http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/us/mic...ase/index.html



Judge finds Michelle Carter guilty of manslaughter in texting suicide case



In a case that hinged largely on a teenage couple's intimate text messages, Michelle Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Friday in the 2014 death of her boyfriend, who poisoned himself by inhaling carbon monoxide in his pickup truck, a Massachusetts judge ruled.



Carter's own words -- preserved in hundreds of text messages presented as evidence over six days of testimony -- helped seal her conviction in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz said during a 15-minute explanation of his rationale.

"She admits in ... texts that she did nothing: She did not call the police or Mr. Roy's family" after hearing his last breaths during a phone call, Moniz said. "And, finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."

Carter, 20, cried silently as Moniz spoke. She stood to receive the ruling, which could set legal precedent for whether it's a crime to tell someone to commit suicide.

'There are no winners here'

Prosecutors had argued that Carter sent Roy numerous text messages urging him to commit suicide, listened over the phone as he suffocated and failed to alert authorities or his family that he'd died. The judge agreed.

CARTER: And that night I knew he was going to do it and a part of me thought he wasn’t going to like always but when he stopped talking to me on the phone, like, I knew he did it, and a couple of days before leading up to it I guess I kind of let him do it. I started giving up because whatever I said I knew I couldn’t change his mind so we talked about it and about how I’ll take care of his family when he’s gone and all of that.



Like, to him it seemed like I was okay with him dying but I wasn’t. Like, I didn’t think he was actually going to do it, you know. Like, I said stuff to make him realize how stupid he was being and I tried to convince him not to but I think I just made it easier for him?



I knew he was in the Kmart [expletive] parking lot. I knew he was going to use the generator to inhale carbon monoxide. I knew it all. But I didn’t think he would actually go through with it or that it would work, and that’s why I feel like it’s all my fault because I knew what he was going to do but I didn’t call anyone to stop him.



It’s just hard because, like, I was the only one that knew and I, like, said yesterday everyone talks about how they wished he had someone to talk to and told what he was feeling to and I was that person so I’ll always feel guilty about it.



Like, I’m the reason everyone was in that church yesterday. But you’re right. He was just going to do it another time and I’m thankful for talking about everything we did know knowing he was going to die. It’s just you think I’m a bad person for doing what I did?