Judge Lawrence Moniz, of Bristol County Juvenile Court in southeastern Massachusetts, ruled
that Ms. Carter, 17 at the time of her crime, had committed involuntary manslaughter by urging her depressed 18-year-old boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to kill himself.
Mr. Roy had flirted with the idea for weeks, and Ms. Carter — after initially telling him to seek counseling — seemed to
warm to the idea, consistently egging him on via text: “The time is right and you’re ready, you just need to do it!
By finding Ms. Carter guilty of involuntary manslaughter — rather than some lesser misdeed, such as bullying or harassment
— the court has dealt a blow to the constitutionally enshrined idea that speech is not, itself, violence.
You just need to do it like you did last time and not think about it and just do it babe.”
On July 12, 2014, Mr. Conrad drove to a Kmart parking lot and connected his truck to a water pump that released carbon monoxide.
But Friday’s shocking court decision — which found Michelle Carter guilty of sending lethal text messages — is bound to confuse the issue.