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Woman on trial for texts 'driving boyfriend to suicide'

If I'm the judge, she's

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joG said:
Bad precedent.
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Hard to say. On the surface, absolutely. But, if we dig deeper and it really does evolve into a case of her talking him out of him changing his mind, then no.
 
Excon said:
She did not push him back into anything.
That was his choice that folks are blaming her for. That is wrong.
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You never heard of metaphor?

What are your thoughts on entrapment? Do you side with cops against the defendant, even if they used psychological pressures to convince the perp to commit the crime, even after he is shown to have tried backing out of committing the crime?
 
Ikari said:
On both sides of that aisle, though, right? Because it’s not just the legal system that’s gotten out of hand, it’s ourselves as well. Let’s say that she is found not-guilty. We would have to worry about others taking up the mantel. It’s OK to encourage people to kill themselves, to help plan their deaths, and then you can parade around with no repercussion.
I don’t envy this judge at all. You don’t want to make it so that every flippant remark that is made becomes a manslaughter charge. But if you do actively plan and encourage someone to kill themselves, should that be illegal? Punishable? Ultimately they aren’t the ones to do it, but they had a very active role in bringing the circumstances about. And one who wants to die, I’d say more likely than not, is suffering from some psychological problems and it can all likely be sorted better with proper medical care. So is one taking advantage of another in a diminished state to get some thrills?
Again, the real solution is for our society to regain its humanity, to act with compassion and morality towards our fellow man. But I don’t know, we don’t seem to be tracking in that direction.
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Bingo. I do not want every flippant remark to be manslaughter. Nor do I want doing things like what this woman did to be valid and every schmuck pushing the envelope. And, to add to my complication, I fully support assisted suicide, so where do I go? Ugh! Like you, I do not envy this judge at all.
 
calamity said:
What are your thoughts on entrapment? Do you side with cops against the defendant, even if they used psychological pressures to convince the perp to commit the crime, even after he is shown to have tried backing out of committing the crime?
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Besides such discussion be irrelevant to this one, the comparison is invalid and irrelevant as well.
 
Ikari said:
Judge finds Michelle Carter guilty of manslaughter in texting suicide case - CNN.com

Well it seems that she has been found guilty.
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His explanation is pretty clear:

"She called no one, and finally she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck," Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz said as Carter stood to receive the ruling.

"This court has found that Carter's actions and failure to act where it was her self-created duty to Roy since she put him in that toxic environment constituted reckless conduct," the judge said. "The court finds that the conduct caused the death of Mr. Roy."
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So, it was true that she made no last effort to get him to stop. Had she just, for one last time, said, "Go get help!" She'd be in the clear.
 
IMO, no one won. The judge made an appropriate ruling. Now we await the sentence and any counter-moves by the defendant and her counsel.
 
Dragonfly said:
Woman on trial for texts 'driving boyfriend to suicide' - BBC News






Apparently she's elected to not have a jury trial, so the judge will be the one deciding her fate.

If you were the judge, how would you rule?
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Not guilty. It opens a slippery slope. One persons actions are not the responsibility of another person. Next we will be prosecuting musicians for publishing provoking music because disturbed suicidal or criminally violent people have access to it.

Also "The judge said Carter caused a dangerous environment, and under Massachusetts law, she had a duty to save him. "
Death by Text: The case against Michelle Carter - CBS News

I won't disagree Carter caused a dangerous environment. Or at the least helped add momentum to an already dangerous situation. But, the latter part, that she had a duty to save him. I disagree with wholly. No citizen is compelled by law to intervene in an emergency, no law I am aware of anyway.
 
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