As many of you know, I have been following the Megan Meier case. This is the case where Megan committed bullycide after a 16 year old boy she met on the social site My Space, , Josh Evans, who she was infatuated with suddenly turned on her stating “the world would be a better place without you in it.” The twist of all of this? Josh was not a 16 year old boy but a moniker created by a 49 year old woman by the name of Lori Drew along with her daughter, 14 year old Sarah and a colleague, 18 year old Ashley Grills. For a year, America has heard and followed this case and I have been right there along with everyone else. I have blogged and discussed this ad nauseum with friends and colleagues. I have been angry at this woman for even “going there” with this child in the first place. This whole story reeks of drama, cruelty and in the center of it sits this woman who apparently lacks a conscience of any kind. What kind of a person even considers doing this?
Well, Mrs. Drew is now in a Los Angeles Court having to own up to her dirty deeds. She was told by Grills and her hairdresser that what she was doing was wrong. Of course, Grills said it was okay because everyone did this sort of thing all the time on there. Her daughter even admitted to flirting with Megan as “Josh” on My Space. Of course Drew is now saying she never read the terms of service on My Space and her attorneys are lobbying for her case to be dismissed. Okay, I have a My Space account and to even set this up, one must accept the terms of service. You have to click on the little box like anyone else does. She had to have been aware to even open the account in the first place! Plus, she is trying to put a lot of blame on Ashley Grills. Now she is charged with a count of conspiracy and three counts of unauthorized computer access by violating the terms of service on My Space. From what I understand, Grills is the star witness yet has immunity. Why, I have no idea since she is a legal adult and had her own hand in all of this.
Folks, Lori Drew is mean, not stupid. She knew what she was doing was mean. She was well aware of Megan’s battle with clinical depression and her fragile state of mind. She was told by two other people that what she was doing was illegal. She involved her own 13 year old daughter in this mess. She is looking at five years in prison if convicted. Do you know what is so appalling? The judge has considered dismissing this case completely! Yes, you read right he is considering dismissing this case. Do you know the message that sends? That its okay to set up fake profiles online. Its okay to cyber bully young girls who deal with depression and send them over the edge. Engaging in illegal activity is okay. This is not okay and this woman does not deserve to walk. She deserves to be in prison where she belongs. Judge Wu, don’t go easy on her! Give her the book and throw away the key! For once, have a bully take some responsibility for their reprehensible actions. Show the world that yes, the justice system still works and Drew will be taking responsibility for her actions. I, for one, hope she rots.
Resource Cited: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/defense-lori-dr.html
Elizabeth Bennett is the author and consultant of Peer Abuse Know More! Bullying From A Psychological Perspective and resides in Los Angeles, California. To learn more, visit http://www.peerabuse.info .
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9 users commented in " Lori Drew: Give Her the Book! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackback“Do you know the message that sends?… Engaging in illegal activity is okay.”
What illegal activity? Possibly (though it can’t actually be proven) Checking a TOS agreement without knowing exactly what it said? Are you going to tell me you actually read every TOS agreement? I bet you have violated plenty of TOSes, yet I don’t see anyone indicting you.
The charges are not manslaughter. You want a jury to convict on a charge, that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that she even committed, all because she misrepresented herself online? You cannot convict someone on a charge, just because (you think) she committed a totally unrelated crime. There is no charge of manslaughter because she didn’t commit that crime. Regardless, this court case is about violating a TOS, AND THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT SHE DID SO.
The judge still may throw out the case, he said he was waiting until after the verdict to rule on the lack of evidence. I wonder how close you were actually following the case.
This is the part I don’t understand. If you use a website, aren’t you subject to the terms? When the account was opened, someone checked the box saying they read and accepted the terms. Shouldn’t anyone using the account be subject to the terms? There is a link to the terms visible at all times when you’re on MySpace, so why wasn’t she aware of the rules of the site she was using? Why is choosing to be ignorant a defense?
re: Jenny’s “Why is choosing to be ignorant a defense”. It’s not. But unfortunately, as the blog post you’re responding to points out, the person who created the account (Ashley Grills), used the account, and who typed most of the nasty things to Megan was given COMPLETE IMMUNITY by the prosecution as they saw Lori Drew as the mastermind behind the conspiracy to be mean to Megan, and knew that without Ashley’s testimony, they had nothing solid that could be used against her.
And unfortunately for those who believe ’someone’ must pay for their part in what happened, even with Ashley on the prosecution’s side, all they could manage was to grasp at straws and say Lori Drew violated MySpace’s TOC. If Lori Drew is convicted of violating a TOS (accessing ‘protected computers’ across statelines), then surely they should go after Tina Meier (Megan’s mother) as she is on record as saying she created the MySpace account for her then 13yr old daughter.
This is not a manslaughter trial. Don’t let emotion cloud the facts.
Well, Lori Drew was the master mind behind this. By checking the TOS box, you agree to their terms. If someone does not read them, its negligent on their part.
The bottom line is that this account was created, used with malice and no thought whatsoever. They knew they were doing wrong and did so anyway. Sorry but when we live in a world where people are not held accountable for their actions, someone has to call them on their stuff. These people need to be held accountable. As for Ashley Grills, I do not think she should have gotten immunity at all. She was just as involved as Drew and her daughter.
This may not be a manslaughter case but I am raising the awareness of what people do not want to see. The fact that this account was created in the first place and they were fully aware of Megans clinical depression. If these girls were having so many problems, the last thing anyone should have done was go to MySpace, create that account and fool Megan. You play? You pay as far as I am concerned.
Have a good and safe Thanksgiving!
Elizabeth Bennett
scum. just plain scum
Geesh, wouldn’t it be great if someone did something special for her?
This woman is a sicko. What kind of adult would prey on a depressed kid and then assert that she didn’t think what she was doing was wrong. How twisted is this woman and what kind of model has she set for her own impressionable daughter? She is the worst kind of bully. My heart breaks for the mother of the child who committed suicide. Lori Drew karma means you never really get away with anything, your day is coming Lori Drew, your day is coming.
The Drew case sets a terrible precedent and the verdict should be tossed. I seriously doubt that it will survive the court of appeals.
Lori Drew should have been investigated for child abuse, not tried violating MySpace’s TOS. Seems that prosecutors just wanted to “do something” regardless of whether it was the right thing to do or not.
Most of the teens I work with report that in-person bullying at school is worse than online bullying.
Has bullying even increased because of the Internet? (probably not) Are we just seeing it because it’s written rather than hearing reports about it? (in all likelihood).
Kids have been bullied by peers at school without adults knowing about it for as long as there have been schools. We can’t blame the technology, we have to look to the root of bullying behavior and start there.
I have a MySpace and I happen to have 2 or 3 dogs as ‘friends” one being a pit bull. He (the pit bull) has his person post educational information about so called bully breeds and about general dog health, etc. After the Drew case, he (the person, not the dog) is prosecutable.
This is crazy.
kp, thank you. Wrong is wrong and I don’t care how they go about prosecuting her, I want her to pay a concrete price. She should do time - not life, but yes, time. Seeing as that may not happen, I have to believe that karma will catch up with her. She was technically the adult: I see her as being the most culpable. I feel pity and disgust for her daughter. As a friend of mine often said, “God hate ugly”. That pretty much says it all. You think your life sucks now, Lori? Just wait. It’s coming.
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