Woman convicted for encouraging boyfriend’s suicide seeking parole

Michelle Carter, who in 2017 was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide, is reportedly seeking parole after serving nearly half of her sentence.

Carter, 22, in February began her 15-month sentence in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy II. She is set to appear before the state Parole Board on Thursday, CBS Boston reports.

{mosads}In 2014, at the age of 17, Carter talked to Roy on the phone while he inhaled carbon monoxide inside a truck in Fairhaven, Mass. Prosectors said Carter sent Roy text messages encouraging him not to back down after he got momentarily scared and hesitated.

“The time is right and you are ready … just do it babe,” Carter wrote in a text the day Roy died.

“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,” she said in another.

Carter’s legal team appealed the decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, arguing that the then-teen’s words were protected by the First Amendment. But the state’s highest court in February agreed with the lower court’s finding, ruling the evidence indicated “by her wanton or reckless conduct, she caused the victim’s death by suicide.”

Her attorneys appealed the case to the Supreme Court in July, arguing again that the conviction is a violation of her right to free speech. Their petition also argues the conviction violated Carter’s Fifth Amendment due process rights by arbitrarily enforcing assisted suicide laws.