Judge overturns MySpace suicide conviction

A US federal judge on today tentatively overturned the conviction of a suburban mother accused of driving a love-lorn 13-year…

A US federal judge on today tentatively overturned the conviction of a suburban mother accused of driving a love-lorn 13-year-old girl to suicide by tormenting her with a fake MySpace persona.

The judge ruled that prosecutors' application of a federal anti-hacking statute against the Missouri woman, Lori Drew, was selective and unconstitutionally vague.

The judge said his ruling, dismissing Drew's conviction on three misdemeanor counts of accessing a computer without authorisation, would be tentative until a written opinion in the cyber-bullying case is issued.

Reuters

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