Community Chat

[KingstonsMom]

For those who have been following the trial of this tragic event, like I have:

Michelle Carter has been found guilty of manslaughter in the 2014 death of her boyfriend after she sent him a barrage of text messages encouraging him to kill himself.

The 20-year-old broke down as the Massachusetts judge ruled on Friday in Bristol Juvenile Court that she caused the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III.

Carter was 17 when she sent Roy dozens of messages urging him to take his own life. Roy was found dead after filling his truck with carbon monoxide in a parking lot in Fairhaven, Massachusetts on July 12, 2014.

Judge Lawrence Moniz called Carter's actions 'reckless' as he read out the reasoning behind his verdict on Friday.

He described how Roy had climbed out of the truck as it was filling with toxic gas and told Carter he was scared, but she urged him to get back in.

'She did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck,' the judge said.

'When Ms Carter realizes Mr Roy had exited the truck, she instructs him to get back in the truck, which she has reason to know is becoming a toxic environment.'

The judge said Carter's instructions constituted 'wanton and reckless conduct

 He said Carter had a duty to call someone for help when she knew Roy was attempting suicide. Yet she did not call the police or Roy's family. 

Sobs broke out in the courtroom when the judge announced the guilty verdict.

The judge ruled that Carter can remain free on bail until her sentencing on August 3. She could face up to 20 years in prison. 

Carter has been prevented from texting and using Facebook or Snapchat ahead of her sentencing. She was also ordered not to have any contact with Roy's family. 

The sensational trial raised questions of whether words can kill and offered a window into teen depression and suicide through text messages and Facebook communications.

Prosecutors had argued during the high-profile trial that a then teenage Carter pressured Roy to take his own life through a torrent of text messages.

'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready, you just need to do it. You can't keep living this way,' Carter wrote in one message. 

'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.'

[Mj12]

Good.  What a monster she is.

[Katcat1]

Good.  What a horrible thing to do to a friend.  She will have plenty of time to think in prison where she rots!  

[BornToShop]

I also followed this tragic story.  As far as I am concerned, 20 years is not long enough.  

[MalteseMomma]

I have been watching this trial and I hope she gets the full 20 yrs. IMO she might as well have killed him herself!

[haddon9]

She really makes me sick to my stomach!  I don't understand how she could encourage him to do that.   I don't get it.

I'm glad she was found guilty!

[HappyDaze]

Finally some justice! 

On a side note, the jury in the Bill Cosby trial scares me with the questions they are asking. yikes

[Mistreatedbycs]

Let me crawl from under my mushroom, I didn't know anything about this until I read the story and researched all the FB pages that were set up.   Another tragedy.

He came from a broken home, dad is with someone and mom is with someone else, I wonder if his depression had anything to do with his parents.  His pain is gone and justice has been served.

[Happiness Is Inside JOB]

I am so thankful that I am not growing up in today's times. This is tragic for the parents and both families.

Why would she not care enough to say, "I don't mean what I said, I'm joking", or "Get out the car?."

I saw a similar case on a news show where a girl was camping and her body was found in the river and her "friends" kept right on going and stayed on the trip.

I know peer pressure is real, and what is scary is the "POWER" some of these friends have on their peers.  I have to be strong enough in myself that IF someone tells me to kill myself that I don't do it. 

Where is the morals, values and concious.  SO many people have no concious at all and that is dangerous.