TPile

Judge Reveals Long Witness List in Lori Drew Trial

LOS ANGELES — More than a dozen witnesses are scheduled to testify in the trial of a woman accused of making unauthorized use of MySpace to cause emotional distress to a 13-year-old girl, who then committed suicide.

Prosecution witnesses in the trial of 49-year-old Lori Drew of O’Fallon, Missouri, include:

Ron and Tina Meier, Drew’s former neighbors and the parents of Megan Meier, who committed suicide

Ashley Grills, a former employee of Drew’s who helped set up the phony MySpace account that was used to harass Meier. Grills has pointed the finger at Drew as the mastermind of the hoax

Jessica Mulford, believed to be a neighborhood teen who sent one of the messages to Meier through the MySpace account

Michele Mulford, Jessica’s mother, who told authorities that Drew called her daughter after learning of Megan Meier’s suicide and told her to "keep her mouth shut" about their activity and to stay off of MySpace.

The list, which Judge Wu read to prospective jurors Tuesday, includes more than half a dozen other witnesses. Presumed to be among them are Drew’s hairdresser, to whom she reportedly discussed the hoax as it was occurring, and a deputy sheriff who spoke with Drew after Meier’s suicide. The latter is expected to testify that Drew admitted to starting the MySpace account, among other things.

It may be Thursday before the first witnesses are called. The trial is expected to last five days, but has already experienced at least a half a day of delay after questionnaires filled out by prospective jurors Tuesday revealed strong biases against the defendant.

In response, U.S. District Judge George Wu gave the defense an
additional hour to review the juror responses and called in
a second pool of 30 more prospective jurors to fill out the questionnaire, adding to the initial 75.

Wu ruled last week that the jury could hear evidence of Meier’s
suicide in considering Drew’s guilt or innocence, saying it was
unlikely that jurors would not have already heard about the case, which
made national headlines late last year.

But as the judge questioned the jury pool Tuesday, it became clear
that some of them weren’t familiar with the case prior to stepping into
the Los Angeles federal courtroom this week. When asked to describe
what they’d heard about the case, their responses indicated only
information that had been read to them from the indictment that morning.

Others, however, showed strong biases in answering the written
questionnaire, which included this question: "You will hear evidence
in the case about the suicide of a 13-year-old girl. Can you put aside
any sympathy, pity or sadness you may feel as a result of this
evidence, and fairly and objectively evaluate it, along with the other
evidence in this case?"

Several of the jurors admitted on the form that they could not put
aside feelings of sympathy and indicated they might have a strong bias
against the defendant. But when Judge Wu asked them to elaborate, they
reversed themselves and said they felt they could be impartial.

Judge Wu’s questioning of the jury pool highlighted the challenge of
finding a neutral jury in a case that touches so many emotional and
cultural nerves.

One woman indicated a bias based on personal history. Her daughter’s
best friend had committed suicide and her husband’s nephew was accused
of harassing someone through MySpace. She said, however, that she
thought she could approach Drew’s case objectively.

Another woman told Wu, "I heard so many bad things about the internet
and MySpace … I see in the news all the time how dangerous it is."

A young male prospective juror said a female friend had been the victim
of cyberbullying in high school. He also said he worked with youth
groups through his church and had strong feelings about how people use
the internet maliciously, and about people who abuse children. His
answers seemed to betray a desire to stay off the jury. But then he, too,
said he felt he could be impartial.

Wu repeatedly reminded the jurors throughout Tuesday that Drew was
not being charged with causing Meier’s suicide but with violating the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by breaking MySpace’s terms of service.

Drew is accused of conspiring with two others in creating and
maintaining a MySpace profile for a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named
"Josh Evans" in September 2006. The Evans account was used to flirt
with and befriend 13-year-old Megan Meier, who’d had a falling-out with
Drew’s daughter. "Evans" ultimately turned on Meier, and told the girl
that the world would be a better place without her. Meier then hanged
herself in her bedroom. Drew is charged with unauthorized computer access for
allegedly violating MySpace’s terms of service with the intent of
inflicting emotional distress.

The case against Drew hinges on a novel interpretation of the federal
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — commonly known as an anti-hacking statute. MySpace’s user agreement requires
registrants, among other things, to provide factual information about
themselves; to refrain from soliciting personal information from
minors; and forbids members from using information obtained from
MySpace services to harass or harm other people. By allegedly violating
that click-to-agree contract, Drew committed the same crime as any
hacker who obtains unauthorized access to a computer, prosecutors maintain.

To make that charge stick, prosecutors must convince jurors that Drew’s alleged terms-of-service violation was done primarily for the purpose of committing a tortious act. In this case, the
prosecutors say the tortious act was Drew’s alleged intentional infliction of
emotional distress, which makes Megan Meier’s suicide relevant in
reaching a verdict, they argue.

The use of the anti-hacking law to charge Drew was criticized by
experts, who said it set a dangerous precedent that could potentially
make a felon out of anyone who violated the terms of service of any
website — a prospect that is particularly troubling, they said, because
terms-of-service agreements sometimes contain onerous provisions, are
often arbitrarily and unilaterally changed by companies, and are rarely
read by users.

The trial is expected to hinge on whether Drew was aware that she was
breaking the MySpace terms of service in setting up the fake account,
and whether Drew intended to cause emotional distress to Meier.

Image: Lori Drew walks to federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Ric Francis/AP

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