Woman cleared of felony in Myspace suicide case

A US mother accused of using a fake MySpace profile to bully a 13-year-old girl who later killed herself was found guilty of …

A US mother accused of using a fake MySpace profile to bully a 13-year-old girl who later killed herself was found guilty of misdemeanour charges today but cleared of more serious offences.

Lori Drew (49), from Missouri, was convicted of three counts of accessing a computer without authorisation by a jury at the federal court in Los Angeles.

But she was acquitted of accessing a computer without authorisation to inflict emotional distress on Megan Meier.

The jurors could not reach a verdict on a conspiracy count.

US prosecutors said Drew violated the MySpace terms of service by conspiring with her young daughter and a business assistant to create a fictitious profile of a teenage boy on the social networking site to harass Megan.

Megan, who had been treated for depression, hanged herself in 2006 after receiving a message saying the world would be better without her.

AP