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U.S. judge to rule whether teen's texts
drove boyfriend's suicide
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 [June 16, 2017]
BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts
judge on Friday is set to render a verdict on whether a teenager's text
messages to her boyfriend urging his 2014 suicide amounted to
manslaughter, a court official said.
Michelle Carter, now 20, is accused of involuntary manslaughter for
sending a series of texts to her 18-year-old boyfriend, Conrad Roy,
urging him to kill himself, which he did by running a generator in his
truck as he sat in a parking lot in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, about 60
miles (96 km) south of Boston.
The couple were 30 miles (48 km) apart at the time of Roy's death, a
fact that defense attorneys emphasized during the week-long trial. The
trial is the first time prosecutors in the state have sought such a
stiff charge in a case based only on text messages.
Carter opted against a jury trial, leaving her fate in the hands of
Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz, who began
considering his verdict on Tuesday.
During the trial, the judge heard extensive readings of text-message
exchanges between Carter and Roy, both of whom struggled with emotional
problems. Dozens of times, the messages urged Roy to kill himself, with
one reading: "No more pushing it off. No more waiting," according to
prosecutors.
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Bristol County prosecutor Maryclare Flynn portrayed Carter as a
manipulative person who enjoyed her control over the teen and hoped to
win sympathy for herself among her high school friends as a result of
Roy's death.
Defense attorney Joseph Cataldo portrayed Carter as equally emotionally
vulnerable and not in full control of her actions because of
prescription psychiatric medication that left her with the delusion that
she could help Roy by urging his death.
They noted that Roy attempted suicide multiple times before succeeding
in July 2014.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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