EDITOR'S NOTE: The text messages printed in this story contain graphic language, which some readers may find disturbing.
A woman convicted of manslaughter in her boyfriend's suicide told her friends she "heard him die," according to court documents.
That's part of the evidence Judge Lawrence Moniz used to convict Michelle Carter of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III.
Moniz explained his decision to Carter in open court on June 16, mentioning a few legal precedents used to hold her responsible for Roy's death. But it was the evidence contained in text messages between Carter and her friends that he said ultimately condemned her, in his opinion.
Two months after Roy died of carbon monoxide poisoning from sitting in his truck with a running motor pump, Carter sent a text message to a friend of hers explaining that she believed herself to be responsible for his death.
“His death is my fault like honestly I could have stopped him I was on the phone with him and he got out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I (expletive) told him to get back in,” Carter wrote on Sept. 15, 2014.
Both the prosecuting attorneys and the judge pointed to that statement as the moment Carter ultimately became responsible for Roy's death.
Read more here.
About the Author
