Whether you love to watch true crime documentaries, read about some of the world's most fascinating cases in a book, or listen to a podcast from fellow crime junkies, the true genre is one that's brimming with a whole wealth of material to be explored. That's why, a few months back, we decided to launch our True Crime Tuesday series.
Today, we'll be delving into the case of Michelle Carter, a teenager who was held responsible for the suicide of her long-distance boyfriend, Conrad Roy, after encouraging him to take his own life via text message.
As the lines of what a crime is continue to blur, because of the increased use of social media, and revolutionary technology, we take a look at a world very, very different to the one in which shows such as Netflix original series Mindhunter take place.
The death of Conrad Roy, and case of Michelle Carter
On July 13, 2014, Conrad Henri Roy III died by suicide at the age of 18. The young American had been conversing with his long-distance girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, via text message, who had encouraged him to go ahead with his claims of taking his own life.
Roy had a history of struggling with his mental health, and had attempted to take his life in the past. According to court documents, he had allegedly been hit by his father, with verbal abuse from his grandfather.
He and Carter first met when each had been visiting relatives in Florida, back in 2012. After that first encounter, they saw each other in person only a few times over the course of three years, despite the short 35 mile distance between them. They communicated instead, primarily via text message and email.
Supposedly grieving her boyfriend, it took over six months for Carter to be indicted on charges, with an arraignment on February 5th, 2015 in New Bedford Juvenile Court, Taunton Massachusetts. She was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Despite the ongoing case, Carter's mother Gail posted pictures of her daughter to social media, where she was outfitted in a prom dress and enjoyed a trip to Orlando, taking part in a DECA schools competition which included a visit to Walt Disney World. Roy's family publicly noted that the pictures had caused them upset.
Two years later, on Monday June 5th, 2017 (the day before the trial), Carter waived her right to a jury trial. Instead, the case would be heard by Judge Lawrence Moniz in the Bristol County Juvenile Court - a decision which she may now regret. With limited legal precedent for prosecuting a person who had encouraged suicide, Carter's representative Joseph P. Cataldo had initially asked a judge for summary dismissal. He argued that his client's texts were protected under the First Amendment, and that Roy had contemplated suicide before Carter had given her input. The motion was declined.
On June 16th, 2017, Judge Lawrence Moniz concluded that Carter was guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He said that Carter's phone calls with Roy whilst he was in his truck gassing himself were a deciding factor in his judgement, as they caused the victim to go through with killing himself. The judge said that Roy had broken the "chain of self-causation" after exiting the truck after attempting to gas himself, and only returned and died because of Carter's encouragement.
On August 3rd, 2017, Judge Lawrence Moniz declared a sentence of two-and-a-half years for Carter, with 15 months to be served in the Bristol County House of Corrections. The rest of the sentence would be suspended, with five years of probation to be served.
That wasn't the end, however. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court this year (February 6th, 2019) declared that Carter acted with criminal intent with her encouragement of suicide, so her conviction was ordered to stand and her sentence will be enforced in the near future.
Carter has since petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to review the case based upon First Amendment and Fifth Amendment grounds. On September 19th, 2019, she had a parole hearing and asked for early release. The parole board denied the request just one day later.
Will the law change?
Many think that this case will set a precedent for future trials in a similar vein. We now have to ask ourselves the question of whether it should be illegal to tell someone to kill themselves. The judge in the case said that Carter's actions were more than just a couple of words of encouragement, as she "put him in that toxic environment" (in which he died), and her "conduct caused the death of Mr. Roy."
American law doesn't allow a decision like this to bind other courts to take similar action, but legal professionals still think it'll have a social effect by raising the attention of fellow courts to new, digital methods of committing crimes. What that means for the future of the official laws of the land remains to be seen. It's likely that it will be left to each individual judge and their discretion to deal with trials like this, on a case-by-case basis.
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