Posted on 12/03/2007 12:40:58 PM PST by BradtotheBone
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) - No criminal charges will be filed against people who sent cruel Internet messages to a 13-year-old girl before she committed suicide, the St. Charles County prosecutor said Monday. The parents of Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, who hanged herself last year, said her suicide came minutes after she received mean messages through the social networking site MySpace.
County Prosecutor Jack Banas said at a news conference there was no applicable statue to file charges in the case. Banas said he looked at laws related to stalking, harassment and child endangerment, but found no repeated incidents of threats to someone's life or health, and no organized conspiracy.
A police report said that a mother from the neighborhood and her 18- year-old employee fabricated a profile for a teenage boy online who pretended to be interested in Megan before he began bullying her. The police report indicates others gained access to the profile, and it is not clear who was sending Meier messages just before her death.
Banas said based on additional interviews, the fake MySpace page was not created by the mother of one of Megan's friends. He said the page was created by the 18-year-old employee, though the mother and her 13- year-old daughter knew about the page. He said he was unable to speak directly with the 18-year-old, whom he said has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment.
After the case became public, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt asked lawmakers to review state law to see if changes were necessary to better deal with cases that involve Internet bullying. Some municipalities have also considered or passed statutes to strengthen laws that deal with Internet harassement.
Dangerous ground.
Well good. If talking to someone and can make them commit suicide they weren’t exactly that stable to being with.
“no applicable statue to file charges in the case.”
Cases like this illustrate how absurd so-called ‘hate crimes’ are. This girl suffered just as much, and is just as dead as she would be if she’d been persecuted because of her ethnicity, but then the story would have a totally different outcome.
Oh really? This was a 13 year old girl harrassed and humiliated by adults.
” ... He said he was unable to speak directly with the 18-year-old, whom he said has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment. ...”
Well, isn’t *that* convenient?
Excellent point!!
Parents need to do whatever it takes to know what their 13-year-olds are doing on-line.
What is a 13-year-old doing on a social networking site? This is insane.
I understand what the County Prosecutor is saying and I feel so sad for this girl and her family.
It was a terrible thing to do to her. I am hoping that they will be made to pay the rest of their lives by the community which I think they will.
they did know. They even knew about the boy. But the boy wasn’t real - he was actually the neighbors playing the dirty trick. This is very intense for a 13 year old girl.
“The parents of Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, who hanged herself last year, said her suicide came minutes after she received mean messages through the social networking site MySpace.”
Hard to claim harassment when no attempts were made by the girl to end the exchanges and users can be blocked easily. Not to mention the the message in question that “sent her over the top” was a message stating the hoaxer didn’t want to talk to her anymore.
All proposed legislation I have seen contains the word “reasonable” in qualifier. As sad as this case is, there is nothing reasonable about killing yourself over someone you chatted with on myspace for a month.
“Oh really? This was a 13 year old girl harrassed and humiliated by adults.”
No offense, but you really need to look up the definition, both legal and otherwise, of “harassment”.
If the adults who harassed this child have a conscience they will be tormented the rest of their lives.
OK, everybody, let’s get despicable!
offense taken. I obviously don’t really care what the proper definition is.
“After the case became public, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt asked lawmakers to review state law to see if changes were necessary to better deal with cases that involve Internet bullying.”
I’m afraid this is just more and more over-reaching of government that is not going to make any more sense than any previous “hate-crime” style legislation. Maybe I need more info, but really, more stuff needs to come down to individual autonomy and to families. We need a society with fewer 18 year-olds that need psychiatric treatment, fewer “incidents” that get everyone crying bully and fewer 13 year olds so wrapped up in trying to find love and acceptance over the internet that they can end up suicidal over it.
I’m so glad I homeschool my kids and more for the lifestyle and family dynamic benefits of it than any thing else.
Kind of hard to convict the killer...
unless its MSNBC to catch a pedo
“I obviously don’t really care what the proper definition is.”
You are right, it is obvious.
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