In the country's first cyber-bullying verdict, the federal jury, reducing the charges to misdemeanors from felonies, convicted the Missouri woman - Lori Drew - of three charges of computer fraud for her involvement in creating a phony account on MySpace to trick teenager Megan Meier, who later committed suicide. The jury deadlocked on a fourth count of conspiracy, with the judge, George H. Wu of Federal District Court, declaring a mistrial on that charge.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Drew could face up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines, though she has no previous criminal record.

The high-profile case, which made worldwide headlines, prompted calls for social networking sites like MySpace to crack down on such activities. Computer fraud experts said the conviction was highly significant because it was the first time that a federal statute, designed to combat computer crimes, was used to prosecute what were essentially abuses of a user agreement on a social networking site.

In a highly unusual move, Thomas P. O'Brien, the United States attorney in Los Angeles, prosecuted the case himself with two subordinates after law enforcement officials in Missouri determined Drew had broken no local laws. O'Brien, who asserted jurisdiction on the theory that MySpace is based in Los Angeles, where its servers are housed, said the verdict sent an "overwhelming message" to users of the Internet.

After the verdict, Tina Meier, Megan's mother, said: "This is about justice. It's justice not only for Megan, but it's justice for everybody who has had to go through this with the computer and being harassed."