Drew, 50, was supposed to be sentenced yesterday after being convicted in November of three misdemeanor charges for unauthorized computer access. She faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $300,000 fine, but probation authorities recently recommended probation and a $5,000 fine.

After authorities in Drew's home state of Missouri declined to charge her in connection to 13-year-old Megan Meier's suicide, prosecutors in Los Angeles, where MySpace is based, charged Drew using the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a federal anti-hacking statute. The prosecution argued that Drew's violation of MySpace's terms of service when she created a fake profile to harass Meier was the legal equivalent of computer hacking, but U.S. District Judge George Wu said the prosecution's argument was "troublesome," according to the Los Angeles Times. "Using this particular statute in this particular situation is so weird," said Wu.

In an hour long discussion yesterday, Wu questioned Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause on the law used to prosecute Drew, reports Wired. "Is a misdemeanor committed by the conduct which is done every single day by millions and millions of people?" asked Wu, "If these people do read [the "terms of service"] and still say they're 40 when they are 45, is that a misdemeanor?"

Krause responded that Drew committed a crime by signing up for the fake MySpace account with the intent to harm Meier, and that she knew her actions were illegal because she deleted the account shortly after the girl's suicide. After the jury verdict in November, the defense sought a directed acquittal on grounds that the defense did not prove their case. Judges usually quickly overrule such motions, but Wu has delayed his ruling for more than five months. Now he has further postponed the sentencing because he wants to reconsider Drew's punishment and the defense motion to dismiss the entire case.

Megan Meier's parents both spoke at the hearing. Wu did not look at Ron Meier during the first part of his statement, and only turned to him when his voice broke as he said, "I am no longer married to Megan's mom... We are both financially ruined, and I have gone through a living hell."

Tina Meier began her statement by repeating some details she mentioned during the trial itself; Wu interrupted her, saying she had already testified about those facts. Ms. Meier, who has been campaigning against cyberbullying across the country since her daughter's death, closed her statement by saying, "This is not just about Megan Meier," and that Lori Drew needs to be punished in order to "make a stand now for all the people who go through this."

MySpace Hoax Sentencing Delayed [The Los Angeles Times]
Judge Postpones Lori Drew Sentencing, Weighs Dismissal [Wired]

Earlier: Crime & Punishment
Breaking
MySpace Trial Jurors Wanted A Harsher Sentence For Lori Drew
Megan Meier's Mother Talks To Today About MySpace Verdict

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As previously mentioned, Drew was found guilty of computer fraud, but the conspiracy charges brought against her were dropped. Today Judge George Wu will hear arguments to set aside the verdicts against Lori Drew. In his dismissal motion, defense attorney Dean Steward wrote: “Put simply, the question is this: Is it a federal crime to violate a Web site term of service? The correct answer should be a resounding no.” Drew currently faces up to three years in prision and a $300,000 fine. [AP & Wired]

The passionate response of the jury has not been felt by legal experts, many of whom believe the decision against Drew sets a dangerous precedent. According to Groklaw's Pamela Jones (via Wired), because Drew was convicted of violating the oft-ignored terms of service, "I don't think it's overstating it a bit to say that unless this case is overturned, it is time to get off the internet completely, because it will have become too risky to use a computer. At a minimum, I'd feel I'd need to avoid signing up for membership at any website, particularly MySpace." Some federal law experts expect the ruling in the case to be overturned when it comes up in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, since they believe the interpretation of the law is a stretch.

But apparently the jurors for the case were not upset by the new interpretation of the decades-old Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to include violations of terms of service. "The thing that really bothered me was that (Drew's) attorney kept claiming that nobody reads the terms of service," Kunasz tells Wired. "I always read the terms of service. . . . If you choose to be lazy and not go though that entire agreement or contract of agreement then absolutely you should be held liable." Lori Drew has clearly been convicted in the court of public (and jury) opinion — but does her case hold up when held to emotion-free scrutiny?

Jurors Wanted To Convict Lori Drew Of Felonies But Were Stymied By Prosecutors [Wired]
Can Lori Drew Verdict Survive The 9th Circuit Court? [Wired]

Earlier: Megan Meier's Mother Talks To Today About MySpace Verdict
Lori Drew Verdict
MySpace Trial, Day 1: Megan Meier's Last Words
MySpace Trial, Day 2: Lori Drew Says, "It's Not Like I Pulled The Trigger"
MySpace Trial, Day 3: Lori Drew's Daughter Speaks
MySpace Trial, Day 4: Sarah Drew Says Megan "Was My Best Friend"

• Megan allegedly called Sarah an "ugly lesbian," which is what prompted Lori Drew and her business assistant, Ashley Grills, to create the fake MySpace account in the first place.
• According to People:
  

  Drew's now 16-year-old daughter Sarah testified Monday that, on Oct. 16, she was with Grills and, "I told her not to send that last message" to Megan that said that the world would be a better place without her.
  "Did Ashley send that last message?" O'Brien asked.
  "Yes," Drew said as she wept.
  Two of the six female jurors dabbed at their eyes.
  "She was my best friend," the defendant's daughter tearfully recalled.

• Defense attorney Dean Steward said in his closing statements that Drew can not be guilty of a conspiracy because a conspiracy implies intent. Drew didn't even read the MySpace terms of use, so she could not have intentionally violated them. "Nobody reads these things, nobody," he said. "... How can you violate something when you haven't even read it? End of case. The case is over."
• More from Steward: "If you hadn't heard the indictment read to you, you'd think this was a homicide case…And it's not a homicide case. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a computer case, and that's what you need to decide."
• In addition, he added that there was no cyberbullying in this case because "Megan dished it out the same way that she got it," and Steward also said, "[Ashley] Grills, bless her heart, is pathetic."
• The prosecution focused on the tragedy of the case in order to sway jurors. According to the AP, "Lori Drew decided to humiliate a child," U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said. "The only way she could harm this pretty little girl was with a computer. She chose to use a computer to hurt a little girl, and for four weeks she enjoyed it."
• "The tragedy in this case is not just Megan Meier's suicide," U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said in his closing arguments to jurors, Reuters reports. "It's the fact that it was so preventable. If, as a 47-year-old woman Lori Drew was so upset that Megan Meier had called her daughter ugly or a lesbian, she could have gone over and talked to her mom and we wouldn't be here."

Judge Postpones Ruling On Lori Drew MySpace Trial [Wired]
Jury Gets Case Of MySpace Hoax Tied To Suicide [AP via MSNBC]
Cyber-Bullying Suicide Case Goes to Jury [People]
Jury To Deliberate In MySpace Suicide Case [Reuters]
Lori Drew Case Goes To Jury [Wired]

Earlier: MySpace Trial, Day 1: Megan Meier's Last Words
MySpace Trial, Day 2: Lori Drew Says, "It's Not Like I Pulled The Trigger"
MySpace Trial, Day 3: Lori Drew's Daughter Speaks

• When Lori Drew helped set up the fake MySpace account because Megan had allegedly been mean to her daughter Sarah, she bragged to her hairdresser Christina Chu about it. Chu was so upset over Drew's callousness she had to retreat to the back of the salon.
• "After Meier's death, on the day of her wake, Drew showed up again to have her hair done. Chu asked Drew why she was going to the wake, given her role in the cyberbullying. Drew's response, Chu said, was, 'It's not like I pulled the trigger,'" Wired reports.
• In his cross-examination of Tina Meier, Drew's lawyer pummeled her on Megan's past internet behavior. According to Wired, before the Meiers' started monitoring Megan's internet usage closely, "Megan created a MySpace profile as an 18-year-old woman, and swapped sexually-charged banter with other users, he said, citing notes he'd obtained from Megan's psychologist." The lawyer pointed out that Megan had also violated MySpace's terms of service at one point by lying about her age.
• Drew's lawyer also pointed out that Megan was taking a trio of antidepressants when she died. "One of them, the antidepressant citalopram, has a reported side affect of contributing to suicidal behavior in children and adolescents suffering from depression, he noted."
• Ashley Grills, the then-18-year-old who was Lori Drew's assistant, said that the creation of the MySpace account was initially her idea, but that Lori Drew agreed and "thought it was funny," the L.A. Times notes.
• Grills said that Lori Drew was present when they agreed to the terms of service, but neither woman read them.
• From the L.A. Times:
  

  Grills testified that she, Drew and Drew's daughter were trying to figure out a way "to expose Megan" for rumors she'd allegedly been spreading about Sarah…She said Drew also helped formulate messages that were sent to Megan and at one point suggested that they have 'Josh' arrange a meeting with Megan at a local mall at which Sarah and her friends would 'pop out' and tease Megan.

• This part also hurts the case of MySpace fraud against Drew: the final contact between Megan and "Josh" took place on AOL Instant Messenger, according to testimony by Grills.
• Grills also testified that she had no idea that Megan had had emotional problems in the past, until Drew told her shortly after Megan's death, "We could have pushed her overboard because she was suicidal and depressed.'"
• When the Drew family and Grills got word that Megan had killed herself, they got off the internet and turned on the TV. Shortly thereafter, Wired reports, "Curt Drew started yelling at them to get rid of the MySpace account. When asked what Lori Drew did at that moment, Grills said at first she sat quietly and was consoling her daughter, then she, too, started yelling at them to delete the account and told them not to say anything to anyone."

Earlier: MySpace Trial, Day 1: Megan Meier's Last Words
Megan Meier's MySpace Hoax Tormenter: "I Just Wanted It To End"

• In his opening statement, prosecuting U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said that Lori Drew created the fake persona of Josh Evans to find out whether Megan was spreading rumors about Drew's daughter, Sarah, CBS News reports.
• O'Brien says Drew "fully intended to hurt and prey on Megan's psyche," and added thatshe "hatched a plot to prey on the psyche" of a 13-year-old she knew was "vulnerable, suicidal and boy crazy."
• "One of her plans was to print out the conversations and take it to Megan's school and let people make fun of this depressed 13-year-old girl," O'Brien also said.
• Megan's mom, Tina Meier took the stand. Reports CBS:
  

  Meier said after a name-calling exchange between Megan, "Josh," and two other girls in October 2006, she told a sobbing Megan, who was being treated for attention deficit disorder and depression, that she wasn't supposed to be online and shouldn't have gotten into the argument. "The last words she said to me were 'You are supposed to be my mom, you are supposed to be on my side,"' Meier said as she tried to hold back tears.

• According to the L.A. Times this was the final exchange between "Josh" and Megan. Josh: "The world would be a better place without you. Have a shitty rest of your life." Megan: "You are the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over."
• Lori Drew's attorney claims she "shut down the profile when she learned that Meier was becoming romantically interested and hinting that she wanted to meet Josh Evans," Reuters reports.
• Lori has pleaded not guilty to "one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing computers without authorization. Each count carries a potential sentence of five years in prison," says CBS News.
• From the L.A. Times: "Lori Drew, dressed in a sweater and looking every bit the Midwestern mom, sat expressionless at the defense table during much of the proceedings."

Dead Teen's Mom Testifies In MySpace Trial [CBS News]
Woman Posed As Teen Online In Suicide Case: Attorney [Reuters]
Jurors Told Of Girl's Suicide At MySpace Trial [LAT]

Earlier: Are The Parents Who Myspace Tormented Megan Meier Ready To Atone? Um…
Feds Take On Megan Meier Case, Hope To Charge Evil Mom With Crime