Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Defense wants conviction dismissed in Web hoax
Defense wants conviction dismissed in Web hoax - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_us/internet_suicide_3 - broken link)
LOS ANGELES – Contending it's not a federal crime to violate the service terms of a Web site, a defense attorney has asked a judge to dismiss the conviction of a Missouri mother in a cruel Internet hoax on a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide.
No. Many of the relevant charges against her were already dropped. She already was found not guilty of "the more serious felonies of intentionally causing emotional harm."
As I read the article she was only convicted on "three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization."
Defense wants conviction dismissed in Web hoax
Defense wants conviction dismissed in Web hoax - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_us/internet_suicide_3 - broken link)
LOS ANGELES – Contending it's not a federal crime to violate the service terms of a Web site, a defense attorney has asked a judge to dismiss the conviction of a Missouri mother in a cruel Internet hoax on a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide.
No. Her defense on this charge was going to be that she hadn't read the terms of service. Would that get you off on any other charge? I've always heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse. I was told in a case I had to deal with (by Yahoo) that they are required to prosecute these violations when there is a restraining order in place, or when they are subject to a subpoena. Otherwise its their decision and they usually don't. So, I don't think there is any question of whether there is a right to prosecute. The only question left is is it justified, and I say "yes". She set out to harm this girl and she succeeded. She should face the consequences, although they should be more severe.
No. Her defense on this charge was going to be that she hadn't read the terms of service. Would that get you off on any other charge? I've always heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
IANAL, but I've heard that this kind of boilerplate is not that enforceable in cases where the state is going after a user. The purpose of the legalese boilerplate is to indemnify the company. Even then, the companies have been sued and lost even when people violated the TOS. So the defense may have an argument here.
I'm not taking the mother's side. It was a horrible situation, and I wish there were a way for justice to work here. I fear that she will walk away.
Cases like this show us the downside of our justice system. One of the tradeoffs to having the fairest justice system in the world is the fact that people like this woman get off.
Had this taken place in China, her family would have already received the bill for the bullet.
Still worth the trade off though. I wouldn't trade our system for any other, especially with who's coming into office.
Like execution or life imprisonment. Intentionally harrassing someone to the point of suicide is murder.
It's not, though. The woman didnt know what the girl was going to do. They charged this woman with everything there was possible to charge her with. She just has a good lawyer.
it's frustrating that if she really is as awful as she might be, maybe this hasn't affected her, made her change inside. She's being unfairly hounded and persecuted for something that wasn't her responsibility, poor thing. "Just because I told her to go kill herself, how was I supposed to know she'd actually do it?" And it costs nothing to repeat the cliche "If I'd known this was a possible outcome I never would have done it."
We want her to pay for having broken the girl's heart and being the straw that broke the camel's back, but legally she's not responsible.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
