NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A Massachusetts teen accused of convincing her friend to commit suicide faces involuntary manslaughter charges after prosecutors say text messages show she was an accessory.
However, the defense argued Michelle Carter she was troubled too and was just trying to help her boyfriend, Conrad Roy.
WCVB reported Carter and her parents did not talk about the thousands of text messages between her and the deceased in July of 2014.
Carter is accused of coercing the 18-year-old him into suicide. In one text she said to Roy, "You said you were gonna do it. I don't get like why you aren't."
Roy responded, "I don't get it either. I don't know."
Conrad Roy
The defense argued Carter actually encouraged Roy not to take his own life and that the judge should drop the manslaughter charge.
"The government is harping, if you will, on her saying when are you going to do it? When are you going to do it?" Joseph Cataldo, Carter's attorney, said. "What they are not harping on are all the times she said don't do it, don't do it."
Additionally, Carter's attorney argued the texts are protected as free speech.
"One can be an aider and abettor or an accessory before the fact simply for words," said New Bedford Assistant District Attorney Katie Rayburn.
Roy, who was battling depression and previously tried to commit suicide, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the Fairhaven Shopping Plaza.
Text
Carter was on the phone with Roy when it happened. She later told a friend, "It's my fault. I was talking to him while he killed himself. I heard him cry in pain."
She also stayed on the phone with him to ensure that he was dead.
The family has since read every text.
"Her words are not protected, your honor. Her words are harmful, offensive and likely to cause an immediate, violent act," Rayburn stated.
The judge could rule on dropping the charges against Carter on her next court date on Oct. 2.
Carter, who is being tried as an adult, could face 20 years in prison if convicted, according to WFXT.
Family Members: Conrad was in 'fragile state'
"I just felt like blood drained out of me. I don't believe this," Janice Roy, the boy's grandmother, told WBZ earlier this year. "He was having problems with depression for a few years."
"His death is my fault," Carter texted a friend. "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."
Janice Roy said she believed her grandson was manipulated into taking his own life.
"He was in that fragile state, yes. And I think he could have been manipulated not to," she said.
Conrad Roy's family said he had just earned his captain's license and was helping the family tugboat business.
"I was so proud of him when he got his captain's license," Conrad Roy Sr., the boy's grief-stricken farther, told WBZ. "He was very young."
Police said Carter was even on the phone as Roy died. She allegedly later texted a friend the grim details.
"He called me and I heard like muffled sounds and some type of motor running….I think he killed himself," the text read.
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#JusticeForConrad trends on social media
As news of the case spread on social media, the #JusticeForConrad hashtag began to go viral. In fact, it was a trending topic on Facebook for part of the week.
Conrad Roy and Michelle Carter
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http://ift.tt/1LDY6MP #JusticeForConrad hashtag surfaces after texts appear to show teen urging boyfriend to kill himself. via top scoring links : news http://ift.tt/1fP3f98
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