WARNING: The following article reports on suicide, reader discretion is advised.
Michelle Carter, an 18-year-old woman in Massachusetts, could be facing a 20-year prison sentence after allegedly pressuring her boyfriend to kill himself in a week-long series of text messages.
In a number of documents released by Bristol County prosecutors, Carter, who was 17 at the time, allegedly tells Conrad Roy III that taking his own life would not cause his parents emotional distress. Roy died of carbon monoxide poisoning after operating machinery inside his vehicle while parked at a petrol station.
The messages between the pair were released by the Bristol County District Attorney’s office after Carter’s legal team filed a motion to have her charges dismissed.
According to the documents, Carter sent text messages to Roy (18) saying: “You just have to do it”; “Tonight is the night”; and “It’s painless and quick.”
When Roy replied with hesitancy, Carter allegedly sent him the following response: “You always say you're gonna do it, but you never do. I just want to make sure tonight is the real thing."
"You’re ready. You’re determined. It’s the best time to do it.”
Over a period of several days, Carter reportedly sent Roy messages claiming that his parents would be able to “move on” from losing him.
“I think your parents know you're in a really bad place. I'm not saying they want you to do it but I honestly feel like they can accept it," an alleged text message reads.
The prosecutors also claim that Carter researched methods to help Rod create a suicide plan, while also calling him “the love of my life, my boyfriend. You are my heart. I’d never leave you.”
When Roy replies to Carter saying he is going to take his own life, she allegedly responds: “Good because it’s time, babe. You know that. When you get back from the beach you’ve gotta go do it. You’re ready. You’re determined. It’s the best time to do it.”
The prosecutors then claim that Carter encouraged Roy to stay in his vehicle for more than an hour while on the phone with him.
"Brainwashed"
Earlier this week, Carter’s legal team asked that the Bristol County prosecutors dismiss all charges against the women, claiming that she had been “brainwashed” into carrying them out.
According to the Standard Times, her lawyers say that she had started messaging him with the intentions of helping him, but that she had been swept up in a “Rome-and-Juliet style death pact,” and that Roy “ultimately persuaded a young, impressionable girl” to act out of character.
"The government is harping, if you will, on her saying, 'When are you going to do it? When are you going to do it?'" Carter's lawyer Joseph P Cataldo said. "What they are not harping on are all the times she said, 'Don't do it, don't do it.'"
Another defence being mounted by Carter’s legal team revolves around her First Amendment rights, claiming that the wording in the text messages falls under protection as free speech.
"Michelle Carter's only role in this is words," Cataldo said.
“Even though I could not save my boyfriend’s life..."
A tweet allegedly sent by Michelle Carter earlier this year [Twitter]
Carter publicly mourned Roy’s death over social media, writing on Facebook:“Even though I could not save my boyfriend’s life, I want to put myself out here to try to save as many other lives as possible,” according to the Washington Post.
She also organised a fund-raising softball game in his memory, collecting more than $2,300 (€2,000) for mental-health awareness.
Prosecutor Katie Rayburn said Carter was aware that what she was doing was wrong, and alleges that Carter asked Roy to delete her texts to hide her involvement in the case.
The case against Michelle Carter in ongoing, and her trial will start on October 2nd.
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