Mom acquitted on MySpace suicide felonies

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles jury convicted a Missouri woman on misdemeanor charges stemming from a MySpace hoax that allegedly drove a teenage girl to suicide.

Lori Drew was found guilty Wednesday on charges of illegally accessing a computer but the federal court jury also acquitted her on felony computer hacking charges and couldn't reach a verdict on a felony conspiracy charge, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles reported.

The judge in case has yet to rule on a defense motion to dismiss the misdemeanor counts due to a lack of evidence.

Drew was indicted after it was revealed that she had been behind the fictitious suitor who first wooed and then rejected 13-year-old Megan Meier over the Internet in 2006. The girl, a former friend of Drew's daughter, killed herself a short time later.

Missouri authorities were unable to find a crime to charge Drew with amid the public uproar. Federal authorities in Los Angeles eventually brought charges based on the fact MySpace maintains its servers in Southern California.