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

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.

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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