Cyber-bullying jury breaks for the night

Tue. November 25, 2008; Posted: 08:47 PM

LOS ANGELES -- Federal jurors here told a judge late today that they had reached a decision on three of the four charges against accused cyber bully Lori Drew, and asked him if it was all right to be deadlocked on the fourth,

U.S. District Judge George Wu told them that could be all right but sent them home for the night to continmue deliberating the fourth charge on Wednesday at 11 a.m. St. Louis time.

It is not known what they have decided, or on which counts.

Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Mo., is charged with one count of conspiracy and three of illegally accessing protected computers, laws designed to stop hacking. The charges claim she harassed a 13-year-old neighbor, Megan Meier , who committed suicide in 2006.

Judge Wu sent the jury home about 7 p.m. St. Louis time, approximately eight hours into deliberations. They had broken for lunch for about one hour and 15 minutes.

About four hours earlier, jurors briefly returned to the courtroom to ask the judge to clarify their instructions.

- An older man who told lawyers during jury selection that he didn't understand the indictment.

- A man who says he was improperly stopped by police years ago and who was foreperson of a hung jury in a past case.

- A man who, when asked if he could put aside his preconceptions about the case said, "I think I can..."

- A young man with computer experience.

- And an unemployed former human-relations staffer who said she's been on MySpace for 1 1/2 years, and only after her son's girlfriend signed her up.

U.S. District Judge George H. Wu HAD dismissed the jury at 4:45 p.m. Monday after two hours of closing arguments. In making their final case, prosecutors and Drew's lawyer had differed markedly on what the jury actually had to decide in a trial that marks the first time an anti-hacking law has been used to go after cyber bullying.

Prosecutors said the jury only had to determine that Drew, 49, knew she was breaking the rules of MySpace when she and two others improperly accessed MySpace's computers to set up a fake account.

Using the persona of a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, prosecutors said, the trio wooed the Dardenne Prairie teen for weeks to gain her trust and find out what Megan had been saying about Drew's daughter, her former friend.

But the plan changed, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said. They later planned to humiliate her with a printout of the conversations.

They planned to "build her up to tear her down," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause told jurors, and inflict "maximum humiliation on a teenage girl."

On Oct. 16, 2006, Megan's relationship with "Josh" dissolved into electronic combat -- actually between Megan and an 18-year-old former Drew employee, Ashley Grills, and others. In the end, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom.

O'Brien said that Drew knew that MySpace's terms of service bar harassment, lying and using false information, among other things.

She knew those terms based on the often-flip statements she made to others who questioned the plan, both before and after Megan's death, he said. And she should have known she would be violating them when both Grills and her daughter warned her against the plan, O'Brien said.

She also knew that Megan was depressed and had threatened or tried suicide in the past, and was particularly vulnerable to the harassment, prosecutors said.

EARLIER STORY:

LOS ANGELES -- Jurors will begin deciding the fate of accused cyber bully Lori Drew today, just under a week after her trial started and six months after she was indicted over computer crimes that allegedly led to the death of 13-year-old Megan Meier.

U.S. District Judge George H. Wu dismissed the jury at 4:45 p.m. Monday after two hours of closing arguments. In making their final case, prosecutors and Drew's lawyer had differed markedly on what the jury actually had to decide in a trial that marks the first time an anti-hacking law has been used to go after cyber bullying.

Prosecutors said the jury only had to determine that Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Mo., knew she was breaking the rules of MySpace when she and two others improperly accessed MySpace's computers to set up a fake account.

Using the persona of a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, prosecutors said, the trio wooed the Dardenne Prairie teen for weeks to gain her trust and find out what Megan had been saying about Drew's daughter, her former friend.

But the plan changed, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said. They later planned to humiliate her with a printout of the conversations.

They planned to "build her up to tear her down," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause told jurors, and inflict "maximum humiliation on a teenage girl."

On Oct. 16, 2006, Megan's relationship with "Josh" dissolved into electronic combat -- actually between Megan and an 18-year-old former Drew employee, Ashley Grills, and others. In the end, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom.

O'Brien said that Drew knew that MySpace's terms of service bar harassment, lying and using false information, among other things.

She knew those terms based on the often-flip statements she made to others who questioned the plan, both before and after Megan's death, he said. And she should have known she would be violating them when both Grills and her daughter warned her against the plan, O'Brien said.

She also knew that Megan was depressed and had threatened or tried suicide in the past, and was particularly vulnerable to the harassment, prosecutors said.

She could have talked to Megan's mother, let the girls work it out on their own or stopped the scheme at any time, O'Brien said. "She chose to use a computer, illegally, in order to hurt a little girl," he said.

But Drew's lawyer, H. Dean Steward, said that in order to find Drew guilty, jurors had to find that she knowingly and intentionally violated MySpace's terms of service.

Prosecutors presented no evidence that any of the alleged co-conspirators read or knew anything about the terms, however.

"How can you violate something when you don't know what it is?" Steward asked.

Without knowledge of the terms and a conscious decision to violate them, Steward said, "We are over. End of case."

The terms of service issue has dogged the case for months. Steward asked Wu to dismiss the case Friday, saying prosecutors had not proven the elements necessary under the law.

Wu seemed receptive, as he has in the past, taking up Steward's position.

He pointed out that the statute requires Drew to intentionally violate the terms or service, and asked, "How would they know unless they read the terms of service?"

In the end, Wu said he would need the weekend to decide.

On Monday morning, he told both sides that he would not yet issue a decision and to proceed with the end of testimony and closing arguments. By law, Wu could throw out the case after the jury has returned a guilty verdict -- if he ultimately agrees with Steward.

Drew showed little reaction to Monday's events, as she has throughout the case, even when her daughter was crying on the witness stand.

Drew's daughter Sarah began testifying Friday and finished Monday, placing most or all of the blame on Grills and defending her mother. Drew's father, Jerry Shreeves, also testified, telling jurors about the family's fear of retaliation after Megan's death and contradicting the testimony of a sheriff's deputy who came to the house, called Drew "creepy" and said she admitted typing some of the messages to Megan.

Wu told jurors to return to court today at 9 a.m. (11 a.m. St. Louis time) to begin their deliberations. Each of the four charges Drew faces -- conspiracy and three counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization -- carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

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