Michelle Carter Text Message Killer Case: Clarification To Be Sought On Her Current Sentencing Stay

Michelle Carter, the young woman who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after encouraging her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to kill himself is having her probation re-examined by the court. The young woman is to serve two and a half years in prison for her crimes. However, the courts have split the sentencing so that she will be serving 15 months immediately and then continue to serve the remainder of the time in 2022.

Conrad Roy III’s parents and family members, however, were outraged when the courts granted Michelle Carter a stay, meaning that she can remain out of prison until her appeal is heard. It is unclear how her lawyers plan to appeal the charges, but the case itself has been quite controversial in the realm of free speech.

While she is on her stay, Michelle Carter will be on probation, and the probation service has filed a motion to clarify what the stay entails. Sentencing that is broken up into two parts is not all that common, and they want to know what to do if Michelle Carter’s stay would be revoked if she violated any condition of her sentencing order before her appeal is heard and possibly overturned.

As stated above, Conrad Roy III’s family has expressed outrage that she is allowed to walk free while their family member is now gone forever. The young woman, who was 17 when the crime was committed, sent horrific text messages to her boyfriend who was suffering from severe depression. While she did support him initially and encourage him to seek help, she later told him that his family would “get over” his death eventually and told him to “get back in there” after he had second thoughts about poisoning himself in his car van bed.

The case has caught national and international attention, and no doubt because it is so incredibly unique. However, one condition of her stay and probationary period is that she is unable to make any money off of her crimes. This partially refers to the Son of Sam law, which makes it impossible for someone convicted to sell their story to the media or write a tell-all for profit. No doubt, however, books will be written and the story may eventually be turned into a film. But should Michelle Carter seek profit, her bail will be immediately revoked.

Michelle Carter sentenced to two and a half years for egging boyfriend on to kill himself https://t.co/l0zvxWRgxA pic.twitter.com/q4FGraQgfc

— Complex (@Complex) August 3, 2017

[Featured Image by Matt West/The Boston Herald/AP Images]