A very nasty lady

I don't know how this woman sleeps at night.

U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien portrayed Drew, 49, as the guiding force in a "mean" plan to humiliate Megan by inventing a make-believe boy named "Josh Evans" who would woo her on the MySpace Web site, then be revealed as nonexistent.

"Lori Drew decided to humiliate a child," O'Brien said in his summation. "The only way she could harm this pretty little girl was with a computer. She chose to use a computer to hurt a little girl and for four weeks she enjoyed it."

The defense said the case is a matter of computer law and accused prosecutors of misleading jurors into thinking it was a murder case.

"If you hadn't heard the indictment read to you, you'd think this was a homicide case," said Dean Steward, a defense attorney. "And it's not a homicide case. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a computer case, and that's what you need to decide."

Steward insisted the only question is whether Drew violated the terms-of-service agreement of MySpace. He said that Drew, her daughter and assistant Ashley Grills never read the seven-page agreement.

"Nobody reads these things, nobody," he said. "How can you violate something when you haven't even read it? End of case. The case is over."

The hoax ended with Megan never finding out that her online boyfriend did not exist. On Oct. 16, 2006, according to testimony, a message was sent from "Josh" to Megan telling her the world would be better off without her.

Shortly afterward, the girl went to her room and hanged herself in a closet. She died the next day.