In the days leading up to his death, 18-year-old Conrad Roy and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, exchanged more than 1,000 text messages. Among those messages were texts Carter sent to Roy, encouraging him to kill himself. After Roy committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, police discovered his cell phone and the messages his girlfriend sent him.
In those messages, Carter seemed to taunt Roy when he had second thoughts about suicide. She told him, "You said you were gonna do it. I don't get like why you aren't."
After police found the text messages, they arrested Carter on a complaint of involuntary manslaughter. Now 18, she is charged as a youthful offender and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Her attorney, however, argues that her conversations with her suicidal boyfriend are protected speech and is asking that the case against her be dropped. Carter's family says that the young woman actually tried to save her boyfriend and prevent him from killing himself; however, his persistent talk of suicide "brainwashed" the girl into supporting him.
Prosecutors paint a much different story. Assistant District Attorney Katie Rayburn disputed the defense lawyer's claim, telling the judge, "Her words are not protected, your honor. Her words are harmful, offensive and likely to cause an immediate, violent act."
The prosecution says that Carter urged her boyfriend's suicide as a way to gain sympathy for herself, saying she even texted a friend the day before Roy's suicide saying, "I'm thankful that our last words were, 'I love you.'" Upon his death, she immediately took to posting images of Roy on social media, talking about how much she missed him and loved him. She even organized a suicide prevention fundraiser in his name.
But rather than being the broken-hearted girlfriend, say prosecutors, Carter goaded the teen into killing himself so that she could reap attention. Even when the conversation was turned to other topics, text messages indicate the girl tried to steer Roy back to the topic of suicide, repeatedly asking, "When are you going to do it?"
Perhaps most damning are messages Carter sent to her friends. She allegedly asked Roy to delete her texts prior to killing himself, and texted another friend saying, "[If the police] read my messages with him I’m done. His family will hate me and I can go to jail.” Prosecuting attorneys say this indicates an awareness that her actions were wrong and a desire to protect herself from prosecution. But even worse is a message she allegedly sent a friend acknowledging that she could have prevented the suicide but instead manipulated Roy into completing the act: "His death is my fault. Like honestly, I could have stopped it. I was on the phone with him and he got out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I told him to get back in."
This text stands in stark contrast to one Carter sent Roy's grieving mother in the days after his death: "There was nothing anyone could do to save him no matter how hard they tried. I never tried harder at something in my life."
Reports say the judge in the case has taken the motion to dismiss charges under advisement. Carter's next court date in the manslaughter case is scheduled for October 2.
