The official word is out from St. Charles County. No criminal charges will be filed in the case of an Internet hoax (known as the MySpace Suicide) that ended in Megan Meier's suicide in a St. Louis suburb last year, the local prosecutor said yesterday.
The prosecuting attorney for St. Charles County, Jack Banas (pictured left), said he did not find enough evidence to charge Lori Drew with harassment, stalking or child endangerment.
According to the St. Charles Journal, prosecutor Jack Banas said in a press conference today that the intent of Drew and others who created the fake MySpace account and who verbally attacked Meier online did not cross a threshold into criminal activity based on state laws that govern harassment and child endangerment
The hoax centered on a MySpace profile that appeared to belong to a boy named Josh Evans who contacted the girl, Megan Meier, in September 2006 when she was 13. After a monthlong flirtation, Josh’s e-mail suddenly turned nasty, and he and Megan quarreled online. Megan hanged herself on Oct. 16, 2006, the day after she received a message from Josh saying, “I don’t like the way you treat your friends, and I don’t know if I want to be friends with you.”
Lori Drew, an adult neighbor who lives four houses from the Meier family, said in a police report that she created the Josh Evans character to gain Megan’s trust and learn what Megan thought of Ms. Drew’s daughter, a former friend of Megan’s.
“The purpose was never to cause her emotional harassment,” Mr. Banas said at a news conference.
The Meier family expressed outrage about the decision. “I’m furious and heartbroken,” said Ron Meier, Megan’s father. Ms. Drew and her husband, Curt Drew, did not return calls seeking comment.
An interesting development is that a neighborhood girl is now being focused on as the main creator of the messages that may have sent Megan Meier over the edge.
Banas said that the messages between "Josh" and Megan were mostly benign until an Oct. 15, 2006, message that was sent from a different girl who had access to the Josh account, one who lived across the street from the Drews.
Banas said on Monday that most of the messages sent to Megan as Josh over six weeks were written by Ashley Grills, then 18, of O’Fallon, a temporary employee of Lori Drew’s business, Drew Advantage. Grills often worked from the Drews’ home
Banas said it was Grills who typed what is believed to be the final message Megan saw and that it was Grills who was at the computer — in the Drews’ home — typing the messages, as Josh, to Megan during the afternoon before Megan killed herself. Banas said the Drews’ daughter, then 13, was with Grills at the time.
Banas said he was unable to interview Grills, now 19, because she has been under psychiatric care as a result of her involvement in Megan’s death. He said he saw no need to interview her at a later date.
4 Comments:
How convenient to pass the buck onto “unnamed” teenagers, aka minors. You just knew when the Drews finally hired a lawyer adept in playing America’s favorite pastime, i.e. the Spin Game, that there was going to be some concerted effort to pass the buck and shift blame elsewhere. Classic America 2007.
However, the initial police report filed by Lori Drew will stand in perpetuity as testament to her duplicitousness and in sharp contrast to the web of spin currently being woven by her lawyer. Don’t be fooled.
Although i'm pissed about this, I am more than pleased to learn that she is being harrased by her neighborhood and she feel like her family and house is now in danger. She may of gotten away with it legally but she is f*cked for life. People will never forget about this. It's called KARMA, b*tch! Keep up the good work neighbors!!!!
It's hard to imagine Lori Drew ever living down this ordeal. To do some justice to the situation, when the laws are passed to prevent this from happening again they should be called the "Lori Drew Cyberbully" law so her name if forever linked to the crime.
While the Megan Meier case seems outrageous and unique, it isn’t unique. Hundreds of cases of egregious and heinous acts go on every day with the same excuses out of our lawmakers.
One such other case....The case of Nikki Catsouras, is a classic example of disgusting, hateful activity against innocent victims, while our lawmakers excuse themselves from enacting laws to prevent this.
The excuse lawmakers use to let themselves off the hook stem from the growth of the Internet and how fast it's changing. This is a sham.
Chat rooms, message boards, instant messengers and email have been in existence for far over a decade now. While the software used to transmit messages changes slightly, the basic essence of using the Internet to send a message is largely the same. Is a decade or two long enough to establish some basic decency laws in regards to Internet usage?
I’ve posted the Nikki Catsouras story along with many details about the Megan Meier case so the inactivity out of our lawmakers towards these types of cases can be clearly seen.
Those who are interested in learning about cases like Megan’s and Nikki’s case are encouraged to drop by and comment on them if you like. I have a couple of polls set up as well. Danny Vice would like to hear your point of view.
Public awareness of the problem and discussions about possible solutions are the best way to pressure elected officials into action instead of excuse making.
I invite you to come by and share your opinion.
Danny Vice
http://weeklyvice.blogspot.com
Post a Comment