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After Texts Pushed 18-Year-Old Toward Suicide, Michelle Carter Gets Parole Denied but Will Get Out of Jail Early

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“You just gotta do it babe, you can’t think about it,” were some of the last words sent to 18-year-old Conrad Roy III by high school girlfriend Michelle Carter just hours before his tragic 2014 suicide.

“I believe in you,” Carter told Roy as he worked through his plans one final time while spending a beach day with his sisters, WFXT reported.

Convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a Massachusetts judge in 2017, Roy’s former girlfriend has served seven months out of her 15-month jail sentence.

That sentence was already suspended from the original 2-and-a-half-year-sentence she received.

And according to NBC News, Carter, now 22, was denied parole this week by the Massachusetts Parole Board.

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“Ms. Carter’s self-serving statements and behavior, leading up to and after his suicide, appear to be irrational and lacked sincerity,” members of the board wrote in its decision Friday.

“Release does not meet the legal standard.”

Do you think Carter should have received more jail time?

While her parole was denied, Carter will likely still be leaving jail early.

She’s earned “good time,” which means she’s set to be released March 13 rather than May 5, Bristol County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jonathan Darling told CNN.

According to CNN: “Inmates can earn as many as 10 days monthly for working at the jail and attending educational and other programs, he said.”

Carter’s case has received no shortage of legal help since the time of her boyfriend’s untimely death.

In the year following her conviction, Carter’s attorneys were able to keep her out of jail as they appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, according to ABC News.

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The conviction was upheld in February, only for her lawyers to respond with a failed emergency motion for a stay of sentence.

“This case legally is not over,” one of her defense attorneys said at the time, resolving to challenge the conviction once more before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Despite the defendant’s texts serving as a clear call to action for the victim, her legal team claims Carter’s encouragements were protected under the First Amendment.

Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz, who heard the case in 2017, portrayed the case quite differently, according to MassLive, addressing Carter’s statements as “wanton and reckless conduct” directly resulting in the death of another.

Judging by the national response to the case and Carter’s twisted messages to Roy, many Americans seem to agree with Moniz’s decision.

Considering that she told her hesitant boyfriend “its probably the best time now” and expressed no small amount of disappointment in Roy each time he backed out of his planned suicide, many believe Carter left little room for interpretation as to her intentions.

“You’re so hesistant because you keep overthinking it and pushing it off. You just need to do it Conrad. The more you push it off, the more it will eat at you,” Carter wrote to Roy on the day of his death.

“No more pushing it off, no more waiting.”

“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 arent,” she wrote in another text.

Carter would go on encourage Roy to get back into his vehicle later that night as he considered abandoning his plan once again.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.

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Andrew J. Sciascia was the supervising editor of features at The Western Journal. Having joined up as a regular contributor of opinion in 2018, he went on to cover the Barrett confirmation and 2020 presidential election for the outlet, regularly co-hosting its video podcast, "WJ Live," as well.
Andrew J. Sciascia was the supervising editor of features at The Western Journal and regularly co-hosted the outlet's video podcast, "WJ Live."

Sciascia first joined up with The Western Journal as a regular contributor of opinion in 2018, before graduating with a degree in criminal justice and political science from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and worked briefly as a political operative with the Massachusetts Republican Party.

He covered the Barrett confirmation and 2020 presidential election for The Western Journal. His work has also appeared in The Daily Caller.




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