A rather disturbing case from Massachusetts:
A teenager from Massachusetts could be one step closer to standing trial for allegedly convincing her 18-year-old boyfriend to commit suicide.
Michelle Carter, 18, whom prosecutors accuse of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself in text messages, is appealing her involuntary manslaughter charge in his death while a judge moves both sides towards a trial.
Carter’s boyfriend, Conrad Roy, died of carbon monoxide poisoning in July 2014 after locking himself inside his truck in a Kmart parking lot.
Prosecutors say that Roy was on the phone with Carter for 47 minutes while in his truck, at one point telling her he was getting out of the truck because he feared the suicide attempt wasn’t working.
Just days before, in another text message, Carter wrote “don’t be scared… You’re finally to be happy in heaven," according to prosecutors.
The couple met in 2013 while visiting relatives in Florida but lived 50 miles apart in Massachusetts. Roy and Carter communicated mostly through text messages and email and had not seen each other for nearly a year before Roy committed suicide.
Roy’s great-aunt, Claudette Roy-Viaol, told media outside court in August 2015 she didn’t understand Carter's alleged text messages.
“It’s inconceivable,” she said. “I just don’t understand how someone could do that, to encourage someone they claimed to love.”
Roy had attempted suicide and had been hospitalized before he met Carter, according to court documents.
In one text message two weeks before his suicide, he expressed his desire to take his own life, writing, “I can’t get better, I already made my decision.”
The defense is now trying for a second time to have the involuntary manslaughter charge dropped, with an appeal filed two months ago that is still pending.
In the appeal, Carter’s attorney, Joseph P. Cataldo, argues that Conrad Roy had made up his own mind about taking his life and convinced Carter of his decision.
“He has in fact brainwashed her to the point where she’s now accepting his idea of this is my only option,” Cataldo, told reporters outside court last August.
In a statement to ABC News, Cataldo wrote that, “Michelle’s communications were by no means threatening” and that Roy “made his own conscious decision to take his own life,” adding “this is a tragedy, not a crime.”
ABC News' legal analyst Dan Abrams spoke about the case today on “Good Morning America."
"This is not an easy case for prosecutors. They are going to have to show that she caused his death," Abrams said. "If there was an assisted suicide ban in Massachusetts, the way they are in more than half the states, it would be much easier. They’d just be able to prove she helped, she encouraged, she assisted; they don’t have that kind of law in Massachusetts.”
“It’s possible a court will throw it out," Abrams added.
Carter faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. She is being tried as a youthful offender, a status that allows harsher punishments than typical juvenile cases and allows for court files to be open to public inspections.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/massachusetts-teen-fights-involuntary-manslaughter-charge-boyfriends-suicide/story?id=36373032
Should this woman go to prison? Should the charge be simply dismissed? Even assuming that she did encourage her boyfriend to commit suicide, should that equal Voluntary Manslaughter?
EDIT: Some additional details here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/24/michelle-carter-can-face-manslaughter-charge-for-allegedly-encouraging-boyfriends-suicide-judge-rules/
Originally posted by KazetNagorraBeing left wingers I thought you supported things like euthanasia and suicide and abortion and pretty much anything to reduce our carbon footprints and protect our precious natural resources
Whether someone commits suicide or not is their own responsibility. An exception could perhaps be made in the case of children or the mentally disabled.
Originally posted by whodeyOnce again, not a "left winger," but I support the right of people to make decisions about their own lives and how they want to live it (or not).
Being left wingers I thought you supported things like euthanasia and suicide and abortion and pretty much anything to reduce our carbon footprints and protect our precious natural resources
Originally posted by KazetNagorraUnless it comes to the free market, bigotry, drinking biggie sodas, not paying taxes, wanting to sell lemonade at a lemonade stand without a permit, not buying corporately sold health care, jay walking, etc, etc, etc.
Once again, not a "left winger," but I support the right of people to make decisions about their own lives and how they want to live it (or not).
Yea, you kids are a bundle of joy.
Originally posted by KazetNagorraWell he was probably suffering from depression at least. That should count for something. She should be punished, but I don't know what the charge should be. Reckless endangerment maybe?
Whether someone commits suicide or not is their own responsibility. An exception could perhaps be made in the case of children or the mentally disabled.
Originally posted by SleepyguyNonsense. There is no longer any right and wrong in America, just violations that rub law makers the wrong way and deserve either a fine or imprisonment.
Well he was probably suffering from depression at least. That should count for something. She should be punished, but I don't know what the charge should be. Reckless endangerment maybe?
What do lawmakers care if people start killing themselves? Now if they donated to a conservative political group then the IRS would have to come down hard on them, but I digress.
Originally posted by whodeyWill you stop ruining every thread with this drivel?
Nonsense. There is no longer any right and wrong in America, just violations that rub law makers the wrong way and deserve either a fine or imprisonment.
What do lawmakers care if people start killing themselves? Now if they donated to a conservative political group then the IRS would have to come down hard on them, but I digress.
Originally posted by SleepyguyManslaughter is pretty much the same as Reckless Endangerment except the former results in death.
Well he was probably suffering from depression at least. That should count for something. She should be punished, but I don't know what the charge should be. Reckless endangerment maybe?
Virtually anyone who commits suicide is depressed, so that standard would mean someone who agrees with someone who intends to commit suicide and at least acquiesces in it would be criminally liable. Or is there something in this case you find particularly egregious?
How about the fact that the girl charged was only 17 when her boyfriend committed suicide? Should that make her more, less or have no effect on her culpability?
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Originally posted by SleepyguyBased on the dates, he was probably a minor at the time. There is a Mass. State law on reckless endangerment of a child that has a penalty of nmt 2.5 years. I don't know if there is a similar law for adults.
Well he was probably suffering from depression at least. That should count for something. She should be punished, but I don't know what the charge should be. Reckless endangerment maybe?
However, she might also need psychiatric evaluation for risk to others, and possibly treatment.
Originally posted by SleepyguyI think this is a slippery slope. What if a depressed person watches The Sound of Music and it's the final straw, are the von Trapps now guilty of reckless endangerment?
Well he was probably suffering from depression at least. That should count for something. She should be punished, but I don't know what the charge should be. Reckless endangerment maybe?
Originally posted by JS357No he wasn't:
Based on the dates, he was probably a minor at the time. There is a Mass. State law on reckless endangerment of a child that has a penalty of nmt 2.5 years. I don't know if there is a similar law for adults.
However, she might also need psychiatric evaluation for risk to others, and possibly treatment.
A teenager from Massachusetts could be one step closer to standing trial for allegedly convincing her 18-year-old boyfriend to commit suicide.
18 years of age is not considered a "minor" in Massachusetts for almost all purposes:
Section 85P. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, any person domiciled in the commonwealth who has reached the age of eighteen shall for all purposes, and any other person who has reached the age of eighteen shall with respect to any transaction governed by the law of the commonwealth, be deemed of full legal capacity unless legally incapacitated for some reason other than insufficient age.
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter231/Section85P
Originally posted by whodeyOut of your list the only thing I think people should not be able to do is sell food without a license (of course it's a waste of policing resources to bother kids selling 25 cent lemonades).
Unless it comes to the free market, bigotry, drinking biggie sodas, not paying taxes, wanting to sell lemonade at a lemonade stand without a permit, not buying corporately sold health care, jay walking, etc, etc, etc.
Yea, you kids are a bundle of joy.
Originally posted by KazetNagorraBut they do police children selling lemonade.
Out of your list the only thing I think people should not be able to do is sell food without a license (of course it's a waste of policing resources to bother kids selling 25 cent lemonades).
Did you not know this?