Judge Tentatively Refuses to Dismiss Internet Suicide Case

A federal judge tentatively rejected two motions on Thursday to dismiss charges against a woman in a hoax that allegedly led to a 13-year-old girl's suicide.

U.S. District Judge George H. Wu said during a hearing that he intends to take more time to consider a third motion to dismiss the case against Lori Drew of O'Fallon, Mo.

She is accused of helping create a false-identity account on the social networking site then posing as a teenage boy and befriending her young neighbor, Megan Meier.

Drew, her teenage daughter and another teen took part in the hoax and allegedly sent cruel messages shortly before Meier hanged herself in 2006, authorities said.

The government wants to prosecute Drew under the , which has never before been used in connection with a Web site's terms of service prohibiting misrepresentation by users setting up new accounts.

Prosecutors have filed voluminous motions arguing the statute can be used against cyberbullying, though it has traditionally been used for crimes such as hacking into computers.

In one motion, defense attorney H. Dean Steward argued the indictment should be dismissed because it was vague and prosecutors were bending the statute to prosecute his client.

Another motion challenged the government's authority to prosecute the case, and a third said prosecutors failed to state an offense.

Steward also argued that almost no one ever reads the legal language about setting up new accounts, so his client had no way of knowing if she was breaking any law.

"You really have to do a dance to get into a position where the common citizen would have known this was a felony," Steward said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause countered that circumstantial evidence suggested Drew knew what she had done was wrong because she allegedly destroyed evidence of creating the account.

Drew pleaded not guilty after being indicted by a federal grand jury.

Wu tentatively rejected the motions claiming vagueness and that prosecutors were overstepping their power.

He plans to mull the motion that prosecutors had failed to state an offense before making a final ruling on all three motions within a few days.

He set an Oct. 7 trial date.

Drew, wearing a navy blue pant suit, did not speak during the 90-minute hearing. Afterward, she and Steward left the downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse without speaking to reporters.

Meier hanged herself after allegedly receiving messages saying the world would be better off without her. She was being treated for attention deficit disorder and depression.

Authorities in Missouri did not file any charges because at the time they could not find any laws that applied. The case is being prosecuted in Los Angeles because MySpace computer servers are based in the area.

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