Massachusetts Supreme Court upholds Michelle Carter's involuntary manslaughter conviction in texting suicide case
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David Boroff
Michelle Carter stands with her lawyers in Taunton, Mass., in 2016. (George Rizer/AP)
The highest court in Massachusetts has upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of Michelle Carter, who sent text messages encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself.
Carter, now 22, was convicted in 2017 in connection with the death of Conrad Roy, who took his own life three years before. Roy was just 18 when he committed suicide on July 13, 2014, and Carter was 17 at the time.
“We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the judge's finding of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed involuntary manslaughter as a youthful offender, and that the other legal issues presented by the defendant, including her First Amendment claim, lack merit,” read the state Supreme Court decision posted online on Wednesday.
Lawyers for Carter said they are disappointed with the decision and may appeal her conviction the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Today's decision stretches the law to assign blame for a tragedy that was not a crime," her lawyers said. "It has very troubling implications, for free speech, due process, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, that should concern us all."
The Bristol County District Attorney's office said it will file a motion asking the trial court to impose Carter's jail sentence. Carter had been sentenced to 15 months in jail, but has remained free pending her appeal.
"This case is a tragedy for all of the people impacted by this case," District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said. "However, as the court found in two separate decisions, her conduct was wanton and reckless, and caused the death of Conrad Roy.”
Carter had flooded Roy with dozens of text messages about suicide, and had written to him on the day of his death, “you keep pushing it off and say you'll do it but u never do. It's always gonna be that way if u don't take action.” Roy would fill his truck with carbon monoxide in a Massachusetts parking lot.
The court recounted a chilling exchange between the teens in its decision. At one point Roy texted Carter that his suicide would “create a lot of depression between my parents/sisters.”
Conrad Roy was 18 when he died in 2014. (Facebook)
“I think your parents know you're in a really bad place,” Carter wrote back, according to court records.
“I'm not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can except it. They know there's nothing they can do, they've tried helping, everyone's tried. But there's 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 you're 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.”
The exchange took place one to two days before Roy’s death.
The state Supreme Court discounted the defendant's claim that the conviction violated her right to free speech. It asserted that “although numerous crimes can be committed verbally, they are 'intuitively and correctly' understood not to raise First Amendment concerns.”
Carter was convicted after prosecutors presented evidence that she told Roy to "get back in" the truck after he climbed out as it filled with toxic gas.
“And then after she convinced him to get back into the carbon monoxide filled truck, she did absolutely nothing to help him: she did not call for help or tell him to get out of the truck as she listened to him choke and die,” Justice Scott Kafker wrote in the state Supreme Court ruling.
The defense had argued that there was little evidence that Carter told him to get back in the vehicle, and that is was unclear if the teen's life would have been saved if Carter called for help.
Roy had attempted suicide multiple times, but the teen abandoned each attempt or sought help, as the state Supreme Court noted in its decision.
At first Carter had tried to urge Roy to get professional help, but then the “tenor of their communications changed,” the court said.
Prosecutors had indicated that Carter had "significant leverag
NY Daily News - We are currently unavailable in your region
David Boroff
Michelle Carter stands with her lawyers in Taunton, Mass., in 2016. (George Rizer/AP)
The highest court in Massachusetts has upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of Michelle Carter, who sent text messages encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself.
Carter, now 22, was convicted in 2017 in connection with the death of Conrad Roy, who took his own life three years before. Roy was just 18 when he committed suicide on July 13, 2014, and Carter was 17 at the time.
“We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the judge's finding of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed involuntary manslaughter as a youthful offender, and that the other legal issues presented by the defendant, including her First Amendment claim, lack merit,” read the state Supreme Court decision posted online on Wednesday.
Lawyers for Carter said they are disappointed with the decision and may appeal her conviction the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Today's decision stretches the law to assign blame for a tragedy that was not a crime," her lawyers said. "It has very troubling implications, for free speech, due process, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, that should concern us all."
The Bristol County District Attorney's office said it will file a motion asking the trial court to impose Carter's jail sentence. Carter had been sentenced to 15 months in jail, but has remained free pending her appeal.
"This case is a tragedy for all of the people impacted by this case," District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said. "However, as the court found in two separate decisions, her conduct was wanton and reckless, and caused the death of Conrad Roy.”
Carter had flooded Roy with dozens of text messages about suicide, and had written to him on the day of his death, “you keep pushing it off and say you'll do it but u never do. It's always gonna be that way if u don't take action.” Roy would fill his truck with carbon monoxide in a Massachusetts parking lot.
The court recounted a chilling exchange between the teens in its decision. At one point Roy texted Carter that his suicide would “create a lot of depression between my parents/sisters.”
Conrad Roy was 18 when he died in 2014. (Facebook)
“I think your parents know you're in a really bad place,” Carter wrote back, according to court records.
“I'm not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can except it. They know there's nothing they can do, they've tried helping, everyone's tried. But there's 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 you're 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.”
The exchange took place one to two days before Roy’s death.
The state Supreme Court discounted the defendant's claim that the conviction violated her right to free speech. It asserted that “although numerous crimes can be committed verbally, they are 'intuitively and correctly' understood not to raise First Amendment concerns.”
Carter was convicted after prosecutors presented evidence that she told Roy to "get back in" the truck after he climbed out as it filled with toxic gas.
“And then after she convinced him to get back into the carbon monoxide filled truck, she did absolutely nothing to help him: she did not call for help or tell him to get out of the truck as she listened to him choke and die,” Justice Scott Kafker wrote in the state Supreme Court ruling.
The defense had argued that there was little evidence that Carter told him to get back in the vehicle, and that is was unclear if the teen's life would have been saved if Carter called for help.
Roy had attempted suicide multiple times, but the teen abandoned each attempt or sought help, as the state Supreme Court noted in its decision.
At first Carter had tried to urge Roy to get professional help, but then the “tenor of their communications changed,” the court said.
Prosecutors had indicated that Carter had "significant leverag