New text messages released by the lawyer for a Plainville teen charged with encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide appear to show that she initially tried to talk him out of killing himself.
Joseph Cataldo, 18-year-old Michelle Carter's attorney, released the text messages to the Boston Herald on Wednesday. Carter is accused of sending 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, of Mattapoisett, dozens of text messages in 2014 encouraging him to kill himself.
"Let's get better and fight this together," read one text from Carter to Roy.
"Promise me right now that you won't (kill yourself)," read another. "I'll be here to help you get thru this."
Cataldo said Carter only changed her thinking after many months of Roy talking about committing suicide.
Roy's body was found in his pickup in Fairhaven on July 13, 2014. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning and police found a gasoline-operated water pump in the back seat.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, a juvenile court judge denied a motion to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge against Carter. Judge Bettina Borders cited records that prosecutors say show Carter, then 17, was on the phone with Roy for about 45 minutes while he was inhaling carbon monoxide. She reportedly heard him moaning and did not call 911. The judge also cited text messages Carter allegedly sent to Roy in which she said she told him to get back in his truck when he became afraid.
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Cataldo said he plans to appeal the judge's decision. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 30 in Taunton Juvenile Court.
