Girl Who Got Boyfriend To Kill Himself Faces The Music

On Friday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Michelle Carter, the teenager who allegedly convinced her boyfriend to commit suicide, can stand trial, CBS Boston reports.

Carter’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, argued that her text messages were protected under the First Amendment as free speech and that they did not cause Roy to kill himself.

“The grand jury heard evidence suggesting a systematic campaign of coercion on which the virtually present defendant embarked – captured and preserved through her text messages – that targeted the equivocating young victim’s insecurities and acted to subvert his willpower in favor of her own”.

Roy committed suicide in a K-Mart parking lot in Fairhaven back in 2014.

“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”, she wrote in another, according to the AP. Her fears were apparently highlighted when she texted Boardman: “Sam, [the police] read my messages with him I’m done”. I’m just confused. Like you were so ready and determined. I’m not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can except [sic] it….

Following Mr Roy’s death, Ms Carter sent a series of messages implying she did not know what had happened to her boyfriend, including a message to his sister asking “do you know where your brother is?”

In the 48 hours before, Carter had texted him several times urging him to commit suicide, the judge wrote in the decision.

Roy then asked Carter whether it was too late to kill himself because it was light outside.

Involuntary manslaughter charges usually result from reckless, criminal negligence or misdemeanor charges such as hit-and-runs or driving under the influence. “Prior to his death, the defendant sought (apparently unsuccessfully) to have the victim delete the text messages between the two”.

With Carter’s father looking on, the teen’s defense lawyer argued that MA is one of a handful of states that has not passed laws making what she did a crime.

Mr Cataldo said he was surprised and disappointed by the indictment, but that he was confident Ms Carter would not be sentenced: “At trial, it’s proof beyond reasonable doubt, which is a much higher standard, and I’m confident that ultimately, after trial, Michelle Carter will be acquitted”.