Asserting it is not a federal crime to breach the service terms of a website, a defense attorney has requested a judge to dissolve the conviction of a Missouri mother involved in the Internet hoax on a 13-year-old girl who subsequently committed suicide. A U.S. District Court Judge will hear arguments to take away the verdicts against Lori Drew and acquit her. A jury found Drew guilty in November of 3 misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization.

Prosecutors said Drew violated the rules by helping create a fictitious account of a 16-year-old boy on MySpace and sent misleading messages from the account to teenage neighbor Megan Meier. The last message was: “the world would be a better place without you.” Megan hanged herself soon afterward in her bedroom closet in October 2006.

Jurors found Drew was not guilty of the more serious felonies of intentionally causing emotional harm and couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on a felony conspiracy charge. Prosecutors want Wu to dismiss the conspiracy charge “in the interests of justice,” according to court documents. The case hinged on an unprecedented application of computer-fraud law. Drew was not directly charged with causing Megan’s death, but she was indicted under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which in the past has been used in hacking and trademark theft cases.

Drew faces up to 3 years in prison and a $300,000 fine. The trial was held in Los Angeles because the servers of the MySpace site are in the area.