Evidently the jury that convicted Lori Drew believes so.  But perhaps U.S. District Judge George H. Wu thinks differently?

A little background:  The Feds accused Lori Drew of harassing a 13 year old girl (her daughter’s rival) through MySpace.   The 13 year old, Megan Meier, hung herself after the fictitious "Josh Evans" (aka Lori Drew or her daughter and her daughter’s friends) sent a message to Meier which read in part “"The world would be a better place without you." 

The case’s crux rested on the MySpace Terms of Service.  Did Lori Drew intentionally violate MySpace’s ToS, and if so, was the violation to further a criminal or tortious act—the intentional infliction of emotional distress?

The jury found Drew guilty of three misdemeanor counts of intentionally violating MySpace’s ToS.  What’s amazing is that a jury found a FEDERAL CRIME in violating MySpace’s Terms of Service.  The jury had some sense though and did not convict Drew of felonies charges—the real meat in the Fed’s case.  The Jury hung on the fourth count, conspiracy.

The plot thickens in that Drew’s attorney’s file a Rule 29 motion asking the Judge to dismiss the case for lack of evidence.  The Judge has yet to rule on that motion, a copy of which can be found here.  I’m sure the judge failed to rule on the motion in hopes that the jury would acquit Drew, rendering a ruling moot.  That, however, is not going to happen.  It’s time for the Honorable George H. Wu to step up and make some hard decisions.

If Judge Wu let’s the verdict stand, be careful the next time you post anything fake on just about any commercial website—it’s a federal crime.