Lady Who Encouraged Her Boyfriend To End His Life Got 15 Months Jail Term
.......And she will remain free pending appeal.....
Michelle Carter was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in jail for goading 18-year-old Conrad Roy III into committing suicide in July 2014, but she was allowed to remain free while her appeal is pending.
Judge Lawrence Moniz sentenced Carter, 20, in Bristol Juvenile Court, in a dramatic end to a case that drew national media coverage and generated widespread outrage over the text messages she sent Roy in the days and moments before his death, urging him to kill himself by any possible means.
Moniz sentenced Carter to a 2½-year term with 15 months suspended. He stayed the sentence, at the request of Carter’s lawyers, while her appeal makes its way through the state court system.
He said he did not believe Carter’s young age at the time of the offense, or her own mental health issues, contributed to the crime.
“I am satisfied that she is mindful of the actions for which she now stands convicted,” Moniz said.
Before handing down his sentence, Moniz heard from Roy’s father, Conrad Roy Jr., and sister, Camdyn Roy, both of whom fought back tears as they describe the ordeal of losing their loved one.
“I cannot begin to describe the despair I feel over the loss of my son,” Roy Jr. said. “I am heartbroken.”
He said Carter, who appeared distraught as she listened from the defense table, “exploited my son’s weaknesses” and “has not shown any remorse.”
“How could Michelle Carter behave so viciously and encourage my son to end his life?” he asked. “Where was her humanity? In what world was this behavior OK and acceptable?”
Carter’s lawyer, Joseph Cataldo, requested probation and noted that his client has a lengthy history of her own mental health issues, including depression and eating disorders.
In June, Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the case, which focused on whether words should make someone criminally responsible for another person’s actions.
She was 17 when she urged Roy, of Mattapoisett, in a series of bizarre, chilling messages and phone conversations to end his life in July 2014 — even after he told her he was too scared to go through it.