“MySpace mom” Lori Drew’s conviction thrown out – Ars Technica.
Lori Drew’s conviction was thrown out today on the basis of legal interpretation. The judge ruled that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act did not apply to the facts of the case.
Lori Drew had made a false MySpace profile, pretending to be a cute boy named Josh Evans. She befriended Megan Meier, a neighbor girl and former friend of her daughter’s, and engaged in an ongoing plot to humiliate and embarrass the 13-year-old, who she knew had a history of serious depression.
Megan Meier committed suicide, many believe as a direct result of Drew’s actions.
Lori Drew admitted to police what she had done, when making a complaint about the Meiers destroying a foosball table she had stored in their garage, but charges were not brought locally. A federal prosecutor in California, home of MySpace, brought the charges in an attempt to make Drew pay for what she had done. Drew was found guilty by a jury.
Many hailed the judge’s action as proper, while others are extremely anger that Lori Drew is not being held legally responsible in the death of Megan Meier.
Personally, I think the judge made the right legal decision in this case, as I have previously stated should be the decision. However, I also think – and have always stated – that Lori Drew should have been charged with any of a number of serious state-level crimes, including child abuse, child endangerment, and possibly even negligent manslaughter, for her actions which led to the death of Megan Meier.
I guess they can’t convict her for being an idiot and general nusicinance. What contributing to the delinquency of a minor for involving her daughter and other teens. Of course, that is not seriousness.
Is there anyway they can get her for harrassment?
I think they should have charged Lori Drew with a lot of things – harassment and child abuse, just to name two – but they didn’t. As you point out, contributing to the delinquency of a minor is another.
The statute of limitations may have run on those crimes though, since this happened several years ago. If so, she will walk away scot-free unless she is charged with murder.
I don’t think there is any doubt that they could have gotten a conviction. They may even have been able to get a murder conviction based upon Lori’s reckless disregard for human life, since Lori was very well aware that Megan had been treated for serious depression for years. The poor child was so depressed that doctors had placed her on multiple antidepressants as well as Geodon, an antipsychotic sometimes used in the most severe cases of depression.
Of course, as previously covered in this blog, I’m not altogether sure that Geodon didn’t contribute to her death.
What Lori did was ugly, really reprehensible. But–I’ve never heard the evidence that directly ties Megan’s apparent suicide to Lori’s actions. There’s the internet exchange; “The world would be better without you” and “You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself for.” And yet, I am left doubting. How many hours or days passed between that exchange and Megan’s death?
If Megan was so depressed, why did her family have no trouble leaving her in the home alone while they went shopping for a few hours?
Why haven’t we heard how Megan was crying over ‘Josh’, locked in her room, refusing to eat? At least, I haven’t heard of it. The only accounts I’ve heard say the family thought she was fine, left her at home at her request, came back and found her hung. No note, nothing.
I can’t help but wonder if what we have here is not just one more victim of the “choking game” which has apparently become popular with our young people in recent years. You know, like David Carradine.
Can you tell me where to find answers, or at least additional evidence? I’m just wondering.
I’ve covered this case from the beginning, so I can explain it.
Tina Meier took her other daughter to the dentist, and told Megan to finish what she was doing then get off the computer. Megan promised she would, but like a typical 13-year-old, she didn’t. The Meiers didn’t worry about Megan being allowed to stay home alone for the short duration of a dentist appointment, because her parents had changed her school in order to get her away from bad influences like Lori Drew’s daughter, and Megan appeared to be doing very much better.
Megan repeatedly talked to her mother on the phone, absolutely hysterical about the harassment she was receiving from Josh Evans, and because Josh Evans had provoked other kids on MySpace to gang up and harass and humiliate Megan. They were posting “Megan Meier is a whore”, and all kinds of incredibly nasty things, apparently to no provocation except that of Josh Evans. Her mother kept demanding that Megan to get off the computer for her own good, but wasn’t home to force the issue.
When Tina Meier got home, she saw that Megan had been using profanity to respond to the many filthy insults against her. She understandably became upset about Megan’s use of profanity, as well as the fact that Megan had not listened to her about getting off the computer. Megan told her “you’re my mom, you’re supposed to be on my side”. At that point, her mother didn’t know what was going on, except what she had seen. I’d guess she thought Megan was just being dramatic, as are many girls that age when they get upset, and as it has been said that Megan was as well.
Megan ran upstairs to her room, sobbing hysterically. Tina Meier went into the kitchen and started fixing dinner, then suddenly had a feeling she needed to check on Megan. When she got upstairs, Megan was hanging from her neck in her closet. She was taken off life support the next day.
Checking the computer after their daughter’s death, trying to figure out what had really happened online, the Meiers found that the last message Megan had received from Josh Evans stated, “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.”
The last message Megan had sent to Josh Evans? “You are the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.”
I think that IS a suicide note.
I agree. There really wasn’t anything there to convict her with…I just hope somewhere deep down she feels shame for what she did. Legal or not…she still did wrong.
I agree completely. She probably feels no shame, though, because otherwise she wouldn’t have been capable of doing something of that nature to a child in the first place. In fact, smart money is on Lori Drew viewing herself as a victim.
Can Drew be faced with a civil suite?
If I recall correctly, the statute of limitation expired without the Meiers filing a civil suit against Lori Drew, because they felt she was facing justice in federal court. They may now regret that decision, needless to say.
Trensota…
Depression isn’t that cut and dry. Many times when you hear someone say something and you are depressed…you tend to dwell on it for a long time.
Many people who are depressed don’t come to suicide lightly or even quickly for that matter and if she wasn’t telling her family the whole story then they probably didn’t realize how serious the danger their daughter was in.
Lori and her daughter had been working this girl for a while emotionally and mentally torturing her. There really isn’t any way to know what exactly drove her over the edge. She may have been thinking it for a while and then just decided to do it after an afternoon of being by herself and thinking too much about it.
As a person who has suffered depression in the past…I can say that it is actually easy to hide the disease if you really want to. Her family was clueless because she wanted them to be.
But still…Lori did wrong in making those comments…you tell someone something enough they will eventually believe it.
Many thanks, Elfninosmom, for clarifying the sequence of events for me. As only a casual follower of the case, I had not heard that narrative before. It certainly paints a different picture than the one I had formed from the accounts I’d read.
I am familiar with clinical depression, I’ve been there myself. Regardless of whether Lori’s actions directly caused Megan’s death, or whether she intended such a tragic result, even if she thought she was only joking, it was still an ugly, evil thing to do, and worse because it was done to a child, and worst of all because she involved two other children in it, so that they will have to bear the burden of that evil deed all the rest of their lives.
Alas for you, Lori Drew, you have destroyed one life, and damaged at least half a dozen more, including your own.
You are very welcome, glad I could help.
I can imagine Lori Drew’s future as being very bleak. She is really broke right now and is one of the most hated person. I don’t think her daughter even goes to school because she will be harassed mercilessly. Problem with her, she does not even realize that. She thinks she did no wrong. I wonder if we will know more about Drew’s childhood? I find this family tree of Drew and it does not identify her father, but her mother only. It’s Helen Marie Manley.
http://www.yodernewsletter.org/nonamish/yet2001b.html
Wow, I’d be really embarrassed to have Lori Drew in my family tree. And that’s really saying something, since I’m a descendant of Devil Anse Hatfield, LOL
William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield was behind the Hatfield-McCoy feud in the 19th century. I would be ashamed if Lori Drew was my relative, which I am sure she is bringing. Having Lori Drew in my family tree would be like having Ted Bundy, Osama bin Laden, or Joseph Stalin in the family tree.
Yep, I know who Devil Anse was, since he’s my great-great-great-great grandfather, and most of my family still lives in southern West Virginia.
I’d still much rather have a Devil Anse in my family tree, than a Lori Drew. The Hatfields may have killed a lot of McCoys (and vice versa) but neither side ever tortured a mentally ill little girl into suicide.
Devil Anse was no choir boy, but what Lori Drew did is a whole other level of evil.
One of the principals at the school where my mom worked was a descend of the Hatfields. He used to tell a story of his granddad being shot by the McCoys/
That sounds about right. There was a genetic study of both families, trying to see if there was some kind of genetic basis for the feud, and it was found that the McCoy males carry a gene for a condition known to result in uncontrollable rage.
In fact, the McCoys were so out of control that after the governors of Kentucky and West Virginia called in the militias to control the feud, the West Virginia governor threatened to send his state militia into Kentucky to deal with the McCoys.
Interesting. At least Devil Anse did it in real life, unlike Lori Drew who did on the Internet. Not that I condone what the Hatfields did. Drew is the personification of evil besides Hitler and Bin Laden. I sometimes think Lori Drew could be related to Fred Phelps, who is also evil.
Devil Anse was nowhere near as horrible as many believe. Combine those old stern-looking photos with a name like “Devil Anse”, and he seems like a murderous figure. However, most people don’t know why he was called Devil Anse, so they just make assumptions. In reality, it had nothing to do with him being a bad person. He got that nickname due to his fearlessness in battle (he served during the Civil War in the Confederate Army). He actually was well-liked, respected, and was well-known for having a very good sense of humor.
Despite what people believe, and even though he was the Hatfield patriarch, Devil Anse never killed anyone during the feud.
Other Hatfields did, though. Devil Anse’s son Cap killed five people, but his name is lost to history because a name like “Cap” just doesn’t make for a good folk tale.
Interesting. At least Devil Anse did it in real life, unlike Lori Drew who did on the Internet. Not that I condone what the Hatfields did. Drew is the personification of evil besides Hitler and Bin Laden. I sometimes think Lori Drew could be related to Fred Phelps, who is also evil.
P.S.: Wanted to mention good post!
Hiya, Arctic Chicken. This one got caught in the spam filter, for some reason unbeknownst to me.
Glad you liked the post!
Hi ElfNinosMom. Hmmmm, I wonder how that became spam. I do like the post. I find your postings informative. I have been interested in this MySpace Suicide Case. I wrote an article about Lori Drew.
http://diabolicalminds.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/loridrew/
It has not been up to date with other diabolical people because I have been busy. It also got Fred Phelps and Casey Anthony. I do hope to add more figures like Myra Hindley/Ian Brady, 9/11 Terrorists, Eric Harris/Dylan Klebold, Seung-Hui Cho, and Charles Manson.
That’s definitely thorough.
All I can say is…this sh*t terrifies me for my own children when they get older. Though I would like the believe that I would teach them better and help them deal with these things in a good way and give them high self-esteem…I can also say that there really is no way to know who will be prone to something like this attack until after the fact.
I just hope my kids never have to deal with this kind of stuff.
I am curious, has anyone ever profiled Lori Drew? I have never seen her ever profiled. If I had to guess, she is probably a psychopath with a persecution and inferiority complex.
She could just be an just an old fashioned mean girl, or bully or just plain looser.
Sounds about right. I think she is all of the above, mean girl/bully and loser. Little is known about her childhood, but would be of great interest. I know her father is named Jerry and Helen Shreeves. She has a younger brother named Todd.
http://www.mariestimemachine.com/fam/fam00193.html
Somehow, I think her father spoiled her, while her mother was strict and likely a religious fanatic, which left her conflicted. It is probable that she is a wedlock child, which likely make her feel deeply resentful. Many psychopaths come from that background, reverse with doting mother and strict father. Also, she probably has a lot of rage and grudge issues that festered in her. She does not handle failure and rejection well. She clearly shows narcissism, paranoid, and anti-social tendencies mixed self-hate/inferiority complex. She is over compensating what her mother failed in her eyes.