The 23-year-old Massachusetts woman who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for repeatedly urging her late boyfriend Conrad Roy III, 18, to take his own life in 2014 will not be let out of prison early. All indications are that Michelle Carter’s appeal to a parole board for an early release on Thursday was a major flop.
As Law&Crime reported Thursday, Carter has served seven months of her 15-month sentence after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Even though the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office reportedly described her as a “model inmate” shortly after she started serving time in February, the parole board is clearly still concerned.
The parole board decision, as reported by PEOPLE, noted it was troubling that Carter “not only encouraged [Conrad Roy III] to take his own life, she actively prevented others from intervening in his suicide.” Furthermore, the board said, Carter’s “self-serving statements and behavior, leading up to and after his suicide, appear to be irrational and lacked sincerity.”
“Ms. Carter needs to further address her causative factors that led to the governing offense,” the board concluded.
Carter was convicted in Roy’s death back in June 2017, but her sentence was pushed back to this year while she pursued an appeal. She asked the U.S. Supreme Court in July to overturn her conviction on First Amendment grounds.
The petition for a writ of certiorari said that Carter planned on asking the Supreme Court to “resolve the emerging conflict among state supreme courts about applying federal constitutional protections for due process and free speech to cases involving defendants who — with their worlds alone — assist, encourage or otherwise cause other persons to commit suicide and […] to affirm the need, as a matter of due process, for meaningful, objective criteria to guide the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in such controversial and complex cases.”
Carter was convicted for encouraging Roy over text messages to kill himself in 2017. Carter was 17 years old at the time, while Roy was 18. Roy took his own life on July 12, 2014 by carbon monoxide poisoning. Texts like these made national news:
“Well, I guess [that I am frustrated] just because you always say you are gonna do it but you don’t, but last night I know you really wanted to do it and I’m not mad.”
“Well, I mean, kind of, I guess, just because you always say you’re gonna do it… but you don’t but last night I knew you really wanted to and I’m not mad.”
“You’re not joking about this or bullshitting me, right? I just want to make sure you’re being serious. Like I know you are, but I don’t know. You always say you’re gonna do it, but you never do. I just want to make sure tonight is the real thing.”
“Conrad. I told you I’ll take care of your family. Everyone will take care of them to make sure they won’t be alone and people will help them get thru it. We talked about this, they will be okay and accept it. People who commit suicide don’t think this much and they just do it.”
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
[Image via ABC screengrab]
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