Lori Drew MySpace Trial: Will There Be Justice For Megan?

Megan Meier's Mom, Tina Meier

There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court. ~Clarence Darrow, 1936

We wondered, will there finally be "justice" for Megan Meier in a Los Angeles Federal courthouse and the Lori Drew MySpace trial, as prosecutors rested their case Friday.

It was November of last year that DBKP first came across the story of Megan, of a cruel prank perpetrated upon her via the internet social site, MySpace.com., and its tragic aftermath.



According to the Los Angeles Times, Drew is accused of cyberbullying and setting up of a fake MySpace account in order to "deal" with Megan, a former friend of Drew's daughter, Sarah. A "plan" that was concocted by Drew, Drew's daughter, and an employee of Drew's, 18-yr-old Ashley Grills. A plan, that according to Lori Drew, was both "clever" and "funny", a plan that may have a hand in Megan's suicide.

It's been two years since the details of what actually occurred in the quiet town of Dardenne Prairie, located just west of St. Louis, have begun to emerge in the case against Lori Drew.





Dardenne Prairie is a short drive west of St. Louis on Interstate 70, across the multiple lane bridge built of steel and the broad expanse of the dark green waters of the Missouri river, to the smaller bedroom communities in St. Charles County. It's also the place where Megan Meier and Lori Drew's story riveted the nation.

Welcome to the City of Dardenne Prairie, the heart of the golden triangle in St. Charles County. Small and quaint, Dardenne Prairie maintains a rural flavor in a suburban setting. If you are considering moving your family or business to the St. Charles County area, you’ll find our City a great place to be. Our City boasts acres and acres of natural parks, beautiful residences, several thriving business plazas and an industrial park. With a new Downtown area, private high school and City Hall in the works, Dardenne Prairie is a wonderful place to live, work and play.

Megan Meier grew up in Dardenne Prairie, where subdivisions and strip malls dot the low rolling hills of lush green landscape and quiet, tree-lined streets just off the busy I-70 corridor that stretches from Baltimore, Md., to Cove Fort, Utah. The subdivisions come in different sizes, shapes, and status. Some come with covenants: rules and regulations for a fee, such as whether homeowners can or cannot put up a fence, or the "proper" color to paint a house. Some have their own pools and clubhouses, while others, only a few choices in floor plans and the style of houses built. It was in one these subdivisions, located in Dardenne Prairie, that Megan Meier grew up and then eventually took her own life just shy of her 14th birthday by hanging herself in her bedroom closet.

It was shortly after the start of a new school year and a new school when Megan asked her parents, Tina and Ron Meier, permission to set up another MySpace.com account. MySpace.com is a popular social internet site for teens, even though the site requires its members be 14 years of age. This wasn't the first time Megan had an account on the social site: Megan's Mom, Tina, had previously caught Megan and Sarah Drew with a MySpace page. The two had posted a photo of a "good looking" girl in order to "meet boys online". Megan's mom shut down the account. When Megan asked her parents for a new MySpace account, where she'd "be herself", her parents agreed, after all it was only a matter of a few months before Megan turned 14, and "all the other fifth grade kids were doing it", plus there'd be strict supervision by her parents: such as when she could get online and have access, while Ron and Tina would be the one who logged in.


Megan had attended Fort Zumwalt public schools before she began classes at her new school, Immaculate Conception, in Dardenne Prairie. She no longer attended the same school as Sarah. A "heavy-set" girl, Megan had dropped 20 pounds, and loved such activities as swimming, boating, fishing, dogs, and rap music. She also battled depression and thoughts of suicide since 3rd grade when she began seeing a therapist. You see, Megan had a problem with self-esteem. She thought she "wasn't pretty enough".

Megan had been off and on-again "best friends" with Sarah Drew. Sarah was the same age, and lived a few doors down. The same applied for Megan's family and the Drew's: both Tina Meier and Sarah Drew's families socialised together as they raised their families in the Midwest atmosphere of achieving the American dream.

Until the trial Sarah Drew had been shielded by the press, so there's no information as to the circumstances that ended the friendship between Megan and Sarah. One could surmise the relationship consisted of growing up together in surburia: of trips to Mid Rivers Mall and the movies, of riding the bus to school and sleep-overs at each other's houses. Of sharing confidences and of the trials and tribulations of being a preteen. One can also imagine the shifting and nefarious patterns of pre-teen relationships: of partnerships and groups which form and then dissolve faster than the super-charged thunderstorms that occasionally contain hail and tornadoes. Of the "coldness" between two "best" friends after a spat, that lasted as long as the ice storms that would cover the streets, electrical wires, and limbs of trees in winter. It was after one such "spat" that the plan to "mess" with Megan emerged. A plan, which eventually may have had a partial hand in Megan's death.

Megan had a hard time accepting who she was and felt she wasn't "pretty enough". At the time of Megan's death, she had been working on losing weight, changing schools, making new friends, and a new MySpace page on the internet and she was no longer friends with Sarah Drew.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! Look at him!" Tina Meier recalls her daughter saying.

Josh had contacted Megan Meier through her MySpace page and wanted to be added as a friend.Yes, he's cute, Tina Meier told her daughter. "Do you know who he is?"

"No, but look at him! He's hot! Please, please, can I add him?"

Mom said yes. And for six weeks Megan and Josh - under Tina's watchful eye - became acquainted in the virtual world of MySpace.

It was soon after Megan set up her MySpace account that she was "contacted" by a boy named Josh, which some claim was the catalyst which eventually drove Megan to take her own life.

Part of the reason for Megan's rosy outlook was Josh, Tina says. After school, Megan would rush to the computer.

"Megan had a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem," Tina says. "And now she finally had a boy who she thought really thought she was pretty."

Josh "told" Megan that he was "home-schooled". Megan's Mom, Tina, said it seemed "odd" that Josh never gave Megan his phone number. Josh claimed he lived the same area as Megan.

It was Sunday, October 15, 2006, that Megan's "relationship" with Josh changed. Before, he had shown an avid interest in being "friends" with Megan, on MySpace, a new Josh emerged:


Continue reading: Lori Drew MySpace Trial: Will There Be Justice For Megan? -pg 2

Megan Meier Myspace Suicide: Subpoenas Heat up Cyber Battle Once Again

The Megan Meier MySpace Suicide story is heating back up again.

This time, it's fueled by subpoenas issued by a Los Angeles grand jury in the case and an appearance on Dr. Phil by Tina Meier and others.

The Megan Meier story, as anyone who's covered it knows, has had more twists and turns than a TV movie.

For a list of over 40 stories and videos by DBKP on the story since it broke on the Internet, see the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Library. It begins with the first retelling of the original story by Steve Pokin, of the Suburban Journals until present day.

It follows the story of Megan Meier, her parents, Ron and Tina Meier, their neighbor, Lori Drew, the statements by Drew and her attorney, Jim Briscoe and others.

It also details the creation of the "Megan Had it Coming" blog, supposedly a creation of Drew, but in reality, the clever device of an Internet "troll".

It's last story was one chronicling the 'Increasing Victimization of Lori Drew' in the Mainstream Media.

NOT included is DBKP's last conversation with Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe. That story was slated to go out with some other updates later this week.

Current events have caught up with us, however. That article will be coming out later today now.

Back to the subpoenas. From the LA Times:

In a novel approach, prosecutors are looking at charging a woman who posed as a boy and sent cruel messages to teen with defrauding MySpace.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has begun issuing subpoenas in the case of a Missouri teenager who hanged herself after being rejected by the person she thought was a 16-year-old boy she met on MySpace, sources told The Times.

The case set off a national furor when it was revealed that the "boyfriend" was really a neighbor who was the mother of one of the girl's former friends.

Local and federal authorities in Missouri looked into the circumstances surrounding 13-year-old Megan Meier's 2006 death in the town of Dardenne Prairie, an upper-middle-class enclave of about 7,400 people, located northwest of St. Louis.

But after months of investigation, no charges were filed against Lori Drew for her alleged role in the hoax. Prosecutors in Missouri said they were unable to find a statute under which to pursue a criminal case.

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, however, are exploring the possibility of charging Drew with defrauding the MySpace social networking website by allegedly creating the false account, according to the sources, who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The sources said prosecutors are looking at federal wire fraud and cyber fraud statutes as they consider the case. Prosecutors believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace is headquartered in Beverly Hills, the sources said.

It's still unclear who created the fictitious account. In a police report, Drew told authorities she, with the aid of a temporary employee, "instigated and monitored" a fake profile prior to Megan's suicide, "for the sole purpose of communicating" with the girl and to see what the girl was saying about Drew's daughter.

DBKP's Trench Reynolds had this to say.

Authorities in Missouri could not find anything to charge Lori Drew with but the U.S. prosecutors in L.A. have taken a different approach. They’re thinking of charging Lori Drew with fraud for creating the fake MySpace. And why is this happening in L.A. you ask.

The prosecutors believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace — the would-be victim — is based in Beverly Hills, the sources said.

The subpoenas were issued to MySpace and what the article says are “witnesses in the case.”

Here’s hoping that there can be some modicum of justice for Megan Meier.

Commenting on the Dr. Phil aspect, blogger Danny Vice had this to offer.

I've watched many news interviews on this case and at this point I'd have to say Dr. Phil really did the best job of covering the issues and legal dynamics of the case in comparison to any news report I've seen on this case to date.

The show certainly gained unprecedented access into the Meier's home, where the show was able to capture quite a bit of footage of the Meier home, the neighborhood and a fresh glimpse of the Drew family's home. (The camera man must have had his moxy on that day)

As was previously stated, a much more comprehensive article on the Megan Meier developments will appear later this afternoon.

We're waiting on new comments from Lori Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, as well as some comments from other sources.

As always with anything involving this case, it should prove interesting.

Megan Meier MySpace DBKP Suicide Library A complete listing of over 40 DBKP articles and videos on the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide story.

by Mondoreb
[image: stock]
Sources:
* Federal Grand Jury issues Subpoenas in Megan Meier Case
* The Weekly Vice
* Megan Meier UPDATE: The Case Fires Back Up as Subpoenas are Issued
* LA Grand Jury Issues Subpoenas in Web Suicide Case
* Was the Cyber Hoax a Case of Freedom of Speech or Harassment?
* It's Cyber Bullying to the 10th Degree





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Kids Online: Ten Tips For Parents

Ten Tips For Keeping Your Child Safe Online

1. Be a parent, not a pal.

2. Explain to your child that someone online may not be whom they seem.

3. Warn your kids to never give out give personal info such as addresses, phone numbers, where they go to school, and even photos unless the site is certified being monitored or it's their friends from school.

4. Know what your kid is doing online. What sites have they joined?

5. Don’t be afraid to check their surf history.

6. If your kid has “friends” online, you the parent are the one in charge of checking out the veracity of the “friends.”

7. Let your kid know they can come to you when they have a problem online, that you're there to help, be it dealing with a bully, predator or any other problem.

8. Always stay calm no matter how serious you believe the issue to be. Otherwise your child may decide to not come to back to you for further help.

9. Make sure that your PC has a child monitor site such as WebWatcher.

10. Make them aware of precautionary tales such as 13-year-old Megan Meier.

Always remember, no matter how many precautions you have taken to keep your child safe online it will never be 100% foolproof. When a problem arises hopefully you've educated your child to come to you for help, that together you can work together to combat the situation.

A safe child is an informed parent and an informed child.

A safe child is one whose parent is not a pal.

By LBG
Image [www.pcao.pima.gov]



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Megan Meiers' Legacy: Cyberbully Laws To Be Enacted

Thirteen-year-old Megan Meier's suicide was tragic but Megan's legacy may help to save others from the new scourge of cyberbullying.[1]

St. Louis is poised to join the growing list of cities in the region to make Internet bullying a crime.

The city’s Board of Aldermen has on its agenda this morning a proposed ordinance “prohibiting any person from harassment by means of the Internet or other electronic communications.”

The legislation is an apparent response to the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, who hung herself last year after receiving cruel messages on the Internet.

When Megan's story hit the papers and internet the reaction was one of outrage and sorrow. Outrage over the revelation that Megan was tortured by a form of "cyber-bullying". Sorrow that a young girl chose to end her life.

There are different forms of cyberbullying.

Email

Cyber-bullies can and do use e-mail to send harassing and threatening messages to the targets of their hatred and loathing. Those who are bullied often ask themselves "What have I done to deserve this?" and the usual answer is that they have not done anything to deserve such awful messages.

It is often possible to trace which e-mail account the message was sent from, however, it is almost impossible to prove who actually used this e-mail account to send the offending messages. Messages sent from accounts with local/regional Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be more easily traced and acted upon than messages sent from large Web-based e-mail accounts such as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail etc. [2]

Instant Messaging

Cyberbullies can and do use IM to send harassing and threatening messages to the targets of their hatred and loathing. IM has become a very large part of the social lives of our young people. The relationships they form with others in school and in other facets of their lives are extended and maintained through IM-ing. The conversations and conflicts that arise online often give rise to behaviours that are acted out in person during school or at the local shopping mall. [2]

Chat Rooms

The "bash board" is the nickname for an online bulletin board, or virtual chat room, where teenagers can go to anonymously and write anything they want, true or false, creating or adding mean-spirited postings for the world to see.

People are not always who they appear to be or who they say they are in chat rooms. Chat rooms can be places where some strangers may try to "befriend" others, especially young people. They may attempt to lure them into meeting in person. Young people should NEVER arrange to meet someone in person whom they have been in contact with online.

Young kids shouldn't be in chat room unless a trusted and responsible parent or guardian is sitting with them at the computer. Older kids should be only in moderated chat rooms and even moderated chat rooms can lead to compromising, embarrassing and harassing situations. Kids shouldn't exchange e-mail with someone from a chat room or arrange to meet someone from a chat room without a parent or guardian present. [2]

Text Messaging

Short for Short Message Service Similar to paging, SMS is a service for sending short text messages to mobile phones. (Webopedia: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SMS.html ).

SMS: The Short Message Service (SMS) is the ability to send and receive text messages to and from mobile telephones. The text can comprise of words or numbers or an alphanumeric combination. SMS was created when it was incorporated into the Global System for Mobiles (GSM) digital mobile phone standard. A single short message can be up to 160 characters of text in length using default GSM alphabet coding, and 70 characters when UCS2 international character coding is used.

EMS: -Enhanced Messaging Service (text messaging with more bells and whistles)

MMS -Multimedia Messaging Service, (MMS) is the ability to send messages comprising a combination of text, sounds, images and video to MMS capable handsets.

PDAs: PDAs stand for Personal Digital Assistants. You might recognize these better if we used names like Palm Pilot, RIM Blackberry, Handspring Visor / Treo, Sony Clie, iPaq, Pocket PC etc. Most of these are not only personal information organizers, they can now connect to the Internet, receive and send e-mail and browse the World Wide Web. [2]

Web Sites

Cyberbullies can create Web sites that mock, torment and harass others. If these are published on a local/regional Internet Service Provider (ISP), you should copy and print out these Web sites and then contact the ISP. Give them a chance to respond and address the situtation. For most responsible IPSs in Canada, this is likely a violation of the Terms of Use or Acceptable Use Policies (AUP). Better ISPs will post a copy of their AUP in an easily accessible place as well as appropriate contact information where you can report any such abusive situations with an e-mail account such as abuse@isp.ca (example).[2]

Megan's hometown just recently passed an anti-cyber-bullying law:

Since the circumstances surrounding her death became public earlier this month, officials in both Dardenne Prairie and Florissant have approved laws against Net harassment.

The Meiers have accused neighbor Lori Drew, her 13-year-old daughter and Drew's employee, Ashley Grills, 18, of creating a fictitious MySpace.com profile to send messages to Megan. [1]

Bullying has always existed. The internet has made it easier for someone to harass others online by the ability to post anonymously. Offline the "bully" might be too afraid to act for fear of being caught or engage in a face to face confrontation. So in essence the anonymity of the internet offers the coward an avenue that wasn't available in the past.

These new laws give the victim of a cyberbully the avenue to press charges. Before Megan this avenue wasn't available. The victim was left to deal with the cyber-bully on their own. Cyber-bullies operated without fear of prosecution. Those days seem to be coming to end as hopefully more communities enact cyber harassment laws.

Megan's death was tragic but the instantaneous outrage over Megan's story was the catalyst needed to enact cyberbullying laws. Megan's legacy may save others from the vicious type of harassment Megan suffered. For this we owe Megan our thanks.

By LBG
Source - 1 - MySpace Cruel Prank Leads To Teen’s Suicide
Source - 2 - Cyberbullying.org
Image [Sangrea.net]




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