A psychiatrist who testified on the behalf of a Massachusetts woman convicted of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself has been ordered by the state to return all materials and swear under oath that he doesn't have copies after he wrote several blog posts about the case.
Dr. Peter Breggin testified on behalf of Michelle Carter's defense in June this year, arguing that medication may have impaired the now-20-year-old woman when she was 17.
On Thursday, the state through Bristol County's juvenile court system filed a motion ordering Breggin to return all records, including medical and psychological ones, pertaining to Carter and Roy after Breggin wrote two blog posts following Carter's sentencing on Aug. 3.
The state argues Breggin's blog posts "establish that Breggin is doing this to further his own commercial interests," and that his conduct violates ethics established by the American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association.
"Other than perhaps her lawyers, I probably know more about the true story than anyone else," Breggin wrote on Aug. 3 after Carter's sentencing, saying everything he would write about was "revealed and documented at the trial, often through my testimony."
Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 carbon monoxide poisoning death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III after pressuring her boyfriend to take his own life in a slew of text messages, including telling Roy to "get back in" his truck when he became afraid during his final attempt.
She was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but was granted a stay in her sentencing as her case moves through its appeals.
