I was surprise the judge came up with this verdict , but I do feel it was the right one . How do others feel about this ?
Guilty. Right call.
But you have to wonder where the boundary is from now on. If someone is depressed, and a bystander makes a snide remark that prompts them to jump off a cliff, is the bystander now guilty of manslaughter?
I think that the verdict is crap. Nobody is forced to read text messages.
If someone writes a book explaining this woman’s behavior, I would buy it.
Were I the judge, I too would wait until August to do the sentencing. I would need quite a bit of time to get in the right frame of mind to find a fair and wise punishment.
I think she did more than make a snide comment. She actively egged him on and encouraged him when he was wavering not to kill himself.
I would think this wouldn’t count , b/c there is no way for a person to know what going on in a stranger’s mind. The woman in this case knew her b/f and instead of trying to stop him getting back into the truck she demanded him to get back in and listen him dies ! I am not sure this I put my thread in the right place .
I don’t know how to evaluate her claimed psychiatric condition and the use of drugs for her obsessive texting behavior. With that aside she should be found guilty. Her actions implied intent.
Your views on culpability for convincing others to kill are duly noted, um, manson.
The one thing that I didn’t realize until reading the OP’s article was that these two people didn’t really spend a lot of time together. They met in Florida by coincidence while both were from Massachusetts but rarely ever saw each other with the bulk of their relationship being texts and emails through a long distance relationship.
That’s not a real relationship, imho. So sad that Roy put so much credence on what she said.
I dont’ know about you, but I see a difference between a passing stranger being an asshat and someone known to and close to the suicide repeatedly encouraging them to kill themselves.
No one forced the woman to repeatedly text a suicidal person with encouragement to kill himself, and scolding him for attempting to back out.
How was the scolding done?
I’m fine with the verdict.
That said, I don’t think she should have to spend a lot of time in jail, if any. I think felony probation (10 years) would be a fitting sentence for her deeds.
From the article:
Did you actually bother to read the article?
"The judge noted that the 18-year-old Roy climbed out of the truck as it was filling with toxic gas and told Carter he was scared. “Get back in,” Carter told Roy, "
“This court finds that instructing Mr. Roy to ‘get back in’ the truck constitutes wanton and reckless conduct by Ms. Carter,” the judge said."
It’s not just texts. Edumacate yourself before you post.
So it’s your contention that she was physically present when he killed himself, and directly told him to “Get back in” his car?
No she wasn’t present, she communicated her insistence via text.
It’s sad that he gave her thoughts and opinions so much weight.
Right, but a precedent has now been set - verbal words that lead to suicide, can lead to criminal liability. It wouldn’t take much to stretch that precedent in the future.
Again, for the record, I think the conviction of this girl for manslaughter was the correct decision. But the precedent is a slippery one.
I’m opposed to the verdict.
What this woman did was reprehensible, but I don’t think people should be criminally accountable for this type of thing. Unless there happens to be a law specifically outlawing it, that is. Meaning, if there’s a law against convincing someone to do some criminal act, then that’s fine with me. But I don’t see this as being covered under a law against manslaughter. Or that egging someone else on to steal means that you stole, and so on.
I think there have been other similar cases, in which people bullied other people online until they killed themselves. But I don’t recall the outcome of those cases.
My understanding is that she felt socially unsuccessful and intended to use sympathy from his death to get some craved social standing.
So it’s like I said. No one is forced to read a text message.