Michelle Carter, the Massachusetts woman who, as a 17-year-old in July 2014 successfully encouraged her boyfriend to kill himself via texts and phone calls, has been ordered by a judge to immediately begin her 15-month prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. This development came after the state's highest court upheld the conviction. According to NBC News, the 22-year-old Carter was taken into custody on Monday.
Carter's attorneys had asked judge Lawrence Moniz to allow Carter to remain free while they attempted to have the case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. "This case, legally, is not over," defense lawyer Joseph Cataldo told the judge. "We fully intend to file an appeal to the Unite States Supreme Court within the next 90 days."
Earlier on Monday the state's Supreme Court also rejected an emergency motion to prevent the sentence from going into effect.
Carter reportedly showed no emotion as she was escorted away by bailiffs.
On Wednesday, Feb. 6, the court upheld a 2017 involuntary manslaughter conviction that was given to Carter for the role she played in the suicide of her then 18-year-old boyfriend, Conrad Roy III. She had been on the phone with Roy as he poisoned himself with carbon monoxide fumes from his pickup truck. Carter decided against a jury trial, but Judge Moniz ruled that she played a direct hand in Roy's death by telling him to return to his car as it was filling with deadly exhaust. The court also cited texts she had sent to Roy to support their ruling.
In its decision the court wrote: "As the defendant herself explained, and we repeat due to its importance, '[The victim's] death is my fault like honestly I could have stopped him I was on the phone with him and he got out of the [truck] because it was working and he got scared and I f--king told him to get back in.'"
