LOS ANGELES – A federal judge on Thursday overturned guilty verdicts against Lori Drew, issuing a directed acquittal on three misdemeanor charges.

Drew, 50, was accused of participating in a cyberbullying scheme against 13-year-old Megan Meier who later committed suicide. The case against Drew hinged on the government’s novel argument that violating MySpace’s terms of service was the legal equivalent of computer hacking. But U.S. District Judge George Wu found the premise troubling.

"It basically leaves it up to a website owner to determine what is a crime," said Wu on Thursday, echoing what critics of the case have been saying for months. "And therefore it criminalizes what would be a breach of contract."

Tina Meier, the mother of Megan Meier, walked out of the courtroom while Wu was still delivering his ruling. She later told reporters that she was "extremely upset with the decision" and that she left because she "was done listening to" the judge. She indicated that the family is still considering whether to bring a civil case against Drew.

Ron Meier, Megan Meier's father, whose marriage fell apart after his daughter's death, wore a large lapel button bearing his daughter's smiling face as he spoke to reporters with tears in his eyes. He said despite Drew's acquittal, "a jury of her peers did convict her, so that itself is a victory."

Drew's attorney, H. Dean Steward, praised Wu's decision and said that "those of us that are concerned about being prosecuted" for violating a terms of service agreement "should feel a bit better now."

Drew had been charged with four potential felony counts of unauthorized computer access under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The jury convicted her last year of three misdemeanor charges instead and deadlocked on the fourth charge.

Wu told Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause that if Drew had been convicted of the felonies, he would have let the convictions stand, and would have already sentenced her. But the misdemeanor convictions troubled him, because of the vague wording of the statute.

The judge sparred with Krause for nearly 45 minutes over the government's interpretation of the computer crime law, before granting the long-pending defense motion to overturn the jury verdict in the case.

The ruling is not official until Wu releases a written decision, which could come as early as next week. Prosecutors then have the option of appealing. They've already filed to have the deadlocked fourth conspiracy charge dismissed without prejudice, but indicated they could continue to pursue that charge as well.

U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said afterward that he had no regrets.

"I'm proud of this case .... and this team [of prosecutors]," he said, even though using the CFAA to prosecute Drew "was a risk." He added that his office "will always take risks on behalf of children."

The case had its roots in a tragedy that began unfolding in September 2006 when, prosecutors said, Drew conspired to create a fake MySpace account for "Josh Evans" with her then 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, and a then-18-year-old employee and family friend named Ashley Grills.

Prosecutors alleged that Drew and the two others used the profile to lure Megan Meier into an online relationship with “Josh” to find out what Megan was saying about Drew’s daughter online. But in October, one of the group, writing as Josh, turned against Megan, and told her that the world would be a better place without her. Shortly afterward, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom.

Neighbors in O’Fallon, Missouri, the small town where the Drews and Meiers lived four houses away from each other, turned on Drew when her supposed complicity in the hoax emerged.

Missouri prosecutors sought to charge Drew with a crime, but were stymied by the fact that there was no federal statute against cyber bullying. O'Brien said on Thursday that Megan's death "cried out for someone to do something." And that's when he and other prosecutors in California devised the novel idea to charge her under the anti-hacking statute, filing the case in Los Angeles because this is where MySpace's servers are based.

MySpace’s user agreement requires registrants, among other things, to provide factual information about themselves, and to refrain from soliciting personal information from minors and 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, prosecutors claimed.

But testimony in the case offered by prosecution witness Ashley Grills under a grant of immunity showed that nobody involved in the hoax actually read the terms of service. Grills also said that the hoax was her idea, not Drew’s, and that it was Grills who created the Josh Evans profile, and later sent the cruel message that tipped the emotionally vulnerable 13-year-old girl into her final, tragic act.

Wu's problem with the case, he said, lay in the lesser burden required for a misdemeanor conviction.

To convict Drew of the felonies, prosecutors would have needed to prove two things: that Drew accessed MySpace "without authorization," and did it for the purpose of committing a tortious act – in this case, to intentionally cause harm to Megan Meier.

But for the misdemeanors, the jury just had to find that Drew obtained the unauthorized access. Wu said that language, standing on its own, was too vague to pass constitutional muster in this case.

"I don't see how the misdemeanor aspect would be constitutional," he said. "That is the issue I'm wrestling with at this time."

Wu also doubted that MySpace provided sufficient notice to members to hold them responsible. If a user didn't read the terms of service, the judge asked prosecutor Krause, could they still be charged with violating them?

Krause struggled to respond to Wu's questions, emphasizing that not every terms-of-service violation would be prosecuted as a crime. In Drew's case, he said, there was sufficient evidence to suggest that she knew what she was doing was wrong.

But Wu disputed this, pointing out that the government's star witness – Ashley Grills – had testified that she never read the terms of service before clicking on a button agreeing to them.

Wu and Krause circled around each other for several more minutes before Wu finally announced that he was granting the defense's motion to acquit.

Drew had faced a maximum sentence of three years and a $300,000 fine. Although prosecutors sought the maximum, probation authorities, in a pre-sentencing report sent to the court, had recommended probation and a $5,000 fine.

Drew's father, Jerry Shreeves, told Threat Level after the hearing, "I think this is what needed to happen."

Drew's attorney, Steward, said that the federal prosecutors in Los Angeles should be ashamed for having brought the case to trial.

"Missouri prosecutors got it right" by not filing charges, he said. "How is it that Tom O'Brien's people are that much smarter?"

Steward wouldn't say how much the case had cost his client, only noting that her parents had taken care of his fee, which was "significantly lower" than what he normally charged.

He said that Drew and her family have since moved out of Missouri, due to the harassment they received, noting that she's been "an internet punching bag for almost three years" having been "tried, convicted and lynched by bloggers" and others who didn't know all the facts of the case.

He said Drew has already been in touch with a lawyer to discuss a possible civil case that she might still face, but felt fairly certain that her criminal troubles were done.

"Hopefully, [prosecutors] will just let this case end now," he said.

(Last updated: 6:30 p.m. Eastern)

Photo: AP

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