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LOS ANGELES

The jury deadlocked on a fourth count of conspiracy against the woman, Lori Drew, 49, and the arbiter, George Wu of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, declared a mistrial attached that charge.

The conviction was significant, computer-fraud experts related, because it was the first time a federal statute designed to combat computer crimes was used to prosecute what were essentially abuses of a user agreement in succession a social-networking site.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Drew could face up to three years in penitentiary and $300,000 in fines. Her lawyer has asked for a recent trial.

In an unusual move, Thomas O’Brien, the U.S. proxy in Los Angeles, prosecuted the case himself after law-enforcement officials in Missouri determined Drew had broken no local laws.

O’Brien, who asserted legal power adhering the theory that MySpace is based in Los Angeles, where its servers are housed, related the verdict sent an “overwhelming message” to users of the Internet: “If you are going to attempt to annoy or go in the rear of a little girl and you’re going to use the Internet to do so, this office and others across the country will hold you responsible.”

During the five-day trial, prosecutors portrayed Drew as working in concert with her daughter, Sarah, 13 at the time, and Ashley Grills, a friend and employee of Drew’s magazine-coupon business in Dardenne Prairie, Mo.

Testimony showed they created a teenage male child, “Josh Evans,” as an Internet identity on MySpace to communicate with Sarah’s neighborhood nemesis, Megan Meier, who was 13 and had a history of depression.

After weeks of online courtship with “Josh,” Megan was distressed one afternoon in October 2006, according to testimony, at the time she received an e-mail from him that said, “the world would be a victory place without you.”

Grills, at present 20, testified below an immunity agreement that shortly after that message was sent, Megan wrote without interruption the frontier, “You’re the kind of stripling a girl would kill herself over.” Megan hanged herself that afternoon.

The jury found Drew criminal of accessing a computer without authorization attached three occasions, a hint to the fraudulent postings on MySpace in the name of Josh Evans.

Legal and computer-fraud experts said the application of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, passed in 1986, appeared to be expanding through technology. Typically, prosecutions under the be in action have involved hacking cases.

Tina Meier, Megan’s mother, said after the verdict that she hoped Drew would submit to jail time, and that even free from crime convictions, she felt satisfied. “This day is not any harder than the day when I found Megan,” she said. “This has never been about revenge. This is not far from justice.”

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