Massachusetts Criminal Law Case Study
The article is entitled “Teen charged with bullying boyfriend via text message to kill himself”. It is a Massachusetts criminal law case that is about a 17-year-old girl named Michelle Carter essentially pressuring her boyfriend into committing suicide .These pressuring text messages with her late 18- year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III ultimately resulted in the teen being charged with involuntary manslaughter. The article displays both the prosecution and defence for this case with defense stating that Carter initially tried discouraged Carter from committing suicide and only supported his decision after thinking that his mind was made up. The text messages they used to support their claim included a text from Carter to Roy a month before
the his suicide stating, “But the mental hospital would help you. I know you don't think it would but I'm telling you, if you give them a chance, they can save your life" then, after his text stating that it is too later and that he gives up is where the texts encouraging his suicide start. Conversely, prosecutors stated that the text messages that Carter sent were supporting Roy’s decision to commit suicide, even pressuring it. They supported this claim by citing messages between Carter and Roy in which Carter sent messages such as “"(D)on't be scared. You already made this decision and if you don't do it tonight you're gonna be thinking about it all the time and stuff all the rest of your life and be miserable.” and "You can't keep living this way. You just need to do it like you did the last time and not think about it and just do it, babe. You can't keep doing this every day.
The article reveals that leading up to the suicide Roy had a history with mental illness that led him to a psychiatric hospital and to receive counseling. It specifically states the Roy dealt with depression and previously attempted suicide by overdosing on acetaminophen. In the articles closing paragraphs it features statements from Roy’s family concerning his death in which they reported him to appear in good spirits in the weeks before his death. In its closing sentence Roy’s Grandfather analogizes that with Roy coming out of depression they could see a light at the end of the tunnel but she (in reference to Carter) blew it up and shut off the lights.
I chose this article for various reasons. To start, I was immensely intrigued by its headline and desired an answer to why someone would bully someone to such an extent that they would commit suicide. Also, I chose it because of how baffling and unique a case it was because of the unconventionality of the situation due it being his girlfriend at the time committing the crime as opposed to the traditional bully. In addition, I liked that this article may open new definitions as to what constitutes as murder. Through this case I had the ability to explore the issue of suicide and assisted suicide and began to see it in a different way than the usual doctor patient scenario.
In regards to the case I am interested in learning more about causation and how that affects the sentencing for murder cases. To continue, I am interested in seeing if this case starts a precedent in the states for cases of a similar nature since it deals with one pressuring another into suicide, which is something not often seen in law.
the his suicide stating, “But the mental hospital would help you. I know you don't think it would but I'm telling you, if you give them a chance, they can save your life" then, after his text stating that it is too later and that he gives up is where the texts encouraging his suicide start. Conversely, prosecutors stated that the text messages that Carter sent were supporting Roy’s decision to commit suicide, even pressuring it. They supported this claim by citing messages between Carter and Roy in which Carter sent messages such as “"(D)on't be scared. You already made this decision and if you don't do it tonight you're gonna be thinking about it all the time and stuff all the rest of your life and be miserable.” and "You can't keep living this way. You just need to do it like you did the last time and not think about it and just do it, babe. You can't keep doing this every day.
The article reveals that leading up to the suicide Roy had a history with mental illness that led him to a psychiatric hospital and to receive counseling. It specifically states the Roy dealt with depression and previously attempted suicide by overdosing on acetaminophen. In the articles closing paragraphs it features statements from Roy’s family concerning his death in which they reported him to appear in good spirits in the weeks before his death. In its closing sentence Roy’s Grandfather analogizes that with Roy coming out of depression they could see a light at the end of the tunnel but she (in reference to Carter) blew it up and shut off the lights.
I chose this article for various reasons. To start, I was immensely intrigued by its headline and desired an answer to why someone would bully someone to such an extent that they would commit suicide. Also, I chose it because of how baffling and unique a case it was because of the unconventionality of the situation due it being his girlfriend at the time committing the crime as opposed to the traditional bully. In addition, I liked that this article may open new definitions as to what constitutes as murder. Through this case I had the ability to explore the issue of suicide and assisted suicide and began to see it in a different way than the usual doctor patient scenario.
In regards to the case I am interested in learning more about causation and how that affects the sentencing for murder cases. To continue, I am interested in seeing if this case starts a precedent in the states for cases of a similar nature since it deals with one pressuring another into suicide, which is something not often seen in law.