Michelle Carter
A prosecutor says a woman accused of sending texts encouraging her boyfriend, 18, to kill himself used him “as a pawn in her sick game”.
Michelle Carter is charged in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III who was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in his pick-up truck in Fairhaven in July 2014.
Prosecutors say that the 20-year-old had persuaded Roy to kill himself in a calculated bid to get ‘attention’ as the grieving girlfriend.
“She used Conrad as a pawn in her sick game of life and death,” prosecutor Maryclare Flynn said.
They added that on July 10, two days before his suicide, she had carried out a ‘dry run’.
“She knew her plan to get attention would work because she pre-tested it. Two days before Conrad committed suicide, she did a dry run, texting several girls that Conrad had gone missing while simultaneously testing Conrad, telling him to get the gas machine.”
The court heard that Carter sent 40 text messages to Roy, urging him to kill himself before he finally took his own life.
“She put him in the car that night,” Flynn added.
Carter, who appeared in court in a salmon pink jacket on Tuesday, had then played the grieving girlfriend, even organising a baseball tournament in his memory – but hosted it in Plainville – her hometown not Roy’s, the court heard.
Roy’s best friend, Thomas Gammell, asked her to move the memorial game but she refused.
Texts they exchanged about the game revealed she wanted to ensure she got credit for the baseball tournament
“Ok awesome thank you! You’re not taking credit for my idea, right?” she texted him.
Defence attorney Joseph Cataldo said Roy previously was suicidal and Carter had talked him out of taking his life.
He said today that Roy was seriously depressed over the divorce of his parents and a victim of physical abuse by a relative who was on a ‘path to take his own life for years’.
He added that Carter was not responsible for his death.
“This is a suicide case,”’ he said, “not a homicide.”
Prosecutors released transcripts of text messages the then-17-year-old Carter sent to Roy. In one, she allegedly wrote: “The time is right and you’re ready, you just need to do it!”
The court heard that Carter and Roy exchanged more than 20,000 text messages – with more than 1,000 of those messages sent in the days leading up to Roy’s death.
Prosecutors say Carter sent her boyfriend dozens of text messages urging him to take his own life
Carter’s lawyer argued that she tried repeatedly to talk him out of it and only began to support the plan when it became clear he would not change his mind.
They added that the texts were protected under free speech and that Roy was depressed and previously tried to take his own life.
Carter was 17 when Roy took his own life via carbon monoxide poisoning and prosecutors argued she was criminally responsible because she encouraged him to kill himself in a series of text messages.
In some exchanges, she even revealed she was frustrated he had not taken his life yet.
“Well… I guess [that I am frustrated] just because you always say you are gonna do it but you don’t,” she text him. “But last night I know you really wanted to do it and I’m not mad. Well, I mean, kind of, I guess, just because you always say you’re gonna do it… but you don’t but last night I knew you really wanted to and I’m not mad.”
When he mentioned he was worried it would hurt his family, Carter told him they’d “get over it”.
“Everyone will be sad for a while but they will get over it and move on. They won’t be in depression. I won’t let that happen. They know how sad you are, and they know that you are doing this to be happy and I think they will understand and accept it. They will always carry you in their hearts.”
– Mailonline