ITEM PHOTO BY SPENSER HASAK
Lynn Classical junior Louis Brooks reacts to the trial of Michelle Carter.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — If it were up to students at Classical High School, Michelle Carter would be found guilty and sent to the slammer for life.
The 20-year-old is accused of urging her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to commit suicide in 2014. Prosecutors are seeking a conviction of involuntary manslaughter based on a series of text messages she sent the teen before his death.
“Encouraging someone who is suicidal to kill himself is pushing them off a cliff,” said Louis Brooks, a 17-year-old junior. “He was close to the edge and she could have told him ‘I don’t want you to die’ and got help. Instead she told him to do it and she’s the reason he’s dead.”
Carter was 17 when the 18-year-old Roy died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his pickup truck at a store parking lot in Fairhaven. Her lawyer has argued that the texts are protected free speech.
She was indicted in 2015 and appealed, and took the case to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The court ruled that she could stand trial for her alleged role in Roy’s death. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
In the ruling, the court found that Carter’s “virtual presence” at the time of the suicide and the “constant pressure” she had placed on Roy, who was vulnerable, were enough proof for an involuntary manslaughter charge.
Jess Cahill, 17, and a junior at Classical, said the involuntary manslaughter does not go far enough. “Manslaughter is when you accidentally kill someone,” she said. “This was not an accident, it was purposeful, she told him to do it. She should be charged with murder one because this was premeditated. It’s the same thing as taking a knife and stabbing someone.”
Seventeen-year-old Brandi Conlon agrees.
“It was so wrong,” she said. “Telling someone it’s OK to kill himself gives them the power to do it. It’s so sad. How could you encourage someone to do that? She should have tried to stop him.”
On Friday, a forensic investigator who examined computers owned by Roy testified that the teen searched suicide methods.
Steven Veronneau, a defense witness, said Roy visited a website that explained, “Easy, quick and painless ways to commit suicide” and Googled, “suicide by cop.”
The defense also called a police officer to the stand, who said he found Roy with a swollen and cut face while responding to an assault report. The defense said Roy was depressed, in part, because of family abuse.
A judge denied the defense’s request for a not-guilty verdict.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com. Material from Associated Press contributed to this report.