The Missouri mother accused of harassing a 13-year-old girl via MySpace until the teen killed herself pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to cause emotional distress and illegal use of computers in a Los Angeles federal court.

Prosecutors accused Lori Drew, 49, of violating MySpace’s terms of use. Drew allegedly created an illegal account on the social networking Web site and pretended she was a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Through that account Drew supposedly tricked the girl, Megan Meier, into believing that there was a boy who had a crush on her. After numerous taunts, Meier killed herself in October 2006.

Drew posted $20,000 bail and is scheduled for trial later this month. She was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act used to tackle hackers. This is thought to be the first trial of its kind and law experts say the case will very probably break new ground in Internet law.

Through the fake profile, the woman allegedly sent Megan very cruel messages which determined her to hang herself inside her home on October 2006. In one of the messages, Drew said that the world would be better off without Megan.

The case is held in a Californian federal court due to the fact that the Fox Interactive Media-owned MySpace is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.