. I meant liberal in his ruling, not his politics.

I understand the reason for the judge's ruling but justice has not been done here. Prosecutor needed a better legal basis for bringing charges and perhaps the legal system could have used this opportunity to create such an avenue. Our laws are clearly not keeping up with cyber crime (or stupidity). Drew's brain has been in arrested development since her teenage years. Trouble with this picture is that she's the mother of her own teenage child. You just don't act like a stupid high school kid when you are the parent. She should have at least been sentenced to mandatory psychological re-training to grow the hell up and act like an adult. We know she didn't put the noose around the girl's neck but she did the next best thing by traumatizing an emotionally high strung child. She certainly should have known better. Stupid, petty woman.

Yeah... Agree this is a new 'groundbreaking' case. She went online with the intent to hurt this girl, maybe just emotionaly, but she intended harm. The intent is what scares me. What is the sentence for intent to harm face to face? I know it varies from state to state...

in any state you can tell any person what you want even if they dont like what they hear.

this woman is a monster but not a criminal. she essentially hurt someone feelings. oh the horror.

If that had been my daughter, I would have been the one all over the news for killing her, her daughter and her assistant. I hope they throw the book at the scum. There are some lines that adults are NOT supposed to cross and tormenting a little girl is one of them. And you can sign me A crazy redneck, fiercely protective mother of three and granny to two from the backwoods of Louisiana.

I SECOND THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I definitely would not mind spending my time in jail after im done with them ESPECIALLY THE MOM!

Jeff I agree with "This Woman is a Monster." Yes, she is. She is also a sociapath, or a physcopath. These people have no conscience. They love hurting others because they have ice-water in their veins. They can make elaborate schems to con or lie, or malicously hurt someone.

Don't let this womans bad behavior be rewarded.

DaughterRevWar, I agree. I feel that if they do not do something to her now, not only willshe probably do worse but her daughter will never understand the wrong of it all.

This lady seems to have the mentality of a vindictive 12 year old.........but to the best of my knowledge, although that is a pretty serious character flaw, it is NOT against the law.

I know that the family of the girl who killed herself would probably like to grill her raw on a hot fire but I think that almost any teenage girl who is a bit shy or not sure of herself could possibly do the same horrible act....even if it was over a "real" boy. We all know that the teen years are chock full of cascading emotions up and down with no real way of controlling them.

If I were the parents, I would probably want to claw this dumb woman's eyes out...but jail time??? I don't think that is the appropriate response to what she did. Can the parents sue her in civil court?

I agree...this woman was totally in the wrong. She went after a child to intentionally hurt her. Something needs to be done. Why is no one in the country taking responsibility any longer? It's always blaming everyone or something else. She needs to be held responsible for her INTENTIONAL actions.

Vanessa Unfortunantly her daughter is probably a socipath. She can get help though. It's called behavioral theraphy. They re-direct her. Teach her the rules of society. Socipaths don't understand the rules. They have to memorize the rules.

Here's a classic example of a sociapath not understanding the rules:

A family member dies. The sociapth will walk up to the widow, and ask the widow at the funeral for $1,000.00, that was borrowed from them by deceased. They can not concieve that's improper behavior.

carolynp-OK you are a crazy redneck fiercely protective mother of three and granny to two from the backwoods of LA. There. You have to admit though this case presents quite a dilemma. It was wrong to do this but I bet any one of us out here has had something happen along the way that we could have used to go sideways. Have a heart but realize sometimes there is no stopping someone.

It's that Drew-lady-monster that should have had a heart! If there was some sort of "social difficulties" between the two girls, then the parents of both girls should have gotten together & at least attempted to work things out satisfactorily--through group & individual therapy or whatever. But for this adult woman to show such malice that HER daughter will interpret as O.K., well, if not a crime, then a criminal enactment is long overdue!

I personally wonder was the daughter a great actress in the fact she hid her pain from her mother? Or was her mother so clueless and neglectful that she didn't even know her own daughter?

Personally for me through my teenage years nobody on this planet knew me better than my mother she always knew almost instinctively when I wasn't happy. Now just about every Mother I know is like this as well.

I am not trying justify Mrs. Drew's behaviour it was wrong. (Not illegal, though) My point here is something sounds fishy to me with the mother.

The true victems in this case are the 2 daughters, First for the one's tragic death, and second, for the other daughter that has Mrs. Drew to guide her to her adult years.

I'll admit what she did was wrong and as a grown women she should have been more mature but come on, "emotional bullying" and jail time?? Did that girl even check to see if the "boy" was a real person? No, she just went along with it without any substantiation or verification which she should have known is incredibly dangerous online. That girl was obviously mentally disturbed to beginning with. If she killed herself over a fake cyber break-up, there would have been NO way she could have handled a real-life break-up or even a relationship for that matter. The real world is harsh and the quicker children today learn that, the better.

Both of the moms are poster kids for "How not to raise your child". I feel bad for the dead girl's mom, but she might have given a thought to seeing what her little beauty queen was doing on the computer. They were both totally caught up in making sure their girls status in the teen world was as high as it could be. It would seem that they were using their girls as proxies to fight their own status battles. There is so much blame to spread around, it's hard to know where to start.

These are the kind of people who watch reality tv and think it's actually reality.

This case highlights the need for the law to keep up with cyber crimes. It appears our justice system is sadly lacking in available remedies when it comes to this type of crime. Wake up sheeple and get ahead of the cyber curve. Like everything else, it will take a devastating loss to make this happen.

Jjaz said: "Did that girl even check to see if the "boy" was a real person? No, she just went along with it without any substantiation or verification which she should have known is incredibly dangerous online."

Response: she had just barely turned 13. Young people are incredibly naive and trusting. This is where the crime occurred. A grown woman should never have interacted with a 12-year old in the way this Drew woman did. It is just plain immoral and wrong for an adult to intimidate and harass a child in this manner. I consider what she did to be predatory and inhumane. Sort of like tormenting a helpless puppy. Very sick. Something bad happens to some people when they hide behind that false facade of the internet. They think they are invisible and that they'll never get caught. All of their crazy thoughts and feelings get unleashed because they are not under the same constraints as they would be if they were in a roomful of people and realized they were being observed.

Erica, could not have said it better (and that is unusual for me to say)! I think this woman deserves the maximum. As a parent she should be humiliated and throwing her in jail will let other people know that being a stupid person doesn't allow an out when you commit a terrible act. Her daughter should go in a cell down the hall so they can't talk and they'll both be convicted felons.

Agreed.  What can you say about a grown woman that meltally tortures a 13 year old girl?  Drew is fortunate that I do not have the power to decide upon an appropriate sentence.

Ignorance does not an excuse make.

It's premeditated murder. 13 year olds are not emotionally capable of resisting that kind of bullying. Another 13 yr old who did the same would be pilloried in the press and tried as an adult in the courts. This is a ridiculous judgement.

Perhaps if the judge did not feel she should serve jail time, he could have imposed a fine for breaking the rules of the agreement. I think this would financially ruin her ($300K). Granted, this wouldn't bring back the girl but it would make me feel better knowing that somehow this woman is going to get the idea that what she did was WRONG!

VA Mother of 2

You are correct about this sociapath / phycopath....get her in her pocket. Anti-social disorders can't stand it when they percieved that someone else is having a better life than she it.

There is no medicene for sociapths / phycopaths.

There is no theraphy for them either. Therapist don't like to deal with them because they have no emotions. They just learn the therapist emotions, and emulate them back. That's how they can manipulate you.

This women needs to be sued for wrongful death.

Well, Swag, it's this bold new age they want, where you can throw people in jail whether they have committed a crime or not just because you don't like them.

my god go back 200 years or more and 13 yr olds did more in the day that most adults do ina week, hell go back 50+ years and u can see that. its the lazy do-it-urself good-for-nothing ppl that have took over as the "norm" for society.

at 13 a female has already gone through puberty and has matured far more that her male counterpart, maybe some biology for ya but im not ur teacher so u read more bout it lol.

I figure her behavior is like speeding when driving. Sure most everybody does it, and most of the time nothing bad comes of it. However... it IS against the law, you CAN get a speeding ticket, and it is POSSIBLE you kill someone and wind up with a far worse punishment.

I wonder if the judge throws out speeding tickets, since everyone speeds.

Hey, Swaggernaut, why don't we all get out into the mean streets & go at it in free-for-all mixed martial arts bouts? Might be O.K for awhile--the big bullies holding sway. However, like that Big Guy several years ago, challenging a little guy on a deserted road--the little guy pulled a gun & plugged him in the chest. The Bullying Big Guy had just enough time for one last cell phone call. (And, to the best of my knowledge, the little guy has never been caught. Has Justice prevailed...)

Hey ron you better watch that talk, swaggernaut could be one of those ultra sensitive people who take that as a threat, and therefore no one likes him, he might commit suicide and then his family would have to track you down using your ip address because you caused him to commit suicide.

I thought that the cyber site terms were legally binding, even if people didn't bother to read them. Buyer beware, etc. People have long claimed their lack of realizing the consequences of not reading the small print on their contracts as a basis for their innocence. However, it has never been a legal defense before. Judge just didn't want to open a can of worms in this new and emerging area of the law.

Tyler while I respect your job, if you are going to focus on us for personal attacks there are an awful lot more of them on here. So I would like for them to also respect others as many of those comments are in direct response to their inflammatory postings. I mean if you are going to call 3 out then you need to call everyone out or else it gives you the appearance of playing favorites.

Tyler, tough luck. When someone is an idiot who can't even spell, I call'em as I see'em. FREEDOM WRITER, at least you have a brain. Swag, was so offensive that a response was necessary. If that gets me collapsed, collapse away. I won't stop if it is appropriate. By the way, swag IS a dolt who can't spell common, small words. Just read his posts. I'm not talking the occasional misspelling we all do, nor the CHATLINGO like BTW,LOL, etc. Just uneducated writings of the poorly taught that offend ME. How about collapsing people for bad grammar? That makes more sense to me than this petty bovine excrement.

I agree.

Would this 13 year old be alive today if that mom didn't create that fake myspace account? Definately.

Did the mom create the myspace account with the intent to harm this 13 year old? Yes she did.

The mom is lucky if she gets 3 years in prison. Wait til the family sues this mom in civil court.

3 years for saying something mean? Why don't we just hand out a few years apiece to the other vast majority of Americans that have said something mean to someone at some point in time. Killing yourself because a person you've never met says something mean to you is about a clear a sign as you can get that you were too mentally unstable to survive anyway. What would have happened when this girl got to high school and some other girl said something to her face, brought firebombs to class?

I take it Ringo that you condone the bullying?? She is a freakin adult who concocted this with her daughter. She knew what she was doing, and having been 15 knew the possible effects things can have on a child that age. Could she have known it would lead to suicide? Most likely not, but as an ADULT she should have known better.

And we'll never know if she would have brought "firebombs" to class now will we?? And that is a pretty stupid statement now isn't it??

No, I don't condone bullying at all. I don't condone stealing a cd from a store either, but that doesn't mean that someone caught stealing a cd should spend years in jail.

I'm Ringo... did you even follow the whole story? This poor girl hung herself after this mom told her the world would be better off without her. That was intent to harm...

This girl obviously had poor emotions. She was too young to understand the statement. It was a terrible one too, but she hung herself by will, not force.

Yes, I did read the story. That makes one of us, as it is evident from your post that you did not. I know the girl killed herself. If saying something mean to upset someone is intent to emotionally harm them, then by your rationale, the vast majority of Americans should be serving years in jail right now. Most people have at some point in time said something mean to someone. Obviously it is meant to upset them, or they wouldn't say it. That doesn't make it some sort of horrible crime. If you ask me out, and I laugh in your face, should I be spending years in jail?

If you read the whole story, and I'm not talking about just this one short little article, at no point in time did anyone tell this girl that she should kill herself. In fact, if you even read just this little article, you would notice that she isn't even the person that said anything mean.

The whole concept that someone should spend years in jail for a fake profile is ridiculous. The concept that person A said something mean to a girl, so person B should spend years in jail is ridiculous.

She didn't "just say something mean". They created a fictitious boy and emotionally tormented this child. That goes WAY beyond "just saying something mean".

It should be called child abuse and prosecuted as such.

People constantly talk about cruel and unusual punishment when it comes to prisoners.... why is this not considered the same for this little girl?

You make a claim that she 'emotionally tormented this child'......now can you back that up with anything? She didn't 'break up' with the girl, she didn't tell her the world would be better off without her......in what way exactly did she 'abuse' this girl. Assertions like that have to be supported by something.

Ringo, This was more than someone "saying something mean". This was a (supposed) adult who created a fictitious account to a lure a young, emotionally challenged girl into believing she had a boy who cared about her, only to cruelly rip that away from her and say the world would be better off without her. What did the mother hope would be the outcome of this "joke"????? She claims she wanted to see if this girl talked about her daughter....THIS is the example where someone couldn't handle someone being "mean". These two girls weren't getting along and the mother had to get involved to settle a score. I think this woman's punishment should show that this kind of garbage will NOT be tolerated any longer!

An adult viciously attacked a child. Being the adult she should have known better.

Ringo,

Sorry, the way that mom acted is not how an adult behaves.

By your way of thinking too, the next time I do surgery for a hip replacement for someone, should I tell them they're so fat they should try losing some weight first? Think I'll get sued? I bet I would.

When the civil trial comes about, all that matters is this:

Would this 13 year old be alive today if that mom didn't create that fake myspace account? Definately.

Did the mom create the myspace account with the intent to harm this 13 year old? Yes she did.

So you think the mom is normal? she has as many psychological problems as the 13 year old girl did.

"only to cruelly rip that away from her and say the world would be better off without her."

Okay, so you didn't read the article. Why don't you go actually read it, and come back when you know what you're talking about?

"An adult viciously attacked a child."

And yet, Erica, you have yet to show that she in any way 'viciously attacked' anybody. Please, not your emotion, evidence.

I'm Ringo

In the articles during the trial, the mom DID say that the world would be better off without her... when she posed as a boy etc...

I get your stand. Legally, she was not convicted of anything pre-meditated. And it is weird that someone is fined over a million dollars for sharing songs etc... the justice system is off at times. That does not excuse the behavior of this woman. What would you rather do... let everyone commit crimes on the internet with no consequence or have laws to protect people so this doesn't happen again?

John, I never said that what the mother did was okay, intelligent, adult, or decent in any way. The reality is still there that the actual 'crime' she committed was violating a website's terms of service. Most American children would be in jail right now if that was a bad enough 'crime' to send someone to jail for 3 years.

"Did the mom create the myspace account with the intent to harm this 13 year old? Yes she did." Maybe, if you can prove that, then you might have a case. As of yet, what you claim as fact hasn't been proven in court, so on what are you basing your claim? Did she probably do it for that reason? Yeah, I'd say she probably did. Is a person saying someone probably did something a valid reason for a justice system to put someone in jail, of course not.

ERich, could you send me a link that mentions when the mother supposedly said this?

There's a big difference between saying something mean and convincing someone on a ledge to jump.

Ringo,

We don't know all the basis for this term unless we are in the courtroom and watching whats going on.

The 3 years in prison is nothing compared to whats going to happen to this mom and the rest of there family in civil court. They are going to lose everything they own. The burden of proof is a lot less in civil court (look at OJ, he was held responsible in civil court). This mom didn't think, did something very stupid, and now has to pay the price.

For the first time, O'Brien disclosed what Megan wrote after allegedly receiving a message the day she killed herself that said the world would be better off without her. Megan sent a response saying, "'You are the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over,'" O'Brien said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27812358/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Ringo needs to have HIS day in court where he has to sit and listen to the same logic being used because someone cyber bullied his kid. Now your child is gone and the ONLY legal recourse that you have is this stupid law. The bottom line is that YOUR child is DEAD and this person specifically set out on the web to emotionally attack your child.

Good point John....

The next day, in his final message, said Megan's father, Ron Meier, Josh wrote, "The world would be a better place without you."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/americas/28iht-28hoax.8508834.html

This woman was also aware of the emotional problems with this girl.

Because Lori Drew had taken Megan on family vacations, she knew the girl had been prescribed anti-depression medication

Drew had told a girl across the street about the hoax, said the girl's mother, who requested anonymity to protect her daughter, a minor.

"Lori laughed about it," the mother said, adding that Lori Drew and Drew's daughter "said they were going to mess with Megan."

There was no intent to harm when they started this but there was in the end. They knew they were hurting this kid.

Even that b*tch admitted she felt what she did contributed to her death. But she doesn't feel bad since this girl had tried to commit suicide before.

It's all on that link I posted.

But I know what this trial is for and why she got 3 years. I think I'd be using that time to save up lots of money and get to know some "new people".

oh noes its a bully, everyone run away run away!!!!! lol

the 13 yr old had a CHOICE to go on the profile!!!!!!!!!!!! she choooooose to put herself in that situation

we dont need fking laws to take care of bullies, we need ppl to stand up for themselves like in the old days, fking pansies.

Swagganut..You just won stupidest post of the day...

Congrats..

here's your sign....

Yeah, Swaggernaut, let's get back to the O K Corral & have a good, old-fashioned shoot-out!

LMAO re: diesel dike prison wife. never heard that saying before.. hilarious! and we can only wish she sits in jail thinking "why did i do this when i knew it was wrong!" and "dang i'm not teaching good manners to my kids, i'm a loser!" if she doesn't think those things, she should!! diesel dike.. hahaha..

what LAW was violated?

Swaggabutt...Guess you didn't read the article...

Go straight to jail...Do not pass go..Do not collect your brain....

Re: Post #6 above. Trouble is, these criminals have access to computers and the internet in prison. She'll immediately be on there posing as a 15-year old boy and tormenting other teenagers with her crazy thoughts.

Blossom, the phrase you need to use is as follows: She better give her heart to God, because her A S S is grass and I'm the lawn mower. Mess with my kids, and I'm not nice enough to kill you. I'll simply break most of the bones in your body, then tell you "When you learn to walk again, I'm going to do this again and again. So the only wat to save yourself the pain is to kill yourself." I am a firm believer in street justice, because the courts are far more interested in a criminals civil rights than in the rights of their victim/victims.

child abuse? hows that? she was no where near the child and u cant fking use the internet as a means to criminalize more crap, go away and grow a fking backbone

Swgganaut, I like your style.

Swagginass....Look up the definition of abuse.....Parents aren't the only ones who are abusive...
You lose.....Thanks for playing the game of life...

Wow... so swagginut is no longer entitled to an opinion? And how do you know Swagginut is not a child?

According to your own logic, perhaps YOU should be locked-up for 3 years if your response leads to his hurting himself.

Neale, that sort of thinking is exactly what caused this mess.

Yesterday I was driving on the freeway and saw a sign for "adult education". I laughed and thought "boy, we need more schools that teach people how to be adults".

You might think about applying.

Not interested. Anything suggested by the government or by people who won't defend their own children, or who rely on the government for said defense, is UNWORTHY of my time or energy. Consider this your last contact from me. If more people did this, you'd see 99% of ALL child abuse end, if only because most child abusers were fulfilling their destiny as fertilizer.

Which would make her guilty of the same crime, violating the terms of service. And how many people would be screaming for her to go do 3 years in prison if she was alive? Not many. How many people crying out about her bullying of this woman's daughter? Not many. Should the mother taken a higher ground than this, obviously. Does it make any sense that being guilty of the same offense should make you either A) the poor victim or B) a vile criminal dependent only on age? No.

So this girl "deserved" to die, because she went on MySpace at too young an age? And where did it state that this girl "bullied" the woman's daughter? An assistant claimed she called her a lesbian but was that even proven? It was two friends having a spat until the mother had to crank it up a notch and start the humiliation!

I'm Ringo - you are wrong. Maybe you can understand this simple explanation: 1) the mother is an adult; 2). her "intent" was to devastate the child who hung herself; 3). she "willfully took action that led to the death of another person - if you know anything about the law even if the intent was not to kill someone but that happened as a direct result on an action you took - you are responsible for the death; 4). it does not matter what the reason for the action was - certainly this kid who killed herself was culpable of a couple of things but she did not cause any harm that is measurable. This is not an eye for an eye justice sytem we live in. You talk so much about "relating" other indiscretions to one another. If you do not read a contract but sign it - that never is an excuse - the contract in every case is binding. It is not illegal for a 13 year old to be online. If she violated the terms of the contract she could have been prosecuted too. But this mother intentionally took action to harm someone. I think 3 years is just right.

This mother obviously had no intent of actually making this girl kill herself. This is called "cyberbullying," she should not go to jail for the girl's death. This is a sick mother, but unlike the girl, she had every right to be on myspace. And this girl had incredibly low self esteem, that shouldn't be blamed on the mother.

"I'm Ringo - you are wrong. Maybe you can understand this simple explanation: 1) the mother is an adult; 2). her "intent" was to devastate the child who hung herself; 3). she "willfully took action that led to the death of another person -"

The only problem, GeezString, is that you are making a statement with nothing to back it up. What action did she take that led to the death of another person? She didn't 'break up' with her, she isn't even the one that told her that the world was better off without her, she didn't tie a noose around her neck. The term is responsibility. You are what we call responsible for your actions. You are not responsible for the actions of others.

Sorry, Ringo, but as a father of four, the child may be excused for not being intelligent enough to know how to behave, BUT THE MOTHER KNEW the girl was already suicidal!!! that makes the entire sordid affair PREMEDITATED MURDER in my book. You make very sensible arguents about mean speech, with which I totally agree, But this isn't just about mean speech. It's about an adult deliberately using knowledge of a childs mental problems to deliberately drive the girl to suicide. You bear the name of my favorite author, so I won't be mean to you (LOL), but I think you miss the point.

lol premeditated murder when u make someone kill themselves lol lol lol lol what law school did u dream about lol. when someone KILLS THEMSELF THEY ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE. at 13 i knew right from wrong for sure, i guess kids these days are sooo coddled and dependant its no wonder they so weak minded.

But there is no EVIDENCE that she tried to drive the girl to commit suicide. There is all this blab about the 'mental and emotional torture' that she was inflicting, but nobody will bother to post any evidence of this. Do you have any sources of information on the case that points to how she supposedly tortured the girl?

I'm Ringo - You must be a friend of this crazy bitch lady or you are HER!! You adamantly support this crazy woman but what if it were your child that died? You'd be singing a differnent tune then, wouldn't you? You seem to have no empathy at all for the little girl who killed herself or for her family. Why is that? Because she was mentally unstable? Because she was not strong enough to deal with this? My god, have some freakin'sympathy for a poor child. You sound pretty evil to me.

Ringo....If you and swaggnpud go and rob a store and you're sitting outside while he goes in, and gee someone gets hurt or killed, guess what....You're guilty too...The "But gee your honor I didn't know that would happen" defense is like trying to use the Twinkie defense...

Sorry...You lose your turn...

The girl that hung herself was talking trash about the bully mothers daughter. She set up the fake profile to see if the girl was talking smack about her own daughter. Then after she was sure, she told her the world would be better without her. It's cruel, but not a crime.

But there is no EVIDENCE that she tried to drive the girl to commit suicide.

Ringo, they sent an email saying "the world would be better off without you". That leaves 2 options..........death or space travel to another world.

No, Son, one person sent an email. If we can start placing blame on anyone else for an email that someone sends, then why don't you go to jail as well? If you read it at all, you would know it clearly states that she didn't even send that particular message. So, are you just playing ignorant as a basis for pointless comments, or are you really that ignorant of the subject about which you are posting?

While I agree with most of what you're saying Ringo, she was indeed the adult in the situation and should have known better, and since she obviously didn't have the maturity to control the situation she has to take responsibility for that.

SAN DIEGO NATIVE-   This miserable excuse for a human being KNEW that the girl was mentally fragile; she knew that the girl took anti-depressants; she, as an adult, set up a my space site-and using flattery and sexual inuuendo, admittedly set out to "humiliate" this young fragile teen-what part of an adult mentally torturing a teen is acceptable to you?  If this woman had been a 50-something male, would you still be okay with an adult calling a girl "sexi" to gain her trust? Do you sincerely, really, believe that this malicious cow is innocent? Because that is what you are saying-that she is not really responsible for anything-that "LOLZ! OMG! A joke is a joke, like, You Know? OMG! quit being so EMO and all!" right?  THink about it-this adult would think and plan, and per testimony, laughed with glee over what she was doing to a teenager-a teenage that she knew all about-that she knew exactly what to say and where to hit below the belt-I don't understand how you can not find that deeply disturbing and repugnant. This woman is deeply disturbed-she actually told the grieving parents to "Give it a rest, already" per witnesses and per testimony-this was her comment to them at a memorial gathering for their daughter before the truth came out-

rndrc--you bring up an interesting point. if the mother who created the sight had been a male, would charges be different? if a 30-something-year-old man created a profile creating a ficticious young boy, sent the flirtacious messages, "wooed" the young girl, and after dumping her, told her the world would be better off without her. I am honestly on the fence about this case; I see both sides of the story. I do not know all the details about child solicitation laws, so I really am curious: if this had been a man impersonating a young boy, would he be convicted of child solicitation?

We may not like it but she didn't DIRECTLY tell the girl to kill herself...

San Diego Native, how else would you interpret "the world would be better off without you"?

While I agree that this woman is an immature sociopathic cheap slut, I'd point out that the mother of the dead girl has quite a bit of responsiblilty also. When you know your kid is mentally unstable, allowing her free reign on the internet is just plain not good parenting.

Hopefully some good will come of this and a few people will actually take responsibility for being the adult and setting some limits to thier kids' actions and behaviour. Probably not, cause that would mean paying attention to em, but maybe.

SonofLiberty. There are many parents who aren't actually qualified to serve as such. Society has much to answer for.

Note to self: make sure my child doesn't run into a lunatic doing charity work in a pediatrics unit.

This woman is deeply disturbed-she actually told the grieving parents to "Give it a rest, already" per witnesses and per testimony-this was her comment to them at a memorial gathering for their daughter before the truth came out- If this statement is true, the woman is a psychopath and psychologically damaging to all around her. I feel sorry for her children growing up with such a poor mother. I can only hope society shuns her the rest of her lifetime. I hope she finds it impossible to make a friend, have a job or have anyone ever respect her. People are going pretty easy on the girl that sent the final message to Megan. I wonder if the response she got (you're the kind of guy a girl would kill herself over) keeps all of those involved awake at night.

You'd think so, but I doubt it.

another_oldguy, you hit it on the head! That defense lawyer's making light of mama-monster-Drew's despicable actions should land him in some serious hard time!

I think it was the jurors, AND the prosectuor's lack of any ability whatsoever to win this case. This case was handed to them, with blatant evidence and the lawyer lost. This mom had a great lawyer.

I agree Erich. Wonder how many tens of thousands the mom had to pay the lawyer. That is going to hurt her pocket book.

When they get found guilty in civil court, the rest of there life savings will be wiped out.

Think this lady is going to be a ble to get a job anywhere now? I wouldn't hire her.

IMO, hitting people in the pocket book (money wise) hurts sometimes a lot more than prison.

True John... very true. This woman can't even go to the grocery store by now... her pic has been posted everywhere.

if this woman have any shame left in her, she would of plead guilty if only to alleviate some of the embarassment and shame this brings on her daughter. Of course she didn't because this is not about her daughter being hurt by this other girl. It's about how dare anyone hurt ME and MY daughter(note her daughter's true feeling about what she propose to do, never mattered or even considered. It was all about ME and MY, her daughter is ancillary, perhaps even irrelavant), they need to die!

"intentionally causing emotional harm" ITS NOT A FKING CRIME LOL TOOOO FUNNY, SO IF I CALL U IDIOT, did i jus breaK A LAW LOL, noooooooooooo.

People like to interpret the law as they see fit....

Insults are not crimes, I despise this woman as much

as the next person but the law needs to be followed

without allowing emotions to influence legal judgment.

It's better to let 100 guilty walk free than convict 1 innocent.

hurting someone's feeling and causing emotional harm are two very different things. It's the difference between shoving someone and reaching for a baseball bat. one may lead to another but, there's a clear line between the two.

It seems like a case could be make that intentionally causing emotional harm to a minor child if you are an adult, is child abuse.

Also, is it legal to assume a false indentity? I don't mean violating terms of service, but just in general? I would assume it would be illegal for anything involving money transactions . . . but maybe not for the purpose of inflicting emotional harm on a minor child?

Sorry, dude. She was CONVICTED!!! The idiot passing himself off as a judge overturned the jury verdict. Hang the mother, using the judges guts for the rope. HE's an accessory after the fact. END OF STORY!!!

Neale Osborn,

The judge has that prerogative for a reason. This case is ideal to demonstrate. The jury obviously voted with their emotions and not in accordance to law. A person can legally be a jerk, there is no crime against that or 80% of the commenter here would be in jail.

b

"she told her the "world would be better off without her"."

Now you're just lying. The court and people involved already acknowledged that she isn't the person that wrote that.

"Oh BTW....Ringo......you are obviously not a parent.....and must be what....17 years old at most.......with little maturity, no compassion, and utterly no understanding of teenage girls....and you clearly didn't read the whole article, as evidenced by the lack of knowledge in your statements......showcased by the fact that since a link and quotes were posted that showed your ignorance you have kept your big mouth shut."

Again with the dishonesty. I've got two children of my own. I clearly DID read the article, since I'm the one that actually knows what it said. Ooooh, 'quotes were posted'......and yet they were all posted about an entirely different person. Of course, that would be expecting a lazy, dishonest person like yourself to pay attention.

Ringo has been right on this all along, in the article is says,

"Grills, who testified under a promise of immunity, allegedly sent the final, insulting message to Megan before she killed herself. Prosecutors said Megan sent a response saying, "'You are the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over."'

It was Grills that actually wrote the line about "World would be better off" what's interesting is that they gave the person that put the nail in the coffin so to speak, immunity. Why's that?

Was the Mother insensitive? No Doubt. If I was this Megan's mom would I find her and beat her a$$, no doubt. But the truth is that Drew did not commit any crime. I was a chubby girl growing up. I was picked on all the time. Boy and Girls. But I came from a strong family, Sister's and brother's that stood up for me. I had a mother and father that taught me that in time this too shall pass. And sure there were times when I would cry. But guess what, it did pass. And I got over it. Are you telling me that had I killed myself those multiple kids would have been charged with a crime? I think the bigger crime is that the parents aren't parenting anymore. It's too late now for Megan's mom to try and help her, but really, she was already suffering from depression. Her activities and behavior should have been closely monitored. And any parent that lets their underage child use MySpace, ESPECIALLY without supervision is going to reap what they sow. They have parental controls on computers for a reason.

One final thought. If Mrs. Drew really was a Boy named Josh. And he really did tell her he loved her, only to say that the world would be better off without her (which is exactly what Megan believed) would we still want the criminal punishment? No. This story is sad. And terrible. But it is what it is. And I think a lot of us parent's need to really, and I mean really, teach our kids that life is cruel sometimes, but to take your life is even more cruel. Especially cruel to your remaining friends and family. And that no one wins by taking that route. And there are better ways to make a point. We as parent's need to get back to the root of Parenting, and we need to stop expecting strangers to do our jobs.

Caroline, very well said. One would hope that all parents would get the moral of this story. Doubtful, but maybe a few will get it, stop posting, watching tv or whatever and go see what their kids are up to.

Try explaining that to a 13 year old kid and see how far it takes you.

Possibly she wouldn't have paid attention if is was direct and obvious bullying. The problem is that she thought she'd found romance with this good-looking (I assume) kid. Then "he" turns on her. That's tough for someone that's only thirteen, especially one with a history of depression.

oh bo hooo a 13 yr old thought she found "romance" how wrong is that? lol and she 13 so not suppose to be on myspace so where was the parent supervision? i say its HER MOMS fault for her daughters death for not being a proper parent and not paying attn and not caring for her mentally unstable child

Hey swaggindik...I'm guessing you're about 13...And a bully...Close?? Or an adult who has no children, and most likely never will, and a bully....Closer??

Pull your head out and stop looking at the world from rosebud colored glasses...

TOR, you are right in most circumstances, as is Ringo. The problem is, this is not the average bullying case. The mother KNEW the girl had mental problems and a history of suicide attempts.

1, Anything the girl reportedly said about the daughter should have been handled with a simple "Sorry, dear, but little X has some personal problems and we should ignore any comments she makes" THAT is how a responsible adult handles this.

2, KNOWING she has these mental challenges, and her suicide history, you should NEVER say anything that might encourage the person to again attempt suicide.

Instead, she egged her daughter on to "investigate" the supposed sayings, then DELIBERATELY tried, and ultimately succeeded, in driving the girl to suicide. I do not claim to know the law, but to me this is PREMEDITATED MURDER!!!! Of course it wouldn't work on a normal, sane child, BUT SHE KNEW THE CHILD WAS NOT MENTALLY STABLE!!!!

Keithsn,

That is why it is necessary for parental intervention.

My God how many times must something like this happen before parents get it. It does not do any good if you think you are right. What matters is that a girl is dead and the parents could have prevented it by a very simple means, if indeed it was the internet conversation that pushed her over the edge. GET WITH THE PROGRAM OF REAL PREVENTION AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND ACTION FOR YOURSELF.

b

drew is an evil lookin` weasel.I hope she is haunted by Megan until she tell the cops whole truth about why she did it and is truly sorry for what she did. From what I can see in her picture ,she looks like she is proud of what she did. I agree ,she should be barred from getting on anything like myspace , facebook or even e-mailing other people.

In a pigs eye!

ACtually jec, last I checked it wasnt against the law to violate rules of websites. The worst that they can do is delete your account. What you fail to realize is the law that they were using to try to justify charging her with anything was a law intended to be used to prosecute people for spamming, and hacking websites. So they twist a law to fit their purposes and thankfully the Supreme Court seen through that.

Freedom-What?

JEC-

You can't convict someone on public opinion.

Well I s'pose that is true enough. Although a trial setting with a 'jury of peers' is setting out the circumstances of an alleged crime and letting a small sampling of 'public opinion' decide. But I take your point.

In my personal Public Opinion- She should be tried for murder. Eye for an eye. String her up and make an example.

JEC the crime that they were trying her under was a federal law designed to prevent people from illegally spamming people and hacking into websites. So technically the jury found her guilty of something that the way the law was written was not what she actually did? Make a little more sense?

C'mon! What about the misdemeanor of trespass? Lots of people do it--can't and won't prosecute 'em all. But when some vicious animal on two legs--as this woman--commits another harmful, intentional act during the trespass, but not a crime, resulting in harm or death, now what? Throw up your hands as our little judge, or prosecute for what you can? Prosecute and convict for what you can on the facts and the law.

Freedom-I thought I said that.