Photo courtesy of the NYT

We've been tracking this sad but interesting case for over a year. The case involves a series of texts [literally thousands] a teenager sent to her friend who was contemplating suicide; the decedent was on-the-fence, but the young girl's texts put him over the edge.

Michelle Carter was sentenced to 15-month county jail term yesterday in Massachusetts for involuntary manslaughter of her friend, Conrad Roy. In June, she was convicted following a bench trial.

Ms. Carter was found to be "virtually present" when Roy committed suicide through carbon monoxide poisoning. She encouraged him -some would say badgered him- to complete the act by sending a series of text messages to his cell phone.

Last year, her defense lawyer moved to quash the indictment; this maneuver went all the way to the Massachusetts Superior Court. The High Court made the following ruling:

It is important to articulate what this case is not about. It is not about a person seeking to ameliorate the anguish of someone coping with a terminal illness and questioning the value of life. Nor is it about a person offering support, comfort, and even assistance to a mature adult who, confronted with such circumstances, has decided to end his or her life. These situations are easily distinguishable from the present case, in which 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. On the specific facts of this case, there was sufficient evidence to support a probable cause finding that the defendant’s command to the victim in the final moments of his life to follow through on his suicide attempt was a direct, causal link to his death.

Rather than take the matter before a jury, Ms. Carter's lawyers opted for a bench trial; a trial where the judge makes all the findings of fact.

Of course, her conviction and sentence will be appealed. Carter's lawyers assert that the lack of a state law banning assisted suicide and the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution form the basis of their appeal.

Prosecutors sought a lengthily prison term. They asserted that Carter wanted the attention that she thought would come from being the grieving girlfriend.

Some legal experts applaud the relatively light sentence, pointing to the teen aged angst and drama constantly swirling about the Internet. This was an electronic communication crime involving two very young and emotionally challenged individuals.

Both victim and perpetrator struggled with mental illness in this case. The judge apparently sentenced Carter to local confinement -rather than to the state penitentiary- in order for her to be close to her family support network.

One the one hand, Carter was very far away from the decedent on the night he took his own life. On the other hand, when he got out of his truck during the act, texting Carter all the while, she called him and talked him back into the truck.

We will let you know if Carter's appeal gets any traction. What a sad case.

Post #602
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