Michelle Carter was 17-years-old when prosecutors contend that she encouraged and pressured Conrad Roy III, her 18-year-old boyfriend, to commit suicide. He did kill himself July 2014 by carbon monoxide poisoning. Carter, now, 20, waived a jury trial and is, instead, relying on Judge Lawrence Moniz to determine the outcome. She stands accused of involuntary manslaughter.
Her lawyers assert that Roy was troubled and looked for ways to kill himself. His mother testified that her son attempted suicide in 2012. He used over-the-counter medication in his failed attempt.
Since, then, according to his mother, his mental health had improved.
Yesterday, prosecutors aim was to depict Carter as fixated on her social status and her social life, which she is accused of seeking to elevate.
After Roy took his own life, she told peers that she listened on the phone as Roy was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes, and she also admitted that she didn’t alert authorities or his family, according to the prosecution.
Peer-to-peer texts led to suggestion defendant see therapist
Four days after Roy died, Carter texted Ali Eithier. They met in 2014 at a summer camp and hardly knew each other. She wrote Eithier that she was talking with Roy on the phone when he committed suicide. She said she heard him dying.
Either told her that she did not know her very well and suggested that Carter see a therapist.
If Carter is convicted, she could spend up to 20 years in prison. She was charged as a youthful offender, Bristol Juvenile Court.
Daniel Medwed is a professor of law and criminal justice, Northeastern University’s School of Law. He said the question is if her despicable behavior constitutes manslaughter under the law.
He also stated that he doesn’t know that it does.
Even though Roy was vulnerable, Rosanna Cavallaro, who is also a law professor, Suffolk University, said Roy was free to decide. Insistent pressure by Carter wasn’t a crime under the existing law.
Roy repeatedly searched the Internet for ways to kill himself, according to Carter attorneys.
In the days leading to his actual suicide, he tried to kill himself using a generator and trying to fill his truck with carbon monoxide. In the process, though, the generator broke, according to both the prosecution and the defense.
Accused girlfriend sent texts days prior to suicide saying boyfriend was missing
Two days before Roy ended his life, the defendant started sending texts stating that he was missing. Those texts, said prosecutors, were her “dry run.”
In Taunton Juvenile Court, prosecutors read a series of texts aloud, which were sent to friends by the defendant. Carter texted friends and classmates in the hours leading up to when Roy died. She noted that he was missing, but, in reality, she was in constant contact with Roy, prosecutors stated.
Carter and Roy allegedly texted until the time he parked in a lot of a Kmart and turned on a pump he used to generate carbon monoxide in his black Ford F-250. They were on the phone until he died.
