Woman who encouraged boyfriend to kill himself via text sentenced to 15 months in jail

[Calista241]

Source: LA Times

A Massachusetts woman who badgered her depressed boyfriend to kill himself in text messages was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in jail in a novel manslaughter case that examined the question of whether words can kill.

Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz gave Michelle Carter a 2 1/2-year jail sentence but said she had to serve only 15 months of that. He also sentenced her to five years of probation.

Michelle Carter was 17-years-old when 18-year-old Conrad Roy III rigged up a generator to his pickup truck and poisoned himself with carbon monoxide. Carter had sent numerous text messages telling Roy to “just do it” and was on the cell phone with him during the suicide, at one point ordering him back into the truck when he got cold feet and exited to gasp for air.

...

In his verdict, however, Judge Lawrence Moniz, focused his ruling on her telling Roy to "get back in" after he climbed out of his truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide and told her he was afraid. The judge said those words constituted "wanton and reckless conduct" under the manslaughter statute.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-teen-texting-suicide-20170803-story.html

[hlthe2b]

1. What was her motive for doing what she did?

[Chemisse]

3. I don't know if that was ever clear.

I just assume she is a sociopath.

[marylandblue]

6. Prosecutor argued she wanted attention for being a grieving girlftiend

[Chemisse]

9. That's sick.

But she sure did get the attention!

[xor]

16. Worrisome if she ever has children in the future.

I hope her family does something to encourage her to get some sort of mental help once she rejoins the civilized world. There is obviously something wrong in her head, and she might very likely do something else later on.

[Doug the Dem]

25. Yes: Sick

Just like our political system, "news" media, mores, movies, TV, and of course, ninety percent of the Net.

[Initech]

4. Psychos like this often have no motive.

They're like the Joker from The Dark Knight - they just do things regardless of the consequences and watch the chaos unfold around them. Much like the republican party.

[nycbos]

8. Exactly

[bettyellen]

7. She liked the drama and sympathy, which she exploited greatly afterwards.

[Honeycombe8]

10. I don't think she ever said...or if they asked. Maybe she thought he was attention seeking....

and not serious? Or just being a bully when faced with someone who was weak.

I can't imagine anyone doing or saying the things she said, encouraging him. But one thing in her defense is her age. At 16, which I think she was at the time, she may not have appreciated the real consequences. You know how teens drag race & do dangerous things; at that age, we think we're invincible. The brain isn't even fully formed yet. There's a reason minors can't enter contracts or other things....because they don't have adult life experiences and judgment yet.

[Initech]

2. This POS is getting off light.

[Chemisse]

5. I'm just thankful she was convicted of something.

It was hard to see at first if this could even be a crime, ghastly though it was.

[CurtEastPoint]

11. Look at her eyes. Vacant. Deadly.

[left-of-center2012]

12. Not enough n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Ditto.

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Hypothetical

What would have happened if she had convinced a third person to kill him?

Would she be accomplice to murder?

Beastly either way.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. And conspiracy.

[Bengus81]

17. Such BS,15 months out of 2.5 years and FREE on appeal..

This cold calculating person only has to serve 15 months yet is appealing that and she gets to stay out the whole time.

[Skid Rogue]

18. Seeing that she was 17...

and tried in the juvenile court system, I thought this sentence was a bit harsh. She was obviously an unstable teenager and he was suicidal when they met.

If you read the texts they sent to one another, her words seem unbelievably cold and murderous, but she began by being supportive, trying to get him to seek help.

During that same time, they were both doing recreational prescriptions drugs. He became more vulnerable and she became more destructive and manic. It was an insanely tragic situation for them both.

I say, guilty -- 5 years strict probation and mandatory psychiatric treatment.

[Skid Rogue]

19. Oh, btw...

the whole point of the juvenile court system is rehabilitation.

I'm sick and tired of a 14 year old African American kid being tried as an adult, while folks wonder why Natalie Holloway, at age 18, didn't have a diligent chaperone.

The age of consent is totally screwed up in this country. It shouldn't be based on whither you're a criminal or a victim.

Can you legally drink, can you own a gun, can you go to war, can you fuck, can you vote? What's the age of consent? Hell, I'm 54 and I don't know.

No wonder kids are confused.

Kids are screwed up because adults are screwed up.

[hibbing]

20. Interesting case

I'm thinking this will get appealed. She is a sick and disgusting person, but it is an interesting case, and I could see this getting escalated to higher courts, but I'm not a lawyer and don't even play one on tv.

Peace

[Skid Rogue]

21. Her lawyer said...

her appeal is based on free speech. That her crime was only "speech."

Ugh... was it fire in a crowded theater?

[hibbing]

22. I don't think it it is

Believe me, I'm not taking her side. However, how responsible can she be? (Gosh, that sounds awfully like, I'm sorry for anyone I offended) Man breaks up with a girlfriend, she is crushed, keeps texting him, he says, go kill yourself. This particular case was extreme though, especially if he got out of the vehicle and she told him to get back in. Really sick stuff.

Peace

[Skid Rogue]

23. With you in seniment. She's guilty.

But she was only 17. She and her boyfriend were both receiving prescription meds because they both had huge physiological issues.

Were those issues why they were drawn to one another? I don't know.

She was a teenager, can we rehabilitate her?

As a life long liberal, I think it's a good question.

[Skid Rogue]

24. Hibbing, I agree. It was super extreem.

I think the "speech" issue is relevant and complicated. The judge was having a huge problem with it on the bench, too.

Think of the precedent he might be setting.

[JI7]

26. there is a difference. this wasn't a "stop bothering me and kill yourself" type thing. i think

intent plays a part in this.

she kept pushing him to do it while she knew he was actually doing it.

[Hieronymus]

27. Good

[no_hypocrisy]

28. This issue will be revisited.

In NJ, a young girl committed suicide, partly because other teens told her outright to commit suicide. Her parents asked her school to intervene, but nothing happened.

Now the parents are suing the school and possibly the parents of the kids who harassed the teen.

The issue will be did the texts push the girl to commit suicide. ("Why don't you kill yourself?&quot

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2017/08/timeline_mallory_grossman_death.html