Guilty Verdict for Young Woman Who Urged Friend to Kill Himself

The New York Times ^ | 06/16/2017 | Jess Bidgoodjune

[Trump20162020]

TAUNTON, Mass. — For a case that had played out in thousands of text messages, what made Michelle Carter’s behavior a crime, a judge concluded, came in a single phone call. Just as her friend Conrad Roy III stepped out of the truck he had filled with lethal fumes, Ms. Carter told him over the phone to get back in the cab and then listened to him die without trying to help him.

That command, and Ms. Carter’s failure to help, said Judge Lawrence Moniz of Bristol County Juvenile Court, made her guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a case that had consumed New England, left two families destroyed and raised questions about the scope of legal responsibility. Ms. Carter, now 20, is to be sentenced Aug. 3 and faces up to 20 years in prison.

The judge’s decision, handed down on Friday, stunned many legal experts with its conclusion that words alone could cause a suicide.

“This is saying that what she did is killing him, that her words literally killed him, that the murder weapon here was her words,” said Matthew Segal, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which raised concerns about the case to the state’s highest court. “That is a drastic expansion of criminal law in Massachusetts.”

[Watershed]

If you listen to the judge (this was not a jury trial), you may see it differently.

[SaveFerris]

yep

[ChildOfThe60s]

Ditto to both of you

[caww]

Yep..and I’m a female.....I have female family members that think the world spins around them.....well I don’t spin and they know it so of course they don’t “like” me much as in their thinking if you don’t spin then you’re “mean”. LOLOL

However when push comes to shove and they want solid advice on what to do guess who they ask???..and they always follow it and are not sorry they do. I’d rather be a guide than “liked”....I suspect that will change when they get into their 20’s...and I’ll have both!

[Regulator]

Bitch be Guilty

[libertylover]

Everyone should be concerned about this ruling because liberals would use this kind of thinking to prosecute Limbaugh, Hannity, and anyone they don’t like.

[higgmeister]

She is the epitome of a real life Succubus.

[bboop]

I also have zero sympathy for her and believe it is an overreach of the law. He chose to ‘obey.’

[caww]

Michelle Carter....Guilty....

The "Look" that says you need to feel sorry for me please....'I promised him I would help his parents and family through their grief".....

[Mr Rogers]

“Three elements must be satisfied in order for someone to be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter:

Someone was killed as a result of the defendant’s actions.
The act either was inherently dangerous to others or done with reckless disregard for human life.
The defendant knew or should have known his or her conduct was a threat to the lives of others.”

http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/involuntary-manslaughter-overview.html

Sounds like this qualifies.

[ilovesarah2012]

But Oregon can force the death of senile seniors and everyone is okay with that.

[luvbach1]

...The young man died by his own hand, not hers.

So she was "cold and vile" but fortunately (for her) she didn't break any law.

[caww]

Conrad exited the car when he realised the carbon monoxide poisoning was taking effect... Carter told him to get back in the truck. He died soon afterwards and his body was found in his pick-up truck after his parents reported him missing. In the time between Conrad’s death and his body being found, Carter had contacted his family to ask if they knew where he was.

Just a glance at some of the messages she bombarded him with....

[OldNewYork]

Pretty guilty. And by that I mean she’s pretty and she’s completely guilty.

[Utilizer]

Just as the driver of a getaway car is as responsible for the injuries and/or deaths caused by a bank heist, this female is just as guilty.

I have NO sympathy.

[higgmeister]

I have zero sympathy for her and wouldn’t piss on her if she was on fire... but to me this is an overreach of law.

I agree. The young man died by his own hand, not hers. I understand wanting to punish her for being so cold and vile, but that should not come at the expense of reason. Harsh as it may sound, this is symptomatic of the "it's somebody else's fault" mentality much of our society has embraced in recent

Brainwashing is real.

Gaslighting describes a dynamic observed in some cases of marital infidelity: "Therapists may contribute to the victim's distress through mislabeling the woman's reactions. […] The gaslighting behaviors of the spouse provide a recipe for the so-called 'nervous breakdown' for some women [and] suicide in some of the worst situations."[13][10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting

Joseph Goebbels showed us that words can be weapons. The old adage, "the pen is mightier than the sword" still holds.

[LostInBayport]

So she was "cold and vile" but fortunately (for her) she didn't break any law.

I care not for her fortunes. What I do care about is a slippery slope where people are prosecuted and jailed because a judge decided their words "triggered" someone and "made them" do harm to their own self or others.

Think like a liberal for a moment, and imagine how this could be used. The chattering class bent over backwards this week to distance James Hodgkinson from Bernie Sanders and Rachel Maddow. Do you think they'd be so considerate if the political poles were reversed, or would they scour hours of tape to find a clip that could be twisted into an incitement for murder?

The judge made an emotional decision. I can see why, looking at the photo of the young man upthread. But it was still the wrong one.

[luvbach1]

You may be right but it would be hard to accept the notion that she doesn’t deserve some punishment for her “vile and cold” act(s).

[higgmeister]

I care not for her fortunes. What I do care about is a slippery slope where people are prosecuted and jailed because a judge decided their words "triggered" someone and "made them" do harm to their own self or others.

Read it again or listen to the judge. He said she was guilty of not trying to stop him from lethal harm. How do you think that could be turned against a Conservative? Even Asimov's robot would be bound to stop the kid's death.

[AbolishCSEU]

I too am female and am appalled by what I see. The courts are so biased against fathers its incredible. The mom can show up to court with the blood of her own children on her hands and the judges will still award her custody.

Females raised in the last 40 years have been told by “feminists” that they are God’s gift to mankind and that the man is merely a slave to do their bidding.