A defense attorney for the Missouri woman charged in a MySpace hoax that allegedly led to a 13-year-old girl’s suicide argued in court papers that prosecutors are bending a cybercrime statute to prosecute his client.

At issue is whether the Computer scam and Abuse Act is relevant to the case against Lori Drew of O’Fallon, Mo. Prosecutors filed voluminous motions last week arguing the statute can be used to prosecute cyberbullying, though it has traditionally been used for crimes such as

hacking into computers.

The defense filed a thin six-page reply arguing that Drew did not violate the statute.

“Cyberbullying is not, under any definition, trespass or theft,” according to the defense motion filed by H. Dean Steward on Monday.

Drew is accused of helping to create a false-identity explanation on the MySpace social networking site and harassing her young neighbor with cruel messages. The girl subsequently hanged herself in 2006.

Missouri authorities […]

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