As I noted below, the forewoman in the Lori Drew case has been speaking to the press. Here’s what she told Kim Zetter of Wired:
“Trust me, I was so for this woman going away for 20 years,” Valentina Kunasz told Threat Level. “However, on the harsher felony charge, it was very hard to find her guilty on the specific [evidence] given to us.”
Kunasz said despite all the debate outside the courtroom about the prosecution’s use of an anti-hacking statute to charge Drew for violating a website’s terms of service, jurors never considered whether the statute was appropriate. However, she said she agrees with the idea that users who violate a website’s terms of service should be prosecuted.
“The thing that really bothered me was that [Drew’s] attorney kept claiming that nobody reads the terms of service,” she said. “I always read the terms of service…. If you choose to be lazy and not go though that entire agreement or contract of agreement, then absolutely you should be held liable.”
Should they be punished with a federal prison sentence?
“I guess that’s an option for debate,” Kunasz said. “When it’s gross circumstances of someone killing themselves…. “
I’ll withhold comment under the circumstances, except to note that this post by Zetter on the chances that the verdict will survive appellate review is also worth reading.