MySpace suicide conviction tentatively dismissed

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday tentatively dismissed the conviction of a suburban mother accused of driving a love-lorn 13-year-old girl to suicide by tormenting her with a fake MySpace persona.

U.S. District Judge George Wu said during a hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom that prosecutors' application of a federal anti-hacking statute against the Missouri woman, Lori Drew, was selective and the law was unconstitutionally vague.

In a high-profile cyber-bullying case that drew worldwide headlines, Drew was found guilty in November 2008 of three misdemeanor counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization.

She was acquitted of more serious felony charges. The jury deadlocked on a fourth felony conspiracy count.

Drew was accused of creating a fake profile on the MySpace social networking website, owned by News Corp and posing as a teenage boy to tease and humiliate 13-year-old Megan Meier, a neighbor who had quarreled with Drew's daughter.

Megan ultimately committed suicide, hanging herself in her bedroom closet in October 2006.

Drew had faced a sentence ranging from probation to three years behind bars on the three misdemeanor counts. Had the judge upheld the conviction, she had been scheduled to be sentenced at Thursday's hearing.