Sentencing delayed in MySpace suicide case

Sentencing delayed in MySpace suicide case

www.msnbc.msn.com

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge on Monday questioned whether prosecutors were correct in bringing charges against a Missouri mother who was involved in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor who ended up committing suicide.

U.S. District Judge George Wu had been scheduled to sentence Lori Drew on three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. However, Wu delayed sentencing until July 2, saying he wanted to review the testimony of two prosecution witnesses.

(visit the link for the full news article)

These kind of cases are truly disturbing. No child, teenager or human should ever have to be put in the position to commit suicide.

As a victim of suicide in the family, it is truly a eyeopener that something needs to be done to prevent these situations from happening.

What is even more disturbing about this case is a mother's involved with this hoax.

I quote:

"Prosecutors said Drew sought to humiliate Megan Meier by helping create a fictitious teen boy with the help of her then-13-year-old daughter Sarah and business assistant Ashley Grills on MySpace and sending flirtatious messages to the girl in his name.

The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later in October 2006."



www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 18-5-2009 by Pokémon]

People are nasty beings. As difficult as it is, we have to love one another.

Cases like these are upsetting, I wish we could all just live in peace!

What kind of psycho does this to a 13-year-old girl??

Originally posted by The Last Man on Earth
What kind of psycho does this to a 13-year-old girl??

It gets worse than that. After the girl's death, this woman who did this to her had her mother store her living child's presents at her home to hide them from her child. It came out during this time that the boy was not real and what this woman had done. The girl's mother took the presents over to the woman's home and busted them up in the yard. The woman had cops called on the dead girl's mother.

This woman has never at any time shown any remorse for what she did to this girl. It's all been about her and her own suffering as consequence for her actions. She is totally a cold hearted, hateful human being.

This story has been in the news for a while and I've been following it. There is no excuse for doing this to someone.

[edit on 5/19/2009 by Jessicamsa]

What kind of weak person kill himself over an internet boyfriend? You've got to be freaking weak. Anyway I kinda understand that at that age, you're messed up emotionally... but come on.

No excessive penalties should be applied... this ruling could affect real life... if someone dump someone else and the person dumped kill himself, will the person who dumped him be charged with murder? That's ridiculous.

People killing themselves over love affairs is common... will they start charging everyone who breaks up with someone else on attempted murder? Come on. People who kill themselves are the only ones responsable. They killed THEMSELVES, by their own hand. It's self explainatory... if you drink yourself to death, who is responsable? Yourself. Same thing here.

[edit on 19-5-2009 by Vitchilo]

Originally posted by Vitchilo
What kind of weak person kill himself over an internet boyfriend? You've got to be freaking weak. Anyway I kinda understand that at that age, you're messed up emotionally... but come on.

No excessive penalties should be applied... this ruling could affect real life... if someone dump someone else and the person dumped kill himself, will the person who dumped him be charged with murder? That's ridiculous.

People killing themselves over love affairs is common...

[edit on 19-5-2009 by Vitchilo]

Himself??? This was a 13 year old girl. This woman deliberately did all she could to inflict this on a 13 year old girl. Then she was never even sorry about it. And the woman knew the girl suffered from depression when she did it, and still did it even though she was likely to suffer.

This is real life.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Wow, you a totally missing the point here! - Especially the point SHE's only 13.

[edit on 19-5-2009 by Pokémon]

reply to post by Vitchilo


They did this intentially to cause her pain.

She even went as far as suggesting she kill herself because nobody likes her.

On top of that, the mom of the girl who pretended to be this boy was in on it. They both deserve prison.

This is one of those cases that I deem to be completely and utterly morally wrong and she will have to face God about this later down the road imo. But as far as the law goes I don't think she should spend a day in prison. Many things could be to blame for this including the 13 year old girls parent's lack of supervision.

Originally posted by 1hope
This is one of those cases that I deem to be completely and utterly morally wrong and she will have to face God about this later down the road imo.

Are you implying she will probably burn for Eternity in Hell? i mean that's kinda harsh even for that witch ....

Can you imagine being the child of this witch of woman?
Who does this kind of thing to kids?
I hope this woman is locked up in some mental facility for a long time.

reply to post by Vitchilo


A grown woman harassed and mislead a child! She knew what she was doing! She should spend the rest of her life in jail. Suicide is not a laughing matter. That girl was humiliated by a grown woman for her own amusement. She is a sick person and should pay for her crime.

I think many of you are being driven by your emotions. It's a terrible thing when someone kills themselves BUT, that is a personal choice. That's right, a PERSONAL choice. No one makes you kill yourself. I don't agree with throwing this woman in jail for the rest of her life. Is she a wicked woman? Oh yes, i don't dispute it but, you need to realize this is being used as a mover for cyber-bullying laws. Those laws will ultimately restrict the freedom of all people in this country. This girl was not a reactionary animal. She could have made another choice in how to respond to that woman's hateful behavior.

[edit on 19-5-2009 by antonia]

[edit on 19-5-2009 by antonia]

reply to post by Pokémon


Wow all i have to say is I was a Fat Kid topped 270 at 5ft 6 and got all kinds of crap from kids at school. No one ever put me in the position of suicide. That is ridiculous to assume that one person actually has the control over another. Instead of blaming others we need to look at the kids who commit suicide parents. My mother raised 3 boys on her own and none of us got it easy in school no ever does. It was an easy way out for someone who could not deal with life.

What this woman did was a horrible thing but I dont think she deserves a harsh punishment. As for the young girl she obviously had underlying issues if she can take her own life over something so silly. How many of you at 13 would of killed yourself if someone told you too? I for one have ZERO sympathy for someone that takes thier own life, end of story.

The prisons would be overflowing (not like they already aren't) if there was a law against manipulating the truth and toying with people's emotions.

Actually society might come to a standstill due to so many people being locked up.

Just in my observations in this life..........

reply to post by antonia


A difficult, tragic and somewhat bizarre case but I'd have to agree with you. Things like this do tend to fire people's emotions and cloud judgements, not that I'm saying any of the posters on this thread are talking out of turn, after all we are all entitled to our opinion, even on what is a very emotive subject. I'm sure many if not all the people on this board have been the victims of hate or bullying at some time or other. My heart goes out to this girl and her family but I don't see this whole thing as a case of some sort of murder by proxy over the internet. The young girl made a conscious choice to take her own life (albeit during what would seem to have been a difficult time in her life), but as others have said a lot of the blame (if that's the right word, maybe responsibility) has to lie with the girl's parents. Giving such young people free and unmoderated access to the internet at what is for any young teenager a formative yet confusing time is bordering on negligence. I wonder what kind of relationship she had with her parents, and was she unpopular at school etc?

Yes the woman does have to take some of the responsibility for this young girl killing herself, is she evil? No, is she spiteful? Yes. Is she solely to blame for this suicide happening? I don't think so, I think there must have been other contributing factors and perhaps this online abuse (coming on a platform that the young girl probably thought was the only meaningful communication channel she had) was most likely the tipping point.

Just my thoughts.

Absolutely ridiculous and definetly no excuse for doing something like that. I often find grown woman can be just as immature and stupid as the young girls themselves. I dont feel bad for the woman one bit.

Whoever would want to do something this nasty to another girl, I just cant even explain how heartless both of them must be. I hope they live with the guilt for the rest of their lives.