Judge acquits mother in cyberbully case

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A federal judge has officially acquitted a Missouri mother in a cyberbullying case linked to the 2006 suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge George Wu's ruling acquitted Lori Drew, of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., in a landmark case that garnered national attention, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

In a ruling filed late Friday, Wu overturned a jury's verdict that found Drew, 50, guilty of three misdemeanor charges of illegally accessing a protected computer.

Wu said the case raised constitutional questions and put at risk everyone who had ever violated a Web site's terms-of-service agreement. Drew's conviction risked converting a "multitude of otherwise innocent Internet users into misdemeanant criminals," Wu said.

Meier hanged herself in October 2006 after receiving hurtful messages from a user of the social networking service MySpace.com. Meier thought the messages were from a boy she liked. The boy, however, was a fake profile allegedly created by Drew and her daughter.