Should she be held acountable?

Doc · Mar 2, 2015

This story caught my eye:

(CNN)A Massachusetts teenager faces a pretrial hearing in April on involuntary manslaughter charges for allegedly sending text messages urging a friend to commit suicide, even after he expressed second thoughts, authorities said Saturday.

Michelle Carter, 18, was indicted February 5.

Conrad Roy, 18, of Fairhaven and Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, was found dead in his car of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning July 13, Sgt. Kevin Kobza, public information officer for the Fairhaven Police Department, said Saturday.

At one point the night of Roy's death, he exited the vehicle and communicated to Carter that he was having second thoughts about taking his own life, Kobza told CNN. Carter then urged him via text message to get back in the car, Kobza said.

Upon searching Roy's cell phone, police discovered "hundreds" of texts between Roy and Carter, many which contained language from Carter that encouraged Roy to take his own life, Kobza said.

"Instead of attempting to assist him or notify his family or school officials, Ms. Carter is alleged to have strongly influenced his decision to take his own life, encouraged him to commit suicide and guided him in his engagement of activities which led to his death," Gregg Miliote, director of communications for the Bristol County district attorney's office, said in a statement.

Carter's lawyer, Joseph Cataldo, said Saturday that the evidence will show this was not manslaughter and that Carter attempted to console Roy on "many occasions."

"The facts that have been given out to the public at this point put her in the worst possible light," Cataldo said. "My heart goes out to the family, but this was a young man who planned this for months and months."

On a Twitter page confirmed by the Bristol County district attorney's office to be Carter's, several photos and tweets about Roy have been posted since his death. One tweet reads, "I can't believe today already marks 4 months without you. I love you and miss you always Conrad..."

In September 2014, Carter organized a softball tournament in Roy's memory and raised $2,300 for mental health awareness, according to Kobza.

Carter was arraigned on the indictment February 6 in New Bedford Juvenile Court, released on $2,500 bail and told not to use social media, according to Miliote.

Carter was indicted as a youthful offender because she was not yet 18 when the alleged crimes occurred. Youthful offenders are tried in juvenile court but the proceedings are public, Cataldo said.

Carter's pretrial hearing is set for April 17.

Involuntary manslaughter does not seem right to me. Agreed, the whole story is not out yet but just for not giving the right advice over the phone they are charging this young lady.

She is not a shrink. How can she be held libel for what she advices? Maybe she was trying reverse psychology. Many of us 'non professionals' have tried such tactics. Or he had wore her down to a frazzle with the do it; don't do it talk. Who knows what might have gone through the young girls mind.
Her actions after the fact (in the article above) appear to show she did indeed care.

Hindsight is always 20/20, so it is easy to see now that her advice / encouragement at that time might have had a direct impact on the boys death. But should she go to jail for allowing a person to do what they wanted to do, which is kill themselves? From what I know at this point, I don't think so.

mla2ofus · Mar 2, 2015

If she feels remorse then she will be punished by her own conscience for the rest of her life. I don't do texting or other forms of social media other than forums such as this. If I want to communicate w/ someone it's either face to face or talk on the phone. Social media seems to have an abundance of faceless, cowardly bullies hiding behind their keyboards. Even if they know the other person they type things they'd never say to one's face.
JMHO,
Mike

MrLiberty · Mar 2, 2015

I agree, unless Mass. has some kind of a good Samaritan law I don't believe that she should be charged with a crime. Who knows what state of mind she was in when communicating with this guy.

OH, and why didn't his parents or school officials pick up on the signals he must have been sending out?

SShepherd · Mar 2, 2015

"encouraging him to kill himself"

that says enough

EastTexFrank · Mar 2, 2015

Sorry folks, I can't agree. Who cares what HER state of mind was when she sent the texts? She encouraged and aided a suicide!!!! What makes her different from Kavorkian?

Actions have consequences!!!!

MrLiberty · Mar 2, 2015

SShepherd said:
"encouraging him to kill himself"

that says enough

Right now I can't agree with that as we are only get one side of the story. The Prosecutor is only releasing what he wants, so I'll stand by what I said until more evidence comes out.

jpr62902 · Mar 2, 2015

SShepherd said:
"encouraging him to kill himself"

that says enough

An opinion of what the defendant's texts said. I think we would have to read the actual texts (all of them) to make a better assessment within a much larger context.

Kane · Mar 2, 2015

Although a social conscience suggests that she SHOULD be charged with something like abetting a suicide, it seems unlikely that MA has a specific law that says she CAN be charged ... with anything.

Oh well. Makes for a good news cycle.

EastTexFrank · Mar 2, 2015

jpr62902 said:
An opinion of what the defendant's texts said. I think we would have to read the actual texts (all of them) to make a better assessment within a much larger context.

That is the prudent thing to do. I withdraw my last post.

Doc · Mar 2, 2015

Frank, I have to agree. Actions have consequences. And JPR brings logic to it all saying we need to see all the texts to be able to see the whole picture.
So, at this point I tend to be on the fence until more detail comes out.

waybomb · Mar 2, 2015

Prove that if she texted him "get help!" he would and would be alive.
Prove that if she did not respond, he would not have took his own life.

Prove it.

Likewise, how can you prove he offed himself just because of the text conversation?

He was not like you and me; his thought process screwed up.

Alaska Snow Cat · Mar 2, 2015

I wish I could blame someone else for all my actions, tried it once and my dad kicked me so hard I was coughing rubber and leather for a week. :hammer:

What if social media pressures this girl into feeling so bad she kills herself too? Who do we blame then? Obama. :clap:

Sparquelito · Mar 8, 2015

She should be charged with the same crime that put Dr Jack Kevorkian in prison;

By every reasonable standard, in each and every one of the 50 States, she is clearly guilty of second-degree homicide.

waybomb · Mar 8, 2015

Sparquelito said:
She should be charged with the same crime that put Dr Jack Kevorkian in prison;

By every reasonable standard, in each and every one of the 50 States, she is clearly guilty of second-degree homicide.

At what point do words put one in jail? See the vacationer thread in politics.

Sparquelito · Mar 8, 2015

In this case, and since the legal precedence has been established, this young woman should be made to suffer some jail time.

By legal precedence, I mean to say that other adults have been prosecuted and imprisoned for cyber-bullying.

I do concede that the young man was already suicidal, and may very well have committed suicide with or without encouragement from this heartless young woman.

But the evidence is strong here;
She had an opportunity to call 911, call parents, or inform family members that the young man was about to kill himself
She didn't.

Rather, she encouraged him to kill himself.
I agree wholeheartedly with her being tried for 2nd degree homicide.
A jury trial will decide whether or not she does any prison time for it.

Catavenger · Mar 8, 2015

Freedom of speech: If I tell someone, "go to hell" and they shoot themselves in the head and go there am I guilty of a crime?

tiredretired · Mar 8, 2015

Catavenger said:
Freedom of speech: If I tell someone, "go to hell" and they shoot themselves in the head and go there am I guilty of a crime?

Nah, they made their own conscious decision to go to hell by the way they lived their life. You just speeded up the process a bit, that is all. :yum:

Should she be held acountable?

Doc

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