Tag: fraud

Guilty verdict on lesser charges in MySpace case:

First off I hope you all had a Happy and safe Thanksgiving those of you in the U.S. Now on to the story I’m sure you’ve been waiting for me to talk about.

Lori Drew was convicted. As I’m sure you all know by now she was only convicted of the lesser misdemeanor charges of three counts of accessing a computer without authorization. The jury was hung on the felony count of conspiracy. If I remember correctly the most she can get is one year a piece for each of the misdemeanor convictions. Let’s face it though, she’ll do no time.

U.S. District Judge George Wu still has not ruled on the defense’s motion for a mistrial which could result in there being no conviction whatsoever.

I’m going to wait on Judge Wu’s ruling before I offer any further commentary because anything I say now could be made moot come Monday or whenever he decides to rule.

More highlights from the Lori Drew trial.

Drew’s former hairdresser, Christina Chu, testified that Drew considered the harassment of Megan Meier ‘a funny story’. Chu even admonished Drew for what she was doing. When Chu asked why Drew wasn’t going to Megan’s wake Drew reportedly said: “It’s not like I pulled the trigger.”

Ashely Grills testified that when Drew learned of Megan’s death that Drew said to her “`We could have pushed her overboard because she was suicidal and depressed.’” Ya think?

And when Grills expressed her concerns to Drew about getting in trouble Drew dismissed it saying “It was fine and people do it all the time.”

MySpace executive Jae Sung basically testified that you have to check a box that shows you accept MySpace’s TOS. You think that would be a stupid thing to testify about but not everyone out in the non-internet world knows this.

Also, an FBI agent testified that Drew deleted files from her computer on the day of Megan’s suicide but they couldn’t tell what the files contained.

The prosecution rested and the defense made a motion for dismissal claiming that the prosecution did not prove Drew committed a crime. The Judge did not reject the motion and will rule on the dismissal on Monday.

Drew’s daughter Sara testified that Lori Drew told Ashley Grills to delete the fake MySpace two weeks before Megan committed suicide.

Evidence of Megan Meier’s death will be permitted in Lori Drew’s cyber-bullying trial:

On Friday after saying he probably wouldn’t allow it at trial U.S. District Judge George Wu ruled that prosecutors would be able to present Megan Meier’s suicide at Lori Drew’s fraud trial.

I’m torn on this because it will lead to a conviction but it will also lead to an appeal and possibly an overturn of the conviction.

Suicide evidence likely out of MySpace hoax trial:

Yesterday the federal judge presiding over the trial of Lori Drew said that he was leaning towards excluding the suicide of Megan Meier as evidence.

Personally, I don’t have any problem with this. I don’t want Lori Drew to have an excuse if she is sent to prison. I want it to be done by the books and iron clad.

There have been some more developments in the trial of Lori Drew.

First, a judge deferred ruling on a motion to dismiss the charges. The trial is expected to take place on November 18th.

In another development, Lori Drew waived her right to a jury trial, opting instead for the trial to be decided by a judge.

I don’t blame her for that one. A jury would weigh heavily on Megan Meier’s suicide and not the letter of the law. However the prosecution needs to agree for the trial to go to a judge and of course, they didn’t.

Former Justice Dept. Prosecutor Joins Defense in MySpace Suicide Case:

Former federal prosecutor Orin Kerr has joined the defense team for Lori Drew.

Like the other tech geeks, he’s afraid that if Drew’s fraud charges aren’t thrown out that it will open up the floodgates for the government to prosecute every little TOS violation.

For example, I give a fake name and address for just about every service I sign up for. Kerr feels that if Drew is prosecuted that it won’t be long before I’m prosecuted. I disagree. First off, even the government doesn’t have that kind of time and resources to prosecute every little TOS violation. Secondly, all the tech geeks are forgetting one thing, a 12-year-old girl died because of Drew’s sick childish games.

This isn’t about a power grab by the government, this is about justice for Megan Meier. Besides, don’t all you Net Neutrality geeks want government involvement in the internet anyway?

Second teenager may be tied to MySpace hoax:

Lo and behold the evil Lori Drew may have had a second victim in her alleged MySpace harassment game.

As most of you know 13-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide after her MySpace friend, the supposed Lori Drew created Josh Evans, told her that the world would be better off without her.

Now it turns out that another teenage girl may have been strung along by the fictitious Josh Evans.

However Drew’s attorney is using this second girl to cast doubt on the federal prosecutor’s case.

In his motion, Steward seeks the phone records of S.D. to prove that prosecutors mistakenly linked Meier to a message that S.D. actually sent to the fake account.

Steward said “S.D.” was “a juvenile that was part of a group of teenagers who were texting and e-mailing each other. There were a couple of boys involved.”

Since Drew is being prosecuted for fraud and not for Megan’s suicide I don’t think this is the best lawyering tactic but then again I’m not a lawyer.

It also sounds like Lori Drew was enjoying herself posing as a teenage boy.

Woman’s got more issues than Reader’s Digest.

MySpace Suicide Defendant Asks Again For Case Dismissal:

The attorneys representing Lori Drew are once again asking for a dismissal in her federal fraud case. If you do not recall Lori Drew allegedly posed as a teenage boy by the name of Josh Evans on MySpace in order to harass 13-year-old Megan Meier. Megan was so distraught that she committed suicide.

Her attorneys argue that the federal statute that she was charged under only applies to interstate theft.

The prosecution claims the Drew committed theft of information by obtaining information about Megan Meier through deceit.

A hearing will be held on the matter on Oct 30th.

Attorney asks for medical records of dead girl:

The defense attorney for Lori Drew has requested the medical records of Megan Meier stating that it was a change in psychiatric medication that caused her to commit suicide.

Megan’s mom states that Megan was diagnosed with depression but was improving before Drew’s hoax. She also said that the defense can go jump in a lake before she gives up Megan’s medical records.

Take it from someone with experience in the medical field. Due to HIPAA laws, it may take an act of Congress or God before the records are made available to prosecutors.