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Michelle Carter begins serving 15-month jail sentence as lawyers lose bid for stay in texting suicide case

New York Daily News 2/11/2019 David Boroff

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Woman ordered to begin serving jail sentence in texting suicide case

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Michelle Carter is behind bars nearly five years after she pushed her boyfriend to suicide.

The top court in Massachusetts rejected her bid to remain free on Monday, and a judge later in the day ordered her to start serving her 15-month jail sentence immediately in connection with Conrad Roy’s suicide.

Lawyers for Carter had filed an emergency motion Monday to delay her sentence ahead of a court hearing in Massachusetts, and plan to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Her lawyers argued that it is almost certain that Carter will have served her sentence “before the U.S. Supreme Court issues it’s decision and provides further guidance.”

“An extended stay would avoid the possibility that Carter may prevail on appeal only after she has already lost her liberty.”

After the motion was denied, Carter’s lawyer reiterated during a brief hearing in Taunton that she should be allowed to remain free while her case is brought to the country’s highest court. The judge denied the request and ordered her taken into custody.

Carter, now 22, was found to have caused Roy’s death when she told him to get back in his truck as it was filling with toxic gas in July of 2014. Roy was 18 at the time, and Carter was 17.

She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017, and the top court in Massachusetts rejected Carter’s appeal last week.

“This case is a tragedy for all of the people impacted by this case,” Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said. “However, as the court found in two separate decisions, her conduct was wanton and reckless, and caused the death of Conrad Roy.”

Carter had sent dozens of text messages to Roy, including, “you keep pushing it off and say you’ll do it but u never do. It’s always gonna be that way if u don’t take action.”

In another message Carter wrote, “I think your parents know you’re in a really bad place. I’m not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can except it. They know there’s nothing they can do, they’ve tried helping, everyone’s tried.”

Carter had remained free following her conviction. Her lawyers stated in Monday’s motion that she has complied with all the conditions of her release, and that she continues to undergo “extensive” mental health treatment.

They noted that she lives at home with her parents and has no prior criminal record “of any kind.”