The case of Michelle Carter and boyfriend Conrad Roy III, is a difficult one to stomach. It is even harder to understand what exactly was going on in the minds of these two individuals. Michelle Carter was accused and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after she helped her boyfriend commit suicide through text.
On Thursday, she was sentenced to a mandatory 15 months in jail, 5 years of probation, and may have to spend another 15 months in jail if she shows any forms of misconduct during her initial jail time. She will not be allowed to use social media, contact the Roy family or classmates who acted as witnesses, or leave the state of Massachusetts.
It is also no surprise that she will have to have a mental health evaluation.
Michelle Carter's defense attorney says she is not a danger to the public
Apparently, Michelle Carter could have faced 20 years in prison, but her defense attorney, Joe Cataldo managed to reduce that sentence greatly by bringing up Carter's own mental health history, saying that both Roy and Carter suffered from mental illness.
It is however hard to believe that Michelle Carter's supposed illnesses were the reason behind the actions she took, or more accurately, didn't take, via text. Cataldo said that Carter has an eating disorder, and takes anti-depressants, but can these really be an excuse for helping someone in ending their life?
And if Carter is so mentally ill that she could coerce Roy into killing himself, then isn't she a danger to the public much unlike Cataldo tried to prove?
Roy's Family Says Roy was a 'pawn' for Carter
Unsurprisingly, Conrad Roy III's family holds no sympathy for the woman who helped kill their son. Conrad Roy Jr testified and said that Carter "exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn".
Maryclare Flynn, Bristol Assistant District Attorney, said that Carter "undertook a deliberate, well thought out campaign ... for her own personal gain and quest for attention."
In a July 2012, the following text message conversation took place:
Roy: I'm overthing
Carter: I though you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready, you just need to do it!
You can't keep living this way. You just need to do it like you did last time and not think about it and just do it babe. You can't keep doing this every day.
These text messages would continue, until Roy finally broke in July 2014. It should be noted that it took a full two years after the above text message for Roy to actually kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning from his truck. Two years was more than enough time for Carter to help Roy, instead of pushing him towards his final deed.
As Judge Moniz would rightly say when finding Carter guilty, "..finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."
