MO- Lori Drew wants a bench trial

11-6-2008 Missouri:

Attorneys for Lori Drew, the former Dardenne Prairie woman accused of cyber-bullying a 13-year-old who later committed suicide, asked today that her trial be held in front of a judge, not a jury.

In a motion filed about 11:30 a.m. St. Louis time, H. Dean Steward waived Drew's right to a jury trial.

It is the second time in recent days that Drew lawyers have moved to limit the potential impact at trial of the suicide of Megan Meier.

On Sunday, Steward filed a motion to bar any mention of Megan's suicide during the trial, saying that the suicide is unrelated to the computer fraud charge.

Drew was indicted in May on one count of conspiracy and three counts of illegally accessing protected computers after prosecutors accused her and others of creating a fake account on the social networking site MySpace in 2006 and using it to cyber-bully Megan. Megan and Drew's daughter were friends but became rivals and Drew wanted to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter, prosecutors have said.

Drew's trial is currently scheduled for Nov. 18 in Los Angeles. ..News Source.. by Robert Patrick, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH