Woman gets 2.5 years in prison for texts encouraging suicide
Michelle Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter even though she wasn't physically present when her boyfriend died.
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Michelle Carter is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging Conrad Roy III to kill himself.
Michelle Carter, who encouraged her boyfriend to kill himself in dozens of text messages, was sentenced Thursday to two and a half years in prison.
She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in June for her role in Conrad Roy III's death three years ago, when she was 17 and he was 18. A Massachusetts judge sentenced her, though she has a chance to get out earlier on parole, CBS News reported.
Among dozens of messages, she said he should "get back in" when leaving his pickup truck filling with toxic carbon monoxide. "You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it," she also said.
The conviction broke legal ground because a suspect's physical presence at the scene of a death is usually a condition of the manslaughter charge. Now a virtual presence may be enough.