Massachusetts’ highest court is set to consider whether to throw out the involuntary manslaughter conviction of a woman who as a teenager encouraged her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself in dozens of text messages.
Lawyers for 22-year-old Michelle Carter will urge the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday to reject a judge’s finding that she caused Conrad Roy III’s death when she told him to get back in a truck filled with toxic gas.
Carter was sentenced to 15 months in jail last year but has remained free while she pursues her appeal.
Prosecutors say Carter could have stopped Roy, who was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in July 2014.
Her lawyers say her conviction criminalizes free speech and that Carter’s words didn’t cause Roy’s death.
