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| Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Interview with Legal Analyst Kendall Coffey CNN Headlines / 1-09-08 CHUCK ROBERTS: A Los Angeles grand jury is reportedly investigating the on-line hoax that led to a Missouri’s teenager suicide in October of 2006. The L.A. Times reports the grand jury’s already issued subpoenas. Thirteen-year old Megan Meier died October 2006. She was distraught after she was rejected by a 16-year old boy she had met through her MySpace website but the boy was actually the mother - a neighbor mother - of the girl’s former friend using a false on-line identity. Missouri prosecutors declined to file charges against the woman but now the feds are involved. The L.A. Times reports grand jurors are investigating whether she should be charged with committing fraud against MySpace which is based in Beverly Hills. Former federal prosecutor Kendall Coffey joins us live in Miami. Kendall, have you ever heard anything like this - goading someone into suicide and going after the goater as it were? KENDALL COFFEY: Well, in the computer age we are seeing a whole new age of computer crimes. And this is the kind of thing that wasn’t prosecutable under traditional state law theories. That’s why the Missouri DA took a pass on things like child endangerment and stalking. But, there’s some new things getting on the books now Chuck that could penalize what was absolutely appalling conduct – an adult perpetrated a heartless hoax that resulted in the tragic death of a 13-year old child. They’re taking a hard look and I suspect they are going to find something now that they can prosecute here. CHUCK ROBERTS: Are they going after possible fraud against MySpace? KENDALL COFFEY: Well, they’re starting with that because that’s the most traditional way to look at it. Wire fraud, the family in Missouri apparently set up a false account with MySpace. But that’s not where it is going to end. There was enacted in 2006 a new federal law that makes anonymous cyber-abuse a crime potentially prosecutable for two years, hasn’t been tested by the courts yet, but if you ever wanted to see a case where that kind of law ought to be applied, this might be the case. CHUCK ROBERTS: What about free speech? I’m not making any excuses. I’m just saying theoretically. KENDALL COFFEY: No, that’s a huge issue but it has come up before in the context of a very similar law that dealt with anonymous phone calls that were used to harass, to intimidate, to threaten. Those laws were largely validated. Again, it’s unclear here. But if you take words like abuse, if you take words like harass, if you take words like threat, I mean, if you look at what was done to this little girl, I think the court is going to find that the first amendment doesn’t protect that kind of conduct. CHUCK ROBERTS: Would the jurisdiction be California where MySpace is based or Missouri where the crime allegedly occurred? KENDALL COFFEY: I think in a lot of these cases it could occur in either place. I think the L.A. grand jury and the L.A. U.S. Attorney’s Office is starting out with it because they have more traditional theories -- wire fraud, computer fraud -- and don’t have to necessarily rely on this untested theory of anonymous cyber-abuse, but don’t be surprised if they don’t bring a number of charges if, in fact, they find the evidence supports it. CHUCK ROBERTS: Is fraud the low end? I got just ten seconds. KENDALL COFFEY: Ironically, that’s the easy one. Anonymous cyber-abuse more complicated. CHUCK ROBERTS: Kendall Coffey always great to have you with us. We learn a lot every time.
MSNBC KENDALL COFFEY: Hey, good morning Alex. ALEX WITT: You know this is unprecedented in many ways. It raises all sorts of legal questions in this situation. Look, the internet is a world into itself. People go online and do all kinds of things, so why would what this woman did, why would that be potentially criminal. It was nasty if it was true – it was wrong morally – but criminally, is it wrong? KENDALL COFFEY: Well, I think it probably will be. It’s a little bit of a stretch but when cases have these kinds of appallingly bad facts and high visibility, they have a lot of stretch power. The creativity here by the feds is they’ve taken a computer fraud statute and said that Myspace is a victim of computer fraud. Why, because they were given false information about the identity. Of course we all know that, even though Myspace was technically the victim, this indictment is all about seeking justice for Megan. ALEX WITT: Okay. This woman faces five years in prison if she is convicted on all four charges to the fullest extent of the law. Do you think the punishment fits the crime if there was no direct intent to cause the teen’s death? KENDALL COFFEY: Well, the feds clearly want to send a message here and even though the theoretical prison time could be twenty years, under the guidelines it’s going to be a lot less than that. But if you think about it, this was pretty heartless - a parent snooping, invading the privacy of a 13-year old child - and if it turns out that Lori Drew is convicted and if she knew about some of the psychological depression issues challenging Megan I think you could very well be seeing some prison time here for Laurie Drew. ALEX WITT: Okay, so you’re a prosecutor. Let’s have you switch hats here and take off in defense of this woman. Apparently federal prosecutors say “here’s the deal” - when she found out what was coming down she told a young lady who was familiar with this account to keep her mouth shut. Is there something wrong in doing that? Is that obstructing justice in some way? Can that come to harm her as well in a court case? KENDALL COFFEY: Oh, I think it will definitely be a question of concealment. I think what the defense is going to try to do, is first of all, it’s going to be Laurie Drew with the “hear no evil, see no evil” defense, trying to put everything on the youthful employee who actually created the fictitious Myspace account. But, Alex, one of the interesting questions is going to be “Does the defense try to put Megan’s own parents on trial, saying there wasn’t enough parental supervision, after all 13-year old Megan was not supposed to be using a Myspace account in the first place which requires her to be 14 years old. So don’t be surprised if the defense considers a “would of, could of, should of done” kind of theory which charges Megan’s own parents. ALEX WITT: This is going to be very interesting to follow, former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey. Good to see you. Thanks so much. KENDALL COFFEY: Thanks Alex. |