Mass. Supreme Judicial Court To Head Suicide-By-Texting Appeal

BOSTON, MA — The state's highest court will hear an appeal from Michelle Carter, the woman found guilty of manslaughter in the high-profile suicide-by-texting case.

Attorneys for Carter were notified Wednesday that the state Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case, meaning that the court could explore the topic of if a person texting someone to commit suicide is protected speech or is responsible for death, according to the Boston Herald.

Carter was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail after she was found guilty of helping her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, commit suicide. Roy died in July 2014 in the parking lot of the Fairhaven Kmart from carbon monoxide fumes from a gas-powered water pump. Texts between the two show a then-17-year-old Carter spending days encouraging 18-year-old Roy to end his life and telling him to get back into the truck when he began to have second thoughts.

Attorneys for Carter contend that a manslaughter conviction for convincing someone to commit suicide with only words is a violation of the First and Fifth Amendments.

Carter will enter court with a new team of lawyers with notable clients. William Fick is known as the defense attorney for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Daniel Marx has worked on litigation in the state's drug lab scandals, and Nancy Gertner is a former federal judge.

Image Credit: Matt West/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool