SUICIDE IS PAINLESS (it's the theme from MASH)

[samhexum]

A Massachusetts woman accused of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself before his suicide was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in June.

 

Michelle Carter faces up to 20 years in prison after her conviction in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III — who died from carbon monoxide poisoning inside his pickup truck in July 2014.

 

Juvenile court Judge Lawrence Moniz said Carter was “mindful” of the toxic environment building in Roy’s pickup — yet encouraged the troubled teen to get back in the vehicle.

 

“She is mindful that the process in the truck will take approximately 15 minutes,” Moniz said during Friday’s hearing in Taunton.

 

Carter did that despite knowing “all of the feelings” Roy had shared with her previously, including a prior attempt to drown himself, Moniz said.

 

“Instructing Mr. Roy to get back in the truck constituted wanton and reckless conduct, creating a situation where there’s a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm would result,” Moniz said.

 

Carter — who spoke to Roy in a series of text messages and phone calls during his suicide bid — took no action to help Roy by calling either police or his family despite knowing of his plan and location, Moniz said.

 

Moniz also banned Carter from contacting Roy’s relatives and ordered her not to obtain or apply for a passport. Carter is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 3. “She did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck,” he continued.

 

Text messages between the two shown in court revealed that Carter, then 17, told Roy to “get back in” the vehicle as it filled with the lethal gas.

 

“You can’t think about it,” Carter allegedly texted Roy on the day of his death. “You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don’t get why you aren’t.”

 

Prosecutors also noted that Carter sent a text to a friend from high school about two months after Roy’s death, admitting she was to blame.

 

“It’s my fault,” Carter texted to classmate Samantha Boardman. “I could have stopped him but I told him to get back in the car.”

 

Carter also told Boardman she was worried about what investigators would find on Roy’s phone.

 

“I’m done,” Carter wrote in one message shown in court. “His family will hate me and I can go to jail.”

 

Top Massachusetts attorneys have mixed opinions about the involuntary manslaughter conviction of Michelle Carter, but they agree on one thing — the ruling has caused a seismic shift in the intersection of technology and the law.

 

Michelle Carter, then 17, told her 18-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III to “get back in” his truck as it filled with carbon monoxide in 2014. Judge Lawrence Moniz found Friday that Carter’s instructions “constituted wanton and reckless conduct.”

 

Judge Moniz may have set a dangerous precedent with his decision, said longtime Quincy, Mass. attorney Bob Harnais.

 

“You open up the door to a direction where words now can amount to weapons, this is absolutely all new territory” Harnais said.

 

“Is she a criminal because she didn’t talk him out of it? That’s a big jump,” Harnais said.

 

Another Massachusetts defense lawyer, J. Drew Segadelli, applauded the judge for his “careful consideration” of Carter’s damning text message to Roy to “get back in the” vehicle.

 

“That was his lynchpin where he indicated that the behavior was wanton, he’s inferring intentional, and as such he found her guilty,” Segadelli said.

 

Local attorney Kevin Reddington, who was in the courtroom when the judge read his verdict, said the judge gave a “very well reasoned decision that is consistent with the law.”

 

Reddington predicted that an appeal will be an “uphill battle” because the state’s highest court has already ruled that Carter was “virtually” if not “physically” present at her boyfriend’s suicide through her text messages and phone calls.

 

If the decision is upheld the first-of-its kind case will have major national ramifications, Reddington said.

[samhexum]

UPDATE:

A Massachusetts woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter for urging her boyfriend to commit suicide through a series of text messages was sentenced Thursday.

 

A judge sentenced Michelle Carter to 2½-years in jail, but ruled she would be eligible for probation after 15 months and suspended the rest of her sentence until 2022. He also sentenced her to five years of probation. Moniz granted a defense motion to stay her sentence, meaning she will not have to go to jail until she exhausts her appeals in Massachusetts. She's now free on supervised release.

 

Carter's attorney, Joseph Cataldo, told reporters he believes Carter will be cleared.

 

Carter was 17 in July 2014 when she urged 18-year-old Conrad Roy III to "get back in" a truck filled with toxic carbon monoxide gas parked in a Fairhaven parking lot. Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz convicted Carter in June after a bench trial, saying her final instruction to Roy to get back in the truck caused his death.

 

 

In dozens of text messages, Carter urged Roy to follow through on his talk of taking his own life.

 

"The time is right and you are ready ... just do it babe," Carter wrote in a text the day he killed himself.

 

Prosecutors allege Carter pushed Roy to commit suicide because she was desperate for attention and sympathy from classmates, and wanted to play the role of a grieving girlfriend. Cataldo said Roy was intent on killing himself and took Carter along on his "sad journey." A psychiatrist testified Carter too was "very troubled" and at first tried to talk Roy out of it, but became convinced she needed to help Roy "get to heaven" only after he convinced her there was nothing she could do to stop him.

 

Cataldo had asked the judge to spare his client any jail time and instead give her five years of probation and require her to receive mental health counseling. He said Carter was struggling with mental health issues of her own -- bulimia, anorexia and depression -- during the time she urged Roy to kill himself.

 

"Miss Carter will have to live with the consequences of this for the rest of her life," Cataldo said. "This was a horrible circumstance that she completely regrets."

 

Prosecutor Maryclare Flynn called probation "just not reasonable punishment" for her role in Roy's death. Prosecutors asked the judge for a sentence of 7-12 years.

 

Moniz repeated a statement by a prosecutor which he called "perhaps the most poignant comment in the trial" -- "This is tragedy for two families."

 

In handing down his sentence, he cited that Carter was a juvenile at the time of the crime. He said he hasn't found that her age or level of maturity or mental illness had any significant impact on her actions, but said the young age of youthful offenders offers a greater promise of rehabilitation.

 

Moniz said by the end of today, "people may wonder why all of this has happened." He said he used a compilation of best practices for sentencing juveniles as he came to his decision. He also cited the impact on Roy's family members and took into account their emotional statements to the court.

 

Carter wiped away tears as she listened to the victim impact statements. Roy's sister Camden Roy said her brother was the "best friend and best role model any little sister could ask for."

 

"Not having that one person I've been with every day since birth is a pain I'll always keep with me for the rest of my life," Camden Roy said.

 

Camden Roy testified that she's "haunted" by the realization that she'll never see her brother wed or be an aunt to his children.

 

Conrad Roy Jr., Roy's father, called his son his "best friend" and "first mate."

 

"Although he did have some psychological troubles, we all felt he was going in the right direction and over the worst of it," Roy said.

 

He said Michelle Carter has not shown any remorse and said she "exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn in her own well-being."

 

"Where is her humanity? In what world is this behavior okay and acceptable?" Roy said.

 

A prosecutor read a statement by Roy's mother Lynn Roy.

 

"There is not one day I do not mourn the loss of my beloved son," the statement read. "I want him to be proud of me and how I am handling everything – I am trying to be there for his sisters in all of my pain we will carry with us for eternity."

 

In a June interview with "48 Hours," Lynn Roy said she doesn't believe Carter "has a conscience." "48 Hours" investigated the case in the episode, Death by Text.

 

"I think she needs to be held responsible for her actions 'cause she knew exactly what she was doing and what she said," Roy told Erin Moriarty.

 

Carter, now 20, was tried as a youthful offender, so Moniz had several options for sentencing. He could have committed her to a Department of Youth Services facility until she turns 21 on Aug. 11. He could also have combined a DYS commitment with an adult sentence, or hand down an adult sentence of anything from probation to the maximum 20-year term.

 

Carter's family also urged Moniz to consider a term of probation, while Roy's family petitioned the judge to hand her the maximum sentence.

 

In a letter written to Moniz last month and obtained by the Boston Herald, Carter's father David Carter wrote, "I pray to God you will take into consideration that Michelle was a troubled, vulnerable teenager in an extremely difficult situation and made a tragic mistake."

 

But in another letter obtained by the Herald, Roy's aunt Kim Bozzi asked Moniz to hand down the maximum sentence – 20 years.

 

"I'm unsure when [Michelle Carter] decided to set her sick plan into motion or why, but when she did she did it relentlessly, it was calculated and it was planned down to a T," Bozzi wrote, according to the Herald. "She preyed on his vulnerabilities, he trusted her, which in turn, cost him his life."

 

 

The sensational trial was closely watched on social media, in part because of the insistent tone of Carter's text messages.

 

"You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don't get why you aren't," Carter wrote in one text.

[+ nycman]

This story is a tragedy on all sides.

 

I do think the judge's ruling takes us into very dangerous and unchartered waters,

and I personally disagree with it. What she did was irresponsible, but it wasn't

manslaughter.

 

It's one more reason I don't text or email anything more than.....

 

"I'm running 5 minutes late"

"I'm at the cash register....where are you?"

"Are you free for dinner tonight?"

 

Anything deeper than that.....is a well documented mine field that I do not wish to enter.

[+ sync]

Apparently, there is a great deal about this that I'm incapable of comprehending. My understanding is that a seventeen-year-old girl texted suicide encouragements to an eighteen-year-old boy, and she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter because he committed suicide. I'm curious to know how Judge Moniz reacts when he hears someone tell someone else to "drop dead."

[Bertster]

I'm curious to know how Judge Moniz reacts when he hears someone tell someone else to "drop dead."

 

My understanding is that Carter's encouragement of this poor young lad to take his own life, wasn't simply a stand-alone event that occurred on the day that he took his life, but her encouragement for him to commit suicide was a protracted event, that occurred over many months. It's a little harder to excuse that behaviour, Versus a singular lapse of judgment on the day in question.

[+ newguy]

I'm surprised the defense attorney didn't bring up a psychiatric defense. The young girl's behavior mimicked a syndrome found in parents called "Munchausen by Proxy." It is a curiously common behavior when a parent makes a child sick, ill or even die in order to gain attention and

sympathy. See below for an extended discussion.

 

Any lawyers in the house?

 

NG

 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=6114322&page=1

[+ sync]

My understanding is that Carter's encouragement of this poor young lad to take his own life, wasn't simply a stand-alone event that occurred on the day that he took his life, but her encouragement for him to commit suicide was a protracted event, that occurred over many months. It's a little harder to excuse that behaviour, Versus a singular lapse of judgment on the day in question.

 

I understand and appreciate your focus on the moral assault aspect, which is heinous, but I can't make the leap to holding one individual legally responsible for another individual making the decision to end his/her own life. Perhaps if I reverse engineer my concept of the circumstances to constitute an assisted suicide, I could be swayed.

[AresEscortNYC]

It's a horrible situation for anyone to feel so beyond hope that they would want to destroy themselves. I can understand the impulse completely, but it's especially troubling when it's a child or teen, whose brain functions haven't fully developed and can't understand the scope and permanence of what they're doing.

 

Obviously the young woman's behavior was ethically abhorrent. I can even see the young man's family having a legal case for some sort of financial criminal liability (which, like the current charges, seem to have no legal precedent.) But she wasn't cyber-bullying him (which I believe, like any bullying, should have criminal penalties.) Unless there's more to this case, and taking into consideration their ages, I can't see where the line was crossed to justify criminal charges for abysmal judgment.

 

An adult encouraging a teen to follow through with their suicide plan would spin this story very differently for me.

Edited August 24, 2017 by AresEscortNYC

[+ purplekow]

A man is standing on a ledge and considering suicide and then turns to leave the ledge and is told. Coward. Get back on the ledge. Why are you chickening out. You said you would do it. You need to get back on that ledge and jump. Just because she was not there, she was bullying him and using her knowledge to not only encourage but to insist on his completing a self destructive act. She did not hold a gun to his head, but she was in his head and screaming for him to die. The sentence is too light as far as I am concerned. Letting her walk free is an abomination. At the least, a psychiatric evaluation and mandatory hospitalization should have been enforced.

If I was on a jury for this case, we would still be sitting there, because there is nothing that can be said that would convince me that this wasn't a homicidal act.

[Bertster]

 

But she wasn't cyber-bullying him (which I believe, like any bullying, should have criminal penalties.) Unless there's more to this case, and taking into consideration their ages, I can't see where the line was crossed to justify criminal charges for abysmal judgment.

 

But surely intent is an incredibly crucial barometer of culpability? I'm not leaping to the Defense of cyber-bullying here, but, in most cases, I doubt if the intent of the cyber-bully is to ensure that the recipient of the bullying takes their own life. In this case, in my view, it was absolutely the intent of Michelle Carter to ensure that the end-result of her contributions, was that Conrad Roy took his own life.

She can't just make a hand-dusting motion at the conclusion of that.

[Rudynate]

But surely intent is an incredibly crucial barometer of culpability? I'm not leaping to the Defense of cyber-bullying here, but, in most cases, I doubt if the intent of the cyber-bully is to ensure that the recipient of the bullying takes their own life. In this case, in my view, it was absolutely the intent of Michelle Carter to ensure that the end-result of her contributions, was that Conrad Roy took his own life.

She can't just make a hand-dusting motion at the conclusion of that.

 

 

But she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The level of culpability required is that she acted with reckless disregard for his safety and well -being. She directed him to get back into the cab of a truck filled with CO, insisted on it, even. Need we say more?

[+ nycman]

She directed him to get back into the cab of a truck filled with CO, insisted on it, even. Need we say more?

 

Yeah, I think you do.

 

"Go jump off a cliff."

 

If you do it....then I've commented manslaughter?

 

Sorry, I don't buy it.

[caliguy]

Yeah, I think you do.

 

"Go jump off a cliff."

 

If you do it....then I've commented manslaughter?

 

Sorry, I don't buy it.

Kind of reminds me of the duchebags who posted Tyler Clemente's sex tape and he later killed himself. They didn't even mean for him to kill himself like this bitch did. They were just having fun.

[Rudynate]

Yeah, I think you do.

 

"Go jump off a cliff."

 

If you do it....then I've commented manslaughter?

 

Sorry, I don't buy it.

 

You're ignoring their previous relationship. They had discussed it extensively, and she knew he wanted to do it. He had set the process in motion and then lost his nerve. The fact that she knew he wanted to do it and actively encouraged him over time exacerbates her culpability.

[+ nycman]

I guess we'll have to disagree on this one.

 

I just don't see her as liable for his desicisons....even if she encouraged them.

 

We are all responsible for our own fates.

 

Blaming others is easy but pointless.

[Bertster]

 

I just don't see her as liable for his desicisons....even if she encouraged them.

 

We are all responsible for our own fates.

 

Blaming others is easy but pointless.

 

this line of thinking would have seen Charles Manson walk free in 1971

[MikeyGMin]

this line of thinking would have seen Charles Manson walk free in 1971

Ahhh...bazinga. I wasn't sure how I felt about this. My gut said that she should be punished for shaming him back into that truck. The same way that cyber bullies are being held accountable when they drive someone to kill themselves. But I was on the fence. This statement crystallized it for me.

[Rudynate]

He

I guess we'll have to disagree on this one.

 

I just don't see her as liable for his desicisons....even if she encouraged them.

 

We are all responsible for our own fates.

 

Blaming others is easy but pointless.

 

 

There's an important distinction here. Active involvement is a different thing from sitting idly by. The law doesn't recognize an affirmative duty to come to someone's rescue. If she had known he was going to commit suicide and not done anything to prevent it, she wouldn't have done anything unlawful. She could have stood there looking in the window as he died, and she wouldn't have done anything unlawful. Active encouragement - whole 'nother thing. She acted with "reckless disregard of the safety and well-being of another."

[+ purplekow]

Lets face it she was a cunt, not a word I use with any regularity but which seems totally appropriate here. She wasn't an ass. She wasn't a dick. She was a cunt. That alone does not mean she needs to go to jail, but it does put her one step from having the barred door slap her on the ass.

[Mo Mason]

BUT.. did anyone NOT know that "Suicide is Painless" is the theme to MASH? I'm only in my 30's and even I knew that......

 

I feel like that was the real test here...

[Rudynate]

BUT.. did anyone NOT know that "Suicide is Painless" is the theme to MASH? I'm only in my 30's and even I knew that......

 

I feel like that was the real test here...

 

 

Test of what?

[samhexum]

Michelle Rounds, the ex-wife of Rosie O’Donnell, died earlier this week. She was 46.

 

Sources told TMZ, which first reported the news, that Rounds died of an apparent suicide on Monday.

 

“I am saddened to hear about this terrible tragedy. Mental illness is a very serious issue affecting many families,” O’Donnell said in a statement to Page Six. “My thoughts and prayers go out to Michelle’s family, her wife Krista, and their child.”

 

O’Donnell and Rounds started dating in 2011 and married the next year. After just over two years of marriage, the television star filed for divorce in early 2015. The divorce was finalized in March of last year.

 

The former couple adopted a daughter, now 4-year-old Dakota, shortly after they were married.

 

Rounds, who was born in Corning, NY, was remembered in her obituary for “her beautiful smile and beautiful long flowing red hair; her signature some would say.”

 

“The love she had for her family and friends was unconditional,” the obit reads. “Not to be fooled by her appearance; Michelle was a high-class ‘tom boy’ who was a sharp shooter, enjoyed boxing, golfing and the great outdoors.”

 

Her family is holding a private memorial. There will be no public services.

[samhexum]

“Young and the Restless” star Kristoff St. John is reportedly undergoing psychiatric treatment.

 

The 51-year-old New York native had a “scare regarding his mental health,”according to Entertainment Weekly.

 

St. John, who played young Alex Haley in “Roots: The Next Generations,” is best known as Neil Winters on the daytime soap, on which he’s appeared in more than 1,500 episodes.

 

In 2014, his 24-year-old son Julian, who suffered from schizophrenia, committed suicide at a mental health care facility in Long Beach, Calif.

 

The following year, St. John and ex-wife Mia filed a wrongful death suit against the facility, claiming that they lied about how often they checked on Julian.

 

“His legacy will live on in our hearts and for those that continue to suffer from this insidious disease. My ex-wife Mia, Julian's sisters Paris and Lola and I, are all devastated beyond words and belief,” St. John said in a statement.

 

“We mourn the loss of our son, brother, artist, poet, and a giant of a young man. A beautiful life gone much too soon. Julian will forever be remembered as he now takes flight with angels.”

 

Despite reports, Mia denied that the actor had threatened suicide.

 

“I want the world to know the truth about what is happening with Kristoff, because currently there is inaccurate, and fabricated information being reported by certain online outlets. No parent should ever have to bury their child, and for those who do, it is a nightmare that haunts you forever. The death of our beloved son Julian, has taken a toll on both of us. He is an actor and while he may appear whole on the outside, his heart is broken. As a society we need to start taking mental health seriously and realize that no one is immune,” she said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight.

 

“I hope that at this moment we can all wrap our arms around Kristoff and help him in this time of need. Help him heal and move forward.”

[LADoug1]

What does it mean to have part of your sentence deferred to 2022?

[samhexum]

A 22-year-old woman was killed after a 12-year-old boy attempting suicide by jumping off an overpass in Virginia landed on her car Saturday afternoon, investigators said.

 

Virginia State Police said Marisa Harris of Olney, Md., was driving east on Interstate 66 when the boy landed on top of her Ford Escape, WRC-TV reported.

 

While the boy’s jump left Harris “incapacitated,” he survived and was being treated for life-threatening injuries at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

 

Harris’ boyfriend, who was sitting in the SUV’s passenger seat, steered the car to the side of the road, police added. Harris died at the scene.

 

Harris’ family members told WRC she was a graduate student at Marymount University in Arlington, where she studied clinical counseling.

 

WDCW reported police are investigating the incident as a suicide.