Michelle Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Friday in the 2014 death of her boyfriend, who poisoned himself by inhaling carbon monoxide in his pickup truck, a Massachusetts judge ruled. The case was largely hinged on a teenage couple's intimate text messages.
Carter's now 20, was 17 when she sent series of text messages to Conrad Roy III urging him to take his life.
Her own words -- preserved in hundreds of text messages presented as evidence over six days of testimony -- helped seal her conviction in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz said during a 15-minute explanation of his rationale.
"She admits in ... texts that she did nothing: She did not call the police or Mr. Roy's family" after hearing his last breaths during a phone call, Moniz said. "And, finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."
Carter, 20, cried silently as Moniz spoke. She stood to receive the ruling, which could set legal precedent for whether it's a crime to tell someone to commit suicide.
Michelle’s guilty verdict was not based on the texts, but on a phone conversation on the day that he died. Although the conversation was not recorded, Michelle allegedly disclosed what happened that day in several text messages to her friends.
Judge Lawrence Moniz, of Bristol County Juvenile Court in southeastern Massachusetts, heard that Michelle ordered Conrad to get back into his truck which was filled with carbon monoxide after he became sick from the fumes.
Conrad had driven alone to a parking lot and hooked up a water pump that emitted carbon monoxide into the cab of his truck.
Judge Moniz, who handed down the ruling because Carter chose not to have a jury trial, said the fact that Mr Roy had previously attempted to take his own life, or that he might have done so again, was not relevant.
Assistant District Attorney Katie Rayburn told the court in her closing arguments that the directness required by the involuntary manslaughter statute required updating for the modern age.
"Back years ago in order to have a relationship you had to actually see somebody - or at a minimum talk on the phone. That is no longer required. People fall in love via the internet and via text. People bully via text and the internet. You can encourage someone to die via text, and you can commit a crime via text," she said.
The case drew international attention after the texts sent between the two teenagers were revealed by investigators.
"Hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself I don't know there's a lot of ways," she said in several messages sent in the two weeks before his death, as he was on holiday with his family.
In the moments before his suicide, she wrote: "You need to do it, Conrad" and "All you have to do is turn the generator on and you will be free and happy."
In another message, she wrote: "You're finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain. It's okay to be scared and it's normal. I mean, you're about to die."
Prosecutors argued that Carter had manipulated Mr Roy, who had a history of depression and suicide attempts, into taking his own life, advising him that it would be "painless".
But Carter's defence team argued that Mr Roy had planned his own suicide, and had gone so far as to secure the equipment that he used to take his own life.
They also said anti-depression medication that Carter was taking had affected her judgment. As Mr Conrad's truck filled with poisonous carbon monoxide, he left his vehicle to speak on the phone, with Carter, who was nearly 30 miles (48km) away at the time.
Investigators did not have a recording of that call, but in a text to a friend, Carter described what was said.
"Sam, [the victim's] death is my fault like honestly I could have stopped him I was on the phone with him and he got out of the [truck] because it was working and he got scared and I [expletive] told him to get back in Sam because I knew he would do it all over again the next day and I couldn’t have him live the way he was living anymore I couldn’t do it I wouldn’t let him," she wrote after his death.
Another message to her friend stated: "I was on the phone talking to him when he killed himself. I heard him dying."
She also contacted a friend when she learned that investigators were looking through Mr Roy's phone.
"They read my text messages to him I'm done", the accused wrote, adding, "his family will hate me and I could go to jail". She will be sentenced on 3 August 2017.
