The MySpace Suicide: On The Defensive II
Lori Drew has plead not guilty in the MySpace Suicide case, but “not guilty” of what?
In order to understand Drew’s plea it is important to grasp the charges in the first place. As I have noted several times in these last posts, THIS IS NOT A MURDER CASE. Megan Meier killed herself. Suicide is against the law, but - in this case - the criminal has already paid the ultimate price. There is not a law for allegedly driving someone to take their own life.
In the interest of clarity, let me pull directly from this article on Jezebel:
According to the Wall Street Journal, “The theory of the case seems to be that when Drew registered on MySpace she agreed to certain terms of service that required her to, among other things, provide ‘truthful and accurate registration information’ and ‘refrain from promoting information that’ she knew was
‘false or misleading.’”
Drew is being charged with violating federal statute as outlined in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, but this is the first time the Act has been used in a social networking scenario. USC law professor Rebecca Lonergan tells the L.A. Times, “It’s a very creative, aggressive use of the statute. But they may have a legally tough time meeting the elements.” Another California attorney, James Chadwick, thinks the state will have a tough time convicting Lori Drew on these grounds. “As tragic as it is,” Chadwick said, “You can’t start imposing liability on people for being cruel.”
The real key to this case is understanding the way that the prosecution is trying to expand and redefine the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. As the Jezebel article states, even if Drew really did do what she is accused of doing, there is a good chance she is going to slip between the laws and go unpunished. This is what makes this case so fascinating. The result of this trial will have a huge impact on social networking no matter what the verdict. We’ll revisit the Act in more detail in an upcoming post.
For her part, Drew maintains that she is innocent of these charges. But her defense has already taken several important hits.
Lori Drew’s lawyer requested that a mistrial be declared, stating that emotional harassment was not adequate to computer fraud cases, but his request was denied. The defense also argued that since Drew was not on trial for murder all references to the teenagers suicide should not be allowed. The judge also disagreed , siding with prosecuting attorneys who claimed that the suicide proved the damaging nature of Drew’s alleged attacks.
Drew blames the attacks on Ashley Grillsand, her then-18 year old assistant, claiming she wasn’t at home when the messages were sent.
