A jury on Wednesday was unable to reach a verdict on the main conspiracy charge and instead convicted a Missouri woman of three minor offenses for her role in an Internet hoax that apparently drove a 13-year-old girl to suicide.

The Los Angeles federal court jury rejected felony charges of accessing a computer without authorization to inflict emotional distress on young Megan Meier.

However, the jury found defendant Lori Drew guilty of three counts of the lesser offense of accessing a computer without authorization. Each count is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The jurors could not reach a verdict on a conspiracy count, and U.S. District Court Judge George Wu declared a mistrial on the charge. It was not known if she would be retried.

She could have been sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison if convicted of the four original counts.

Prosecutors said Drew violated the MySpace terms of service by conspiring with her young daughter and a business assistant to create a fictitious profile of a teen boy on the MySpace social networking site to harass Megan.

Megan, who had been treated for depression, hanged herself with a belt in her bedroom closet in 2006 after receiving a message saying the world would be better without her.

Mr. Ahlstrom represents clients in complex litigation in both federal and state courts. Prior to joining Hodgson Russ, Mr. Ahlstrom was an associate at a large law firm in Washington, D.C. His experiences include working for national and regional firms in the areas of securities fraud and accounting malpractice, as well as a variety of employment matters involving discrimination, retaliation, and whistleblowers. Mr. Ahlstrom also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Frederick J. Scullin, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Hodgson Russ attorneys facilitate the U.S. legal aspects of transactions around the world. We practice in virtually every substantive area of law and generally use multidisciplinary work teams to serve the specific, often complex, needs of our clients, which include public and privately held businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit institutions, and individuals. Hodgson Russ has offices in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and Johnstown, New York; Boca Raton and Palm Beach, Florida; and Toronto, Ontario.