LOS ANGELES — An attorney for a woman convicted in a MySpace hoax directed at a teen who ended up committing suicide asked a judge to dismiss her convictions today, saying a computer-fraud law was improperly used to prosecute her.

U.S. District Court Judge George Wu did not immediately rule after oral arguments and will likely issue a written decision, although he didn't indicate when. He did set an April 30 sentencing date for Lori Drew, who was not present.

Drew was found guilty in November of three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. Prosecutors said the Missouri woman violated MySpace service rules by helping create a fictitious teen boy on the social networking site and sent flirtatious messages from him to 13-year-old neighbor Megan Meier, a former friend of Drew's daughter.

The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She soon hanged herself.

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.

By The Associated Press