A Missouri mother was convicted here Wednesday for illegally accessing computers in what is believed the first case of alleged Internet bullying that resulted in criminal charges in the United States.
A Los Angeles jury convicted Lori Drew, 49, of three counts of misdemeanor federal charges for helping create a fake account at popular social networking website MySpace and tormenting a 13-year-old girl who wound up committing suicide.
But the 12-person jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on another count of conspiracy charge that the defendant faces. Drew showed no emotion as the verdict was read, and had no comment as she left the courtroom.
The case stemmed from the 2006 suicide of Megan Meier, who hanged herself after receiving an online message from an imaginary boy telling her the world would be better without her.
Although the suicide shocked the country, authorities in Missouri took no action against Drew as she didn't broke any state laws. U.S. federal prosecutors then file the charges against her in Los Angeles, where MySpace's parental company Fox Interactive is based.
Prosecutors contended that Drew and others created a fake MySpace profile and sent cruel computer messages to humiliate the teenage girl, a former friend of Drew's daughter, by pretending to be the boy.
Drew were charged with a count of felony conspiracy and three counts of illegally accessing protected computers without authorization.
While the jury made no verdict on the conspiracy charge, a separate defense motion to have the case dismissed entirely is still pending.
Prosecutors said Drew could face up to three years in prison and a 300,000-dollar fine. A sentencing date has not announced by the court.
Source:Xinhua
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