Lori Drew Walks. All Charges Dropped in Megan Meier Cyberbullying Case

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

I had predicted that Lori Drew wouldn’t do a day in jail. This case was about lying to someone over email, and if the Federal Government wants to start prosecuting that, they need to build a whole lot of new jails.

The judge in the case just dismissed all charges against Lori Drew because to convict her of lying on a website would also convict everyone else who has ever done the same and he called that unconstitutional.  Lori Drew is now a free woman.

Megan Meiers, the 13 year old victim of cyber bullying

From the AP here:

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.

U.S. District Judge George Wu said he was acquitting Lori Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization but stressed the ruling was tentative until he issues it in writing.

She 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. That would be unconstitutional, he said.

Prosecutors had sought the maximum three-year prison sentence and a $300,000 fine, but it had been uncertain going into Thursday’s hearing whether Drew would be sentenced.

Drew’s bond was exonerated by the judge.

Defense attorney Dean Steward said outside court that the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles should not have brought the charges in a case that originated in Missouri and was rejected by prosecutors there.  Steward said the ruling should mark the end of Drew’s criminal case.

My heart still goes out to the Meier family and I hope they can some day find peace.