Woman gets 15 months for encouraging beau’s suicide
Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for urging her boyfriend through calls and text messages to commit suicide, was sentenced Thursday to 15 months behind bars.
A Massachusetts judge ruled Carter, 20, was responsible for Conrad Roy III’s death because she had placed him in a situation that led to his suicide.
Roy and Carter met in 2011 and struck up a romantic relationship — mostly online.
Roy had a history of depression and had attempted suicide in the past.
Weeks before Roy, 18, committed suicide, he texted Carter, telling her, “we should be like Romeo and Juliet at the end,” according to court documents.
“F--- NO! WE ARE NOT DYING,” she responded.
On July 12, 2014, a day before Roy was found dead, Carter, then 17, wrote: “So I guess you aren’t gonna do it then, all that for nothing ... I’m just confused like you were so ready and determined.”
“I am gonna eventually,” Roy responded. “I really don’t know what I’m waiting for ... but I have everything lined up.”
“No, you’re not, Conrad. Last night was it. You keep pushing it off and you say you’ll do it but u never do. Its always gonna be that way if u don’t take action,” Carter replied. “You’re just making it harder on yourself by pushing it off, you just have to do it.”
In one message, Carter told him: “You’re finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain. It’s okay to be scared and it’s normal. I mean, you’re about to die.”
Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz said Roy had followed Carter’s instruction and placed himself in a “toxic environment” in his truck, where he used a gas-powered water pump to commit suicide.
Roy wavered in the final moments and stepped out of the truck — and Carter told him to “Get back in.” The judge said although Carter knew Roy was in trouble, she took no action.
Roy was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning on July 13, 2014, outside Boston.
Legal experts have said the decision could have national implications as courts grapple with how to apply long-standing laws as technological changes have taken interactions online. In Carter’s case, the ruling suggested that in effect, she was whispering in Roy’s ear, “kill yourself, kill yourself,” Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said.
Carter will not serve time behind bars until she has exhausted her appeals in state court.