Politics and Culture

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Although she wanted felony convictions, the mother of a girl who killed herself in a MySpace hoax says she hopes the case will serve as a deterrent to cyber-bullies.

"This has been a victory," Tina Meier, the 38-year-old mother of Megan Meier, told reporters Wednesday after a jury found her former neighbor, Lori Drew, guilty of three misdemeanors for posing as a 16-year-boy flirting online with Megan.

Meier, whose 13-year-old daughter hung herself after the fictional boy rejected Megan, says she wants the judge to give Drew the maximum penalty of a $300,000 fine and three years in a prison for women. Drew's attorney, H. Dean Steward, says he will ask for probation.

"I don't want another family to go through what I've had to endure," Meier says.

She says she would have preferred that the jury deliver felony convictions on all counts, which would have exposed Drew to a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. She calls the misdemeanor convictions on the computer charge as "a stepping stone."

The last line is worrisome. I don't want justice in America to step from prosecuting people who actually commit crimes to people who hurt others' feelings, as terrible as that is (And, of course, this case is a terrible tragedy.). I can see if there are monetary damages like advertising and selling a fraudulent product, but tricking somebody? We'd persecute millions of people a year and where would we draw the line? "He said he was "athletic" and he turned out to be "a few extra." I spent $50.00 on a new dress for a guy with a "few extra?" I want it money back."

Do we need to be aware of any psychological issues before we act in a way that hurts somebody's feelings?

A better solution, as usual, is for people to be careful and a little suspicious. We don't need the government involved in every lie we tell or are told.

As for Lori Drew. I hope people shun her for being a person capable of this most petty and despicable action.