200-year-old ruling a key legal precedent in modern case

Judge Lawrence Moniz cited a 200-year-old legal chestnut yesterday when he found Michelle Carter guilty of causing the death of Conrad Roy III.

Moniz, a seasoned jurist, referred to the 1816 murder trial of George Bowen — a prisoner who convinced Jonathan Jewett, the man in the next cell, to kill himself before he was publicly hanged. The idea was that Jewett could spare himself the shame of the hanging while robbing the sheriff and hangman of their fees for conducting the execution.

After Jewett hung himself, authorities claimed that Bowen’s advice caused Jewett to murder himself and that Bowen was complicit in the crime and that he was himself a murderer.

He was not charged as an accessory after the fact. Instead, Bay State authorities charged Bowen as if he were the one who killed Jewett.

According to records, the judge told the jury to consider whether Bowen’s advice induced Jewett to kill himself. He cautioned that they were not allowed to consider the fact that Jewett was about to be executed because “but a small portion of Jewett’s earthly existence could, in any event, remain to him.”

Despite this admonishment from the judge, the jury came back with a not guilty verdict.

Still, Moniz insisted that the case shows that the situation facing Carter in her manslaughter trial was not unique. Much like Bowen, she did not physically cause Roy’s death. Instead she goaded him on until he took his own life.

“Some have suggested in this case that the legal principles involved are novel,” Moniz said. “That is not accurate.”