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Suicide-by-text manslaughter trial in MA (1 Viewer)

Baloney Sandwich

Footballguy
There is a trial right now in MA about a girl who persuaded her boyfriend to kill himself, the details are below including the just released text messages between the two. It is a pretty tough read and I can't imagine what compelled this girl.

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/06/05/read-the-messages-at-the-heart-of-the-michelle-carter-suicide-by-text-manslaughter-trial

Lawyers are expected to deliver opening statements Tuesday morning in the trial of a 20-year-old Plainville woman accused of persuading her boyfriend to kill himself in 2014.

Prosecutors say Michelle Carter, then 17, helped her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Henri Roy III brainstorm ways to kill himself and persuaded him to follow through on the suicide after he expressed having second thoughts. On July 13, 2014, Roy was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in his truck in Fairhaven.

Their texting conversations in the week before Roy’s suicide were made public in court documents following Carter’s indictment.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and waived her right to a jury Monday, which means the trial will be decided by a single judge. Carter’s lawyer Joseph Cataldo told The Boston Globe in 2015 that the teenager had previously tried to help her boyfriend get help, but ultimately gave in and backed his suicide plan. Caltado also argued that the messages are protected by the First Amendment. Unlike 40 other states, Massachusetts does not have a law criminalizing assisted suicide.

But prosecutors say Carter played a significant coercive role. In one texting conversation, she consoled Roy that his family would come to “accept” his suicide, later adding, “Tonight is the night. It’s now or never.”

Carter: I think your parents know you’re in a really bad place. I’m not saying they want you to do it but I honestly feel like they can accept it.

They know there is nothing they can do. They’ve tried helping. Everyone’s tried, but there is a point that comes where there isn’t anything anyone can do to save you, not even yourself.

And you’ve hit that point and I think your parents know you’ve hit that point.

You said your mom saw a suicide thing on your computer and she didn’t say anything. I think she knows it’s on your mind and she’s prepared for it.

Everyone will be sad for a while but they will get over it and move on. They won’t be in depression. I won’t let that happen. They know how sad you are, and they know that you are doing this to be happy and I think they will understand and accept it. They will always carry you in their hearts.

Roy: Aww. Thank you, Michelle.

Carter: They will move on for you because they know that’s what you would have wanted. They know you wouldn’t want them to be sad and depressed and be angry and guilty. They know you want them to live their lives and be happy. So they will for you. You’re right. You need to stop thinking about this and just do it because over turning always kills, over thinking.

Roy: Yeah, it does. I’ve been thinking about it for too long.

Carter: Always smile, and, yeah, you just have to do it. You have everything you need. There is no way you can fail. Tonight is the night. It’s now or never.

In another exchange, Carter told Roy, who had attempted suicide two years earlier, not to be afraid of another attempt.

Carter: If you don’t think about it, you won’t think about failing. You’ll just do it and then thinking you’ll succeed.

Roy: Right. That’s what I’m talking about. I read so much about failed attempts gone wrong that it’s gotten me discouraged.

Carter: Yeah, exactly, so stop doing that. There is more success than there are failures.

Roy: Are you kidding me?

Carter: You have to look at it that way and people only fail because they have the same mindset as you. Thinking they’ll fail.

Roy: I really want to believe you.

Carter: Why don’t you.

Carter: You can’t think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don’t get why you aren’t.

Roy: I don’t get it either. I don’t know.

Carter: So I guess you aren’t gonna do it then. All that for nothing. I’m just confused. Like you were so ready and determined.

Roy: I am gonna eventually. I really don’t know what I’m waiting for but I have everything lined up.

In other conversations, Carter seemingly pressured Roy amid her own frustration that he had delayed committing suicide.

Carter: Well… I guess [that I am frustrated] just because you always say you are gonna do it but you don’t, but last night I know you really wanted to do it and I’m not mad. Well, I mean, kind of, I guess, just because you always say you’re gonna do it… but you don’t but last night I knew you really wanted to and I’m not mad.



Carter: You’re not joking about this or bull####ting me, right? … I just want to make sure you’re being serious. Like I know you are, but I don’t know. You always say you’re gonna do it, but you never do. I just want to make sure tonight is the real thing.

Prosecutors also say Carter helped Roy devise the plan to use carbon monoxide to kill himself. In one exchange, Roy proposed siphoning the poisonous gas from his truck’s exhaust pipes into the cabin. Carter endorsed the idea and advised him on the specifics.

Carter:  Yeah, it will work. If you emit 3200 ppm of it for five or ten minutes you will die within a half hour. You lose consciousness with no pain. You just fall asleep and die. You can also just take a hose and run that from the exhaust pipe to the rear window in your car and seal it with duct tape and shirts, so it can’t escape. You will die within, like, 20 or 30 minutes all pain free.

She also advised him on the location.

Carter: Don’t do it in the driveway. You will be easily found. … Find a spot.

Roy: I don’t know. I’m thinking a public place. If I go somewhere private they may call cops.

Carter: Well, then someone will notice you.



Carter: Do you think you will get caught? I mean, it only takes 30 minutes; right?



Carter: Just park your car and sit there and it will take, like, 20 minutes. It’s not a big deal.

In another text, Carter suggested other methods of suicide if carbon monoxide poisoning didn’t work.

Carter: Oh, okay. Well I would do the CO. That honestly is the best way and I know it’s hard to find a tank so if you could use another car or something, then do that. But next I’d try the bag or hanging. Hanging is painless and takes like a second if you do it right.

On the morning of July 12, she suggested Roy commit suicide during the day and again pressed him to follow through.

Carter: Are you going to do it today?

Roy: Yes.

Carter: Like in the day time?

Roy: Should I?

Carter: Yeah, it’s less suspicious. You won’t think about it as much and you’ll get it over with instead of wait until the night.

Roy: Yeah then I will. Like where? Like I could go in any enclosed area.

Carter: Go in your truck and drive in a parking lot somewhere, to a park or something. Do it like early. Do it now, like early.



Roy: Like, why am I so hesitant lately. Like two weeks ago I was willing to try everything and now I’m worse, really bad, and I’m LOL not following through. It’s eating me inside.

Carter: You’re so hesitant because you keeping over thinking it and keep pushing it off. You just need to do it, Conrad. The more you push it off, the more it will eat at you. You’re ready and prepared. All you have to do is turn the generator on and you will be free and happy. No more pushing it off. No more waiting.

Roy. You’re right.



Roy: Okay. I’m gonna do it today.

Carter: You promise?

Roy: I promise, babe. I have to now.

Carter: Like right now?

Roy: Where do I go?

Carter And you can’t break a promise. And just go in a quiet parking lot or something.

Later that afternoon, Roy sent Carter a text that he was “determined.” Carter responded that she was “happy to hear that” and reiterated, “No more waiting.” After a traveling to the beach with his family and buying his sisters ice cream, Roy said he was questioning how to leave the house.

Carter: Are you gonna do it now?

Roy: I just don’t know how to leave them, you know.

Carter: Say you’re gonna go to the store or something

Roy: Like, I want them to know that I love them.

Carter: They know. That’s the one thing they definitely know. You’re over thinking.

Roy: I know I’m over thinking. I’ve been over thinking for a while now.

Carter: I know. You jut have to do it like you said. Are you gonna do it now?

Roy: I still haven’t left yet, ha ha

Carter: Why?

Roy: Leaving now.

Carter: Okay. You can do this.

Roy: Okay. I’m almost there.

Prosecutors say that last message, sent at 6:25 p.m., is the last text from Roy. According to officials, he left his mother’s house claiming to visit another friend, but instead drove to the Fairhaven K-Mart parking lot. Phone records show he called and talked to Carter twice, each time for roughly 45 minutes.

Police discovered his body the next day.

In a subsequent text message to another friend, Carter recalled feeling guilty for Roy’s death, and acknowledged pressuring him to get back in the truck after he out upon realizing the carbon monoxide was “working.”

“His death is my fault,” she said. “Like, honestly I could have stopped it. I was the one on the phone with him and he got out of the car because [it] was working and he got scared and I f[—]en told him to get back in … because I knew that he would do it all over again the next day and I couldnt have him live the way he was living anymore.”

 
Yeah, very odd. 

Aside from a crazy gf,  why was he so depressed? Were there other specific reasons?

 
Gotta think convicting her could lead to a "slippery slope" where someone could be prosecuted for saying nearly anything.

If you were to tell someone sarcastically " maybe you should just go kill yourself" and they actually do it should you go to prison?

I feel like ultimately this is an issue of free speech and they can't punish this girl because of the implications it could lead to.

 
Heinous person, deserves to live the rest of her life waking up thinking about her actions.  If it was my child there would be murderous thoughts in my mind.  

I can't see how you convict her though...  As noted above, too slippery a case to set any precedent

 
The girl waving her right to a jury trial is kind of a head-scratcher, too.
Generally I'd agree here.  

I imagine the defense to this one is going to be more "legal."  In other words, I anticipate the defense isn't going to necessary argue the facts didn't happen or were taken out of context, but that the facts as stated don't amount to manslaughter.  For this type of technical argument a judge -- one who isn't likely to be as overcome or blinded by emotion -- may actually be a better bet than a jury. 

 
Heinous person, deserves to live the rest of her life waking up thinking about her actions.  If it was my child there would be murderous thoughts in my mind.  

I can't see how you convict her though...  As noted above, too slippery a case to set any precedent
Agree with the first paragraph - this story is very disturbing to me and I hope she spends a long time in jail.  

 
Heinous person, deserves to live the rest of her life waking up thinking about her actions.  If it was my child there would be murderous thoughts in my mind.  

I can't see how you convict her though...  As noted above, too slippery a case to set any precedent
In my jurisdiction there is a "solicitation" type charge where it's criminal to suggest or encourage somebody to commit a crime.  Now, that's not what is charged her, but, generally, manslaughter is defined as engaging in reckless behavior which could reasonably be foreseeable to result in death. That could possibly fit here. 

 
Terrible situation, I can't understand what this girls motive could be? Was the kid just so miserable she thought she was helping him? Seems counter to that argument that it took so much convincing and encouragement. 

Also kids are actually texting the word 'like' in their texts? Just saying it is bad enough but actually taking the time to type it out??

 
If this happened to my son I would want the girl to rot in jail for the rest of her life. Clearly Roy was unstable, and Carter preyed on him. She had power over him and rather than use it to prevent his death, she orchestrated and assured it. 

It makes me sick that due to the fear of setting a dangerous precedent she may get away with it. Evidently, our judges can't be trusted to make actual judgements. Judges are supposedly quite smart,  yet we cannot trust them to make smart decisions. It's obvious to any sane and rational person that telling someone to "go jump off a bridge" is very very different than what happened here. Yet, judges are apparently incapable of making that kind of distinction and can't be trusted to do so. 

The recent Aaron Hernandez decision comes to mind. He clearly exploited a loophole in the law, using it in a way it was obviously not intended. Yet, the judge predictably let him get away with it. Sorry! Every person alive knows this is wrong but that's my "judgement"! F'ing ridiculous, and so frustrating. 

 
I'd heard about this case. It just made me sad for humanity. I don't know how you could prosecute it, though, and expect not to set bad precedent. 

Bad facts make bad law, so the saying goes. This case is the ultimate in bad facts.  

 
Generally I'd agree here.  

I imagine the defense to this one is going to be more "legal."  In other words, I anticipate the defense isn't going to necessary argue the facts didn't happen or were taken out of context, but that the facts as stated don't amount to manslaughter.  For this type of technical argument a judge -- one who isn't likely to be as overcome or blinded by emotion -- may actually be a better bet than a jury. 
Actually, I thought about this a little while ago after I had posted earlier. Makes sense, I'm not sure you could trust the emotion of a jury in this case.

But it does bring up another interesting question ... in a case like this, is a judge bound to the same rules as a jury in regards to avoiding media reports of the trial, etc.? Is that common for a judge, even in a jury trial?

 
I'd heard about this case. It just made me sad for humanity. I don't know how you could prosecute it, though, and expect not to set bad precedent. 

Bad facts make bad law, so the saying goes. This case is the ultimate in bad facts.  
Why does precedent trump judgement and brain usage? Why can't each and every case be judged on it's own merit? Clearly this girl should be held accountable in some way. If /when a similar case arises, judge it on its own merit, why is it necessary to refer back to a prior case?

 
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Actually, I thought about this a little while ago after I had posted earlier. Makes sense, I'm not sure you could trust the emotion of a jury in this case.

But it does bring up another interesting question ... in a case like this, is a judge bound to the same rules as a jury in regards to avoiding media reports of the trial, etc.? Is that common for a judge, even in a jury trial?
Of course.  Any trier of fact must rely on only the evidence presented and admitted during a trial.  A trier of fact can rely on life experience and common sense, but must set aside any specific case information received outside of trial or that was not admitted at trial.  

Generally, judges are considered to be, for lack of a better term, "better" at setting aside extraneous information and influence than an average juror so there isn't likely to be some ruling that a judge must sequester herself or whatever. 

 
Why does precedent trump judgement and brain usage? Why can't each and every case be judged on it's own merit? Clearly this girl should be held accountable in some way. If /when a similar case arises, judge it on its own merit, why is it necessary to refer back to a prior case?
Provided there is probable cause establish by either a judge or a grand jury, the case can proceed. If they are at a point where they're waiving jury trials, it's incredibly likely that probable cause has been established and the case will proceed and, provided no plea agreement will be struck, the case will be judged on its own merits and the defendant sentenced according to the state sentencing laws for the charged she's convicted of.  

In other words, relax. 

ETA: I suppose, theoretically, there could be an appeal in the event there's a motion for judgment of acquittal or some challenge to the probable cause.  This could create this dreaded "precedent."  But, this would happen only after a conviction and it wouldn't be decided until later.  So, the victim will have his proverbial day in court. 

 
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Gotta think convicting her could lead to a "slippery slope" where someone could be prosecuted for saying nearly anything.

If you were to tell someone sarcastically " maybe you should just go kill yourself" and they actually do it should you go to prison?

I feel like ultimately this is an issue of free speech and they can't punish this girl because of the implications it could lead to.
Is this a Texas thing?

 
I live close to the town this girl is from and my daughter is around the same age and works with her.. Well she thought she did, turns out this girl has a twin sister and that's actually who she works with. I'm sure my daughter wasn't the only one to stare at her thinking she encouraged someone to kill themself. Sucks for that girl, totally innocent but gets looked at like she's a POS.

 
If she knew he was dying and didn't call for help, isn't she complicit in his death?  Sort of like a good samaritan law thing?

 
I think at the time she thought she was trying to help him... but the fact she was so insistent and pushing him through his fear and getting upset and disappointed with him does not look good for her at all.

I know he attempted suicide a couple years earlier, but I think it's safe to say that he would still be around if it wasn't for her pressuring him.  But it's still tough to convict her on manslaughter, but I guess in some states assisted suicide is under that umbrella... though all she provided was pressure and encouragement, I'm not sure that's enough.  

Sad story

 
For some reason this story still makes me unreasonably angry - there's no doubt in my mind that if somebody did this to one of my kids I would either exact revenge by killing them or be so obsessed with what they did that my life would be ruined as I slowly went crazy.

 
I live close to the town this girl is from and my daughter is around the same age and works with her.. Well she thought she did, turns out this girl has a twin sister and that's actually who she works with. I'm sure my daughter wasn't the only one to stare at her thinking she encouraged someone to kill themself. Sucks for that girl, totally innocent but gets looked at like she's a POS.
My wife looked into this a little further via Facebook... She doesn't have a twin but a younger sister and she thinks it was probably the girl on trial who my daughter saw.  I also had the facts a little wrong...my daughter who works at the YMCA saw the girl there... The other girl doesn't work there but was there.

Also the girl's lawyer is the same guy we used for my son two years ago when he got in a little trouble for trespassing.

 
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