Manslaughter by txt.

h4rm0ny

h4rm0ny

h4rm0ny

Soldato
Joined
25 Jun 2011
Posts
5,526
Location
Yorkshire and proud of it!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/16/texting_teen_guilty_of_manslaughter/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40307210

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/opinion/michelle-carter-didnt-kill-with-a-text.html?_r=0

I'm surprised I haven't seen this on here, but if I've missed it no doubt someone will delicately point it out to me...

So a woman in Massachusetts pressured her boyfriend into committing suicide by repeated txts telling him to do so. At one point, when he got out of the car into which he was spewing fumes, she txted him telling him to "get back in". This last was apparently a clincher in her receiving a verdict of Manslaughter.

I'm not sure how I feel about this verdict. Whilst she was clearly cruel, it seems to remove any agency from the boyfriend and say that someone telling you to do something makes them responsible for your action. He was just following orders? It brings to mind a case in Germany years ago when a man tried to murder his flatmate (result was permanent brain damage). Turns out she was doing a Phd in psychology and doing a thesis on the effect of "nagging". She had advertised for a flatmate for the sole purpose of 24/7 belittling and annoying him to chart the effect on him over time. (True story - really!)
 
Last edited:
If the person wasn't mentally competent at the time then yeah she was to blame.


No different to taking a downs syndrome kid who doesn't know what they're doing and getting them to play on train tracks.

However the other rpoint is she knew this was going on and didn't contact any authorities.

As she knew where he was etc don't people have a duty to report such things?

Ie you see a guy bleeding to death in the street and just keep walking not telling anyone you're going to be in troubble
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oh wait she wasn't charged with manslaughter she was charged with invouluntary manslaughter which is very different

Involuntary manslaughter usually refers to an unintentional killing that results from recklessness or criminal negligence,
Click to expand...


Reckless and negligent would describe her actions
 
Tefal said:
However the other rpoint is she knew this was going on and didn't contact any authorities.

As she knew where he was etc don't people have a duty to report such things?

Ie you see a guy bleeding to death in the street and just keep walking not telling anyone you're going to be in troubble
Click to expand...

Well if I see a person bleeding to death in the street, that is an immediate thing and also likely involuntary. If over the course of five years someone has been txting me talking about them committing suicide, am I supposed to call ambulance services every time? And also, are they the victim if it's self-inflicted? She apparently spent two years trying to talk him out of suicide, and then after this for the next three years started telling him to go ahead. Maybe she reached the point where she thought it would be for the best. Honestly, if for five years someone kept txting me about suicide if they caught me at the wrong moment saying they were trying to commit suicide and then txting me just after that to tell me they weren't, I might well send a reply telling them to get the **** back in the car and get on with it. I think things are very hard to assess from the outside. And she clearly had serious mental health issues herself.
 
Tefal said:
Oh wait she wasn't charged with manslaughter she was charged with invouluntary manslaughter which is very different

Reckless and negligent would describe her actions
Click to expand...

It is involuntary manslaughter, yes. But the principle under dispute holds either way - whether telling someone to kill themselves places culpability for their death on your hands. There are falsehoods that could lead to death - i.e. you lie to someone telling them they have terminal cancer and to spare themselves a lot of pain they took their own life. But that is not like this - there are no falsehoods, it's simply an expression to someone that you want them to die. She has been sentenced to twenty years for telling someone she wants him to die and allowing him to commit suicide (presuming she could rightly distinguish this occasion from the previous ones where he said he was going to kill himself).
 
She got what she deserved. ******* psychopath.

She wanted to be centre of attention by having a partner who killed themselves so people would feel sorry for her, she's disgusting.
 
Tefal said:
Reckless and negligent would describe her actions
Click to expand...

I would disagree with that, there was clear intent on her part to get him to go through with it. There had already been a 'dry run' by the poor guy where he was going to kill himself and she texted and sent Facebook messages to people to garner sympathy. Hope she gets a lengthy sentence.
 
h4rm0ny said:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/16/texting_teen_guilty_of_manslaughter/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40307210

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/opinion/michelle-carter-didnt-kill-with-a-text.html?_r=0

I'm surprised I haven't seen this on here, but if I've missed it no doubt someone will delicately point it out to me...

So a woman in Massachusetts pressured her boyfriend into committing suicide by repeated txts telling him to do so. At one point, when he got out of the car into which he was spewing fumes, she txted him telling him to "get back in". This last was apparently a clincher in her receiving a verdict of Manslaughter.

I'm not sure how I feel about this verdict. Whilst she was clearly cruel, it seems to remove any agency from the boyfriend and say that someone telling you to do something makes them responsible for your action. He was just following orders? It brings to mind a case in Germany years ago when a man tried to murder his flatmate (result was permanent brain damage). Turns out she was doing a Phd in psychology and doing a thesis on the effect of "nagging". She had advertised for a flatmate for the sole purpose of 24/7 belittling and annoying him to chart the effect on him over time. (True story - really!)
Click to expand...

I first heard about this incident a years ago shortly after it happened.

Did you actually read all of her texts? I Did. The whole lot up the point where he was right about to do it, then gets out of car and says he wants to back out then she encourages him to get back into the car and go through with it (gassing himself with exhaust fumes).

She's a deranged individual, gets boyfriend to commit suicide, then she hosts a fake pity party speaking out for suicide awareness lol.... I hope they give her no pity and punish her too the fullest extent possible.
 
Last edited:
Imagine this was an overbearing, psychologically manipulative man who talked a mentally vulnerable woman into killing themselves at his behest. I think there would be less ambiguity about whether he was at fault and whether she should have just "manned up" and stood up to her tormentor. In this case the gender roles are female manipulator and vulnerable male, and people are questioning whether she carries any responsibility because she cries in court and says she didn't mean to do it. Women can be murderers too.
 
Last edited:
Tefal said:
If the person wasn't mentally competent at the time then yeah she was to blame.


No different to taking a downs syndrome kid who doesn't know what they're doing and getting them to play on train tracks.

However the other rpoint is she knew this was going on and didn't contact any authorities.

As she knew where he was etc don't people have a duty to report such things?

Ie you see a guy bleeding to death in the street and just keep walking not telling anyone you're going to be in troubble
Click to expand...

Wrong.

It would be morally repugnant not to assist an individual bleeding to death in the street, but you would not commit any offences by failing to act or notify anyone as an ordinary member of the public - Emergency services however have a duty to act.

That said your example is a completely different kettle of fish - the woman in the case that the OP mentioned actively took part in encouraging the death of the male. I suppose it is no different to those ghouls who hang around when a person is standing on a bridge, shouting 'jump'.
 
Last edited:
I like how lawyers are trying to downplay and use the first amendment, it's clearly not the words that killed him... it was his connection to her, her ability to manipulate and trust.

Words didn't kill this man, but she definitely is culpable.
 
She didn't just text him, when he got out of the car she phoned him and told him to get back in. Hope she gets everything she deserves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom