Conrad Roy

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At eighteen years old, Conrad Royce suffered from severe depression
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and anxiety. At seventeen, he tried to overdos on a
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student menifon, but was saved by his best friend. He
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went to therapy, got medication, and by his graduation senior year,
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he seemed to be doing much better. So it was
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a horrifying shock to those who loved him when he
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was found dead in his truck from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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Originally ruled a suicide, Conrad's death would take a murderous
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turn when police uncovered the text message conversation on his
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phone chapter one deleted text. The story of Conrad roy
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is often attached to a series of deleted text to
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his phone. Some of them read, Conrad, Hey you there.
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Why haven't you done it yet? You can't think about it.
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You just have to do it. You said you were
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going to do it. I don't get why you aren't.
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You keep pushing it off and you say you will
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do it, but you never do. It's probably the best
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time now, since everyone is asleep. Just go somewhere in
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your truck. If you don't want to do it now,
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you're never going to do it, go in your truck
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and drive in a parking lot somewhere. You just need
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to do it, Conrad. The more you push it off,
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the more it will eat at you. You're ready and prepared.
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All you have to do is turn the generator on
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and you'll be free and happy. No more pushing it off,
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no more waiting. Go someplace where you can't get caught.
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You can find a place. I know you can. You
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just got to do it, babe, You just got to
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do it. I believe in you. Investigators uncovered these texts
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and hundreds more that were deleted on Conrad's phone from
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a seventeen year old girl named Michelle Carter, though she
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lived an hour away from Conrad. On the Massachusetts coast.
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The two had met through mutual family friends on a
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vacation of Florida in twenty twelve. They'd stayed in contact
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after the vacation, texting, emailing, and calling each other constantly
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over the course of two years. In that time, Conrad
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vulnerably admitted to Michelle that he suffered from depression and anxiety.
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But despite therapy and the antidepression and anxiety means he
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was prescribed, Conrad still struggled with suicidal thoughts, and he
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seemed to have found an empathetic ear in Michelle, who
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suffered from an eating disorder herself and dealt with her
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own anxiety demons, for which she was also prescribed medication.
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So how did this seemingly supportive friendship turn to something
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potentially deadly? Chapter two, Meeting Conrad. By all accounts, Conrad
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Roy grew up in a loving family. During his early childhood,
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the only boy an oldest child in a family of five.
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Conrade's mother, Lynne, described him as a happy child who
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was most at home on the water, where his father
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and grandfather owned a marine salvage business. From a very
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early age, he helped his father and grandfather on their
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boat docked not far from their house and met a
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place at Massachusetts. But as Conrad grew into a teenager,
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he began struggling with his mental health. While his parents
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first figured it was just hormones making him moody, their
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marriage began to fail when Conrad started high school, and
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in twenty eleven, things took a tumultuous turn when the
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cops were called for domestic violence incident between Conrad's parents,
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where his father alleged he was attacked in front of
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his children, and not long after, cops were back at
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the house a second time to break up an altercation
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between Conrad and his father. His parents divorced soon after,
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and their breakup hit Conrad heard his mom Lynn was
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worried about his well being and his grades at school
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began to slip. Conrad admitted he was having a hard
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time concentrating and struggling with feeling down, and his depression
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got so bad that in October twenty twelve, he overdosed
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on a scene of minefit. However, after taking the pills,
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he got scared and called for help. After this incident,
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Conrad was taken for professional therapy and put on an antidepressant,
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which seemed to help him immensely, at least from the outside.
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Conrad's grades improved to the point that he graduated high
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school in twenty fourteen at the top of his class,
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with a full ride scholarship to Fitchburg State University. He
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also obtained his license to be a tugboat captain, a
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feat he'd spent three months of night classes to achieve
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while also playing baseball, rowing on the high school's rowing team,
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and running track. It seemed like things were going good
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for Conrad, but underneath the facade of his success, he
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wasn't really feeling any better. Chapter three. A questionable influence.
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Perhaps meeting Michelle when Conrad was at his lowest in
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the summer of two twelve, right after his parents divorced,
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was what set up the chain of events that was
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to follow now. According to Conrad's two sisters, Michelle was
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a smiling, seemingly happy young woman who made Conrad laugh
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during the Florida trip where their families hung out together,
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But later information would reveal that this was a mask
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hiding an insecure and lonely teenage girl. Michelle suffered from
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an eating disorder at age nine, and by her teenagers,
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her anxiety and depression around eating had gotten so bad
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she began cutting herself. At one point, she was hospitalized
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for her eating issues and was placed on medications to
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assist her with anxiety. But, like Conrad, while the medications
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seemed to help her from the outside, Michelle struggled to
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fit in at school. According to several of her classmates,
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Michelle came on strong, intended to share details far too
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intimate about her issues right from the beginning of friendship.
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Once she believed she was friends with someone, Michelle texted
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them constantly, and if she didn't receive an immediate answer,
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she'd send texts like I don't want you to hate me,
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or I have no friends. Michelle's classmate, Samantha Boardman, described
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that while she tried to be supportive of Michelle about
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her eatings were by watching what Michelle had school and
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texting her see she's okay at home. Sam had a
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life outside of Michelle, and Michelle didn't seem to respect that.
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Michelle often texted Sam complaining that she had no school
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friends and that no one ever called her or made
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an effort to hang out with her, when that was
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clearly not the keyse in Michelle's mind, Sam just didn't
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text her enough or hang out enough, not as much
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as the lonely teen wanted. Other classmates recalled that Michelle
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would often get their number through a group chat or
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through a common friend and began texting them deeply personal
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information about her struggles and loneliness. In one instance, a
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girl named Ali Either told Oxygen that Michelle had got
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her number off group text from the summer camp they
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both volunteered at, and immediately began texting Ali about the
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rough time she was having with her boyfriend. Ali recalled
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not knowing Michelle at all except for seeing her around
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the camp and simply responded, I don't know you very well,
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and she also said that she couldn't help Michelle with
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her problems. But when Michelle and Conrad met in twenty twelve,
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there seemed to be some kind of instant connection between
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the two, especially after Michelle told Conrad about her own
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eating disorder and struggle with anxiety for what she was
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taking medication two. Maybe knowing this helped Conrad feel less
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alone he wasn't the only teenager with mental health struggles,
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and the two teens began relationship and though Michelle and
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her family lived only about an hour away from Conrad
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in Plainville, Massachusetts. The two rarely saw each other. After
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the Florida trip ended, Lynn recalled to the show forty
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eight hours that aside from Conrad's funeral, she only met
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Michelle one other time, at one of Conrad's baseball games.
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The teen's whole relationship was conducted through text, phone calls,
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and emails. Perhaps Michelle was finally getting the attention and
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sense of belonging she's so craved by being in constant
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contact with Conrad. Perhaps Conrad felt like someone was really
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listening to him and taking his anxiety seriously, or at
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least understood where he was coming from. And for the
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first few months they were in contact, Michelle really did
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seem to be helping Conrad. When he told her about
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his suicidal thoughts following his parents' divorce, she offered to
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call the suicide hotline for him and urged him to
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talk to his doctors about how he felt. She told
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him he had so much to live for and she
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loved him and didn't want him to die. After he
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was saved from the acen of minifin overdose, allegedly tried
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to die by suicide a second time by overdosing on
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sleeping pills. When they failed, he texted Michelle, who encouraged
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him to get help, saying that she would get help
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too and they could get better together. In a text
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she sent not long after the failed attempt, she told Conrad,
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we would get through our issues together. Think about it.
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You aren't going to get better on your own. You
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know it, no matter how many times you tell yourself
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you are. You need professional help like me, people who
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know how to treat it and fix it. But in
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June twenty fourteen, the tone of Michelle and Conrad's conversations
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changed in an ominous fashion. Chapter four, Hatching a Plan,
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Michelle and Conrad began to discuss suicide in earnest and
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not just theoretically but specifically, with Michelle making suggestions about
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different ways Conrad could die. She sent him texts that
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read what about hanging yourself or stabbing yourself? And why
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don't you just drink bleach? After several exchanges, Michelle suggested
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carbon monoxide poisoning, saying there was no pain and Conrad
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could simply turn his car on in the garage and
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fall asleep to commit the task. Conrad responded that Michelle
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was a genius and that he could use a portable
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generator from work that he could put in his truck.
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At one point, Conrad expressed to Michelle that they should
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be like Romeo and Juliet, both taking their own lives together,
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like the characters in Shakespeare's play, but Michelle responded by
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saying that she didn't want them both to die, but
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she continued to encourage Conrad in his own thoughts of
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suicide after deciding on carbon monoxide poison by a generator
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as the method, Michelle began to consistently ask Conrad when
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he was going to take his own life, and when
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he vacillated, Michelle texted him things like that, so I
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guess you aren't going to do it? Then, all that
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for nothing. I'm just confused, like you were so ready
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and determined. In the first week of July twenty fourteen,
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Michelle sent Conrad over forty text encouraging him to just
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do it. But how could this change of heart have happened?
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Only months prior, Michelle had been encouraging Conrad to get
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professional help, telling him they would get better together. How
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could she flip so far? The other way and pressure
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Conrad into taking his own life. There are two theories.
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The first is at in the spring of twenty fourteen,
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Michelle's psychiatrist switched her from Prozac, which she was taking
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for depression and anxiety, to a drug called Selexa, while
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Conrad was also on Selexa, and it's a drug known
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to cause suicidal tendencies and teens. It can also disrupt
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frontal lobe function, which can lead to behavioral changes. It's
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been proposed that michelle personality did seem to change following
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her starting Selexa, with her family noting that she went
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from being very caring to irrational and irritable. It's possible
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that she had an adverse side effect to the medication
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change that prompted her to become annoyed and angry that
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she was, at least in her mind, helping Conrad achieve
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his goal and he wasn't doing it. A second theory
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is that around the time she and Conrad became a couple,
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Michelle was having a very hard time making connections with
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friends at school and she needed something awful to happen
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in her life to gain sympathy and attention from her peers.
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There's evidence that around the same time she was pressuring
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Conrad to go through with his plan to die by suicide,
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Michelle spread a rumor to several of her classmates that
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her boyfriend Conrad had gone missing, and Michelle feared for
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his safety, telling friends he was suicidal. Meanwhile, Michelle was
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in constant contact with Conrad and texteder spoke to him
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several times a day, so she knew he wasn't missing.
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But this missing ployee seemed to work, with several of
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Michelle's female classmates rallying around her to comfort her as
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she blamed herself for not helping Conrad. More as the
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attention and sympathy she received grew, it's possible, Michelle realized
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that she'd have to up the ante to keep the
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attention on herself, and the only way she could see
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that happening was if Conrad went through with his plan.
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Chapter five, A Life Taking. On July twelfth, twenty fourteen,
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Michelle texted Conrad extensively over a twelve hour period, pressuring
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him about when he was going to do the deed.
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She reminded him that he had to do it now
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today because he'd been putting it off and he'd just
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keep putting it off if he didn't just do it,
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And while Conrad hedged that he knew Michelle was right,
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he felt bad leaving his family behind and was having
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a lot of anxiety about making such huge decision. But
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for every hesitation that Conrad pointed out, Michelle seemed to
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have a solution as far as leaving his family. Michelle
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texted that she would take care of them, make sure
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they were okay, and that eventually they would love Conrad
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enough to accept his decision. When he was worried he'd
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hurt whoever found him with the carbon monoxide, Michelle suggested
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putting a sticky note on the generator to warn people
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what it was so they could take precautions. And when
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their text conversation went well into the early hours of
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the morning and Conrad said it was getting too light
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out for him to leave, Michelle reminded him it was
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the best time to take his truck out to a
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secluded place because everyone would be asleep still and no
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one would bother him. Conrad finally relented, promising Michelle that
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after taking his sisters out for ice cream that night,
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he would drive to secluded part of the Kmart parking
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lot and take his life. The couple stayed in close
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contact the rest of the day, texting back and forth
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every few minutes, with Michelle continuing to encourage Conrad to
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stick with his plan. Six pm that night, after bringing
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his sisters back from ice cream, Conrad told his Mommy
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is going to a friend's house and need to be back,
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but he never came home. By July thirteenth, his family
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knew something was wrong. They began searching and put in
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a missing person's report for Conrad. Unfortunately, police found him
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in the Kmart parking lot inside his truck, dead from
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carbon monoxide poisoning. Chapter six, an unprecedented case initially ruled
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a suicide based on Conrad's past mental health issues. His
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family warned their inability to help him through his depression
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and held his funeral only a week later, on July nineteenth,
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twenty fourteen. In attendance was Michelle Carter, sitting close to
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the family pew and sobbing it to a tissue. She
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hugged Conrad's mother and told her how sorry she was
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about Conrad's passing and felt awful that she hadn't been
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able to help him. She admonished how much she'd loved
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Conrad and thought they would be together forever. But what
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investigators were about to discover would turn Michelle's grief into
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something looked much more sinister, and going through Conrad's phone
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to ensure that his death was indeed a suicide, police
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uncovered thousands of text messages between Conrad and Michelle and
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the month before Conrad took his life. Hundreds of Michelle's
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texts centered around suicide, but what was of most interest
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to police were the texts that she sent Conrad after
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he drove to the Kmart parking lot. According to the
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police records, Michelle stayed in contact with Conrad throughout the ordeal,
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coaching him and turning on the generator and taking a
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forty minute phone call with him as he sat in
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the truck. Evidence pointed to the fact that returning on
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the generator, Conrad was in pain from the asphyxiation and
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got out of his truck, telling Michelle he was scared
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and that he didn't want to go through with it.
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Michelle texted him back to get into the truck and
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close the door. This all led to the question would
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Conrad have gone through with the suicide if he hadn't
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been texting with Michelle that night. Investigators believed Conrad may
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have lived if not pressured by Michelle. After all, following
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his overdose the year before, he'd become scared and called
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for help, but that didn't happen this time. Instead of
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calling for help, he stayed on the phone with Michelle
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and she kept pressuring him to end his life, and
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that led to a question for authorities, did that make
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her culpable in his death? A grand jury believe so,
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indicted Michelle Carter with involuntary manslaughter on February fourth, twenty fifteen.
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They cited that there was enough evidence pointing to the
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fact that she wantonly and recklessly assisted in Conrad Roy's suicide.
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But this would be an unprecedented case in the Massachusetts courts,
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as there were no laws in the book at that
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time that criminalized suicide assistance, and Michelle's case was especially
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blurry since she hadn't been physically present at the time
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of Conrad's death. But as Michelle's defense team began planning
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out a strategy, other evidence was uncovered that made Michelle
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look even more responsible. In a series of text messages
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to her classmate Samantha Boardman, Michelle wrote, Sam, his death
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is my fault. Like honestly, I could have stopped him.
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I was on the phone with him and he got
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out of the car because it was working and he
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got scared, and I fucking told him to get back in.
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But most damning was her second text. I just got
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off the phone with Conrad's mom about twenty minutes ago,
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and she told me that detectives had to come and
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go through his things and stuff. It's something they have
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to do with suicides and homicides. Sam. If they read
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my messages with him, I'm done. His family will hate
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me and I could go to jail. Coupled with the
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fact that Michelle often told Conrad to delete the text
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conversations the two of them had about suicide, prosecutors believed
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Michelle knew exactly what she was doing when she told
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Conrad to take his own life. While the defense motion
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to appeal the grand jury indictment on the grounds that
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text messages were covered under the First Amendment law and
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were private, the motion was denied with a boord of
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unanimous judges citing there was probable cause in the manslaughter
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charge from the defense's perspective, this plus text message evidence
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was too much to give to a jury, and they
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encouraged Michelle to do a bench trial instead, where she
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would only sit before a judge. Michelle agreed, sitting before
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Judge Lawrence Manna's on June sixth, twenty seventeen, as her
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case was discussed over a six day trial. After hearing
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both sides, the judge found Michelle guilty of involuntary manslaughter
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on the ground that she had urged Conrad to get
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back in his truck after he broke the chain of
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self causation towards suicide by exiting the vehicle. Despite her conviction,
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Michelle remained free on bail while she waited for sentencing,
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and her defense team began an appeal on the grounds
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that her First Amendment rights had been violated and she
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had been denied her Fifth Amendment right to do process
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Chapter seven Appeals and Sentences. The question remains, were Michelle's
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rights violated? Let's break this down starting with the First
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Amendment rights. According to an article by Victoria Lewin in
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the Houston Law Review, the Supreme Court is never considered
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whether criminalizing speech that churages another to commit suicide violates
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the right to free speech. This means there's no law
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currently on the books saying that what Michelle did was criminal.
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The only policy that would come close to making what
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Michelle did criminal is what is known as true threat,
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which is defined as when a speaker uses statements indicating
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intent to commit an active, unlawful violence against a particular
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person or group. And it can be argued that this
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still doesn't apply to Michelle, as she was not threatening Conrad,
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she was encouraging him. At no point did she say
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anything in which she threatened him with bodily harm or violence. However,
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the Massachusetts courts were still able to find her speech
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criminal since her text messages were integral to a course
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of criminal conduct ie putting Conrad into place where he
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felt he had to take his own life to please Michelle,
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and as far as the Fifth Amendment writes. Again, according
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to Leuhan, Michelle Carter cited that she lacked fair notice
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that she could be convicted in Comrade's suicide, stating that
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the way Massachusetts defied involuntary manslaughter was constitutionally vague and
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didn't apply to her situation, but the courts denied her claim,
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though Her defense team took her case all the way
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to the U. S. Supreme Court in twenty nineteen, citing
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that Michelle was bewildered over the case against her and that,
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taking all of her text into context, she'd really tried
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to talk Conrad out of it. But the Supreme Court
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declined to hear Michelle's case and upheld her conviction for manslaughter.
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She was sentenced to fifteen months at the Bristol County
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House of Corrections and five years of probation. Michelle Carter
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began serving her sentence on February eleven, twenty nineteen, after
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all her appeals were exhausted. She was released from prison
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on January twenty third, twenty twenty, three months early due
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to good behavior, making her full term of time served
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eleven months and twelve days while she stayed on the
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press and under the radar. Michelle is twenty five at
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the time of this recording and has one year left
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on her five years of probation. There's no public information
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as to her whereabouts, though some sources suggest she's back
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in Plainville living with her family. Hopefully, wherever she is,
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she's reflected on her choices and is living a law
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abiding Life, Chapter eight, Conrad's Legacy. Upon Michelle's early release,
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the Roy family spoke out that they were satisfied with
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the justice Conrad had received, citing that news of the
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Supreme Court denying to hear her case far out chatted
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the news of her early release. Her time in jail,
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no matter how long or short, will not change the
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outcome of a guilty verdict, which is thankfully being upheld.
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And while they also cited that no amount of justice
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would bring their son back, the family has worked hard
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to keep his legacy life. Shortly following Conrad's death, the
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Roys established the Captain Conrad H. Roy the Third Scholarship
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Fund the Northeast Maritime Institute in his memory, as Conrad
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saw being a sea captain as one of his greatest accomplishments.
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His mother Lynn also began working with Massachusetts senators in
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twenty nineteen to bring about Conrad's Law, a built that
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would officially criminalize suicide coercion in Massachusetts and would result
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in a maximum five year prison sentence for those convicted.
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In twenty twenty three, the bill made it to the
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Massachusetts House of Representatives and as of this recording, Conrad's
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law is still under a review, it poses many legal
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issues with rights to free speech, and it may still
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be a few years in several legal adjustments before it
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becomes law. Despite this, the Roy family brings awareness to
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Conrad's law every year by hosting an annual five K
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held in September in the Massachusetts town of fair Haven.
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For any of our listeners who may struggle with suicide
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or know someone who does, we encourage you to call
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the Suicide Prevention Hotline twenty four to seven at nine
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to eight eight if our listeners would like more information
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on this case. There are several documentaries and a fictional
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retellings surrounding the texting suicide case of Conrad Roy. We
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invite you to check out forty eight Hours episode Death
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by Text, Datelines, episode Reckless, HBO's I Love You Now Die,
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00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:33.880
The Commonwealth Versus Michelle Carter, and Hulu is the Girl
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00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:38.559
from Plainville. We'd also love to know your thoughts. Do
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you think Michelle Carter should have been prosecuted in Conrad's
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death and was her sentence appropriate? Leave us a review
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00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:50.240
and let us know. Audience invitation, is there a case
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or an unexplained communication you'd like us to cover. Please
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take the time to rate and review the show, and
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00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.440
in your comments tell us what case you'd like us
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to tackle. You can also follow us and reach us
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on social media. We're on x dot com at killercpod
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and on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Killer Communications Podcast,
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and be sure to check out our website Killer Communications
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Thanks for listening, and we hope you'll join us on
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Killer Communications is narrated and produced by Mike Morpherd for
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Abject Entertainment. It's researched and written by Abigail Belcastro. Be
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