A US woman is on trial for manslaughter, accused of using text messages to encourage her boyfriend to kill himself.

Michelle Carter was 17 when she used dozens of text messages and phone calls to urge her boyfriend Conrad Roy III, 18, to kill himself, prosecutors say.

Mr Roy killed himself in July 2014 and prosecutor Maryclare Flynn said Carter, now 20, wanted the sympathy and attention that would come with being the "grieving girlfriend".

Ms Flynn described Carter's actions as a "sick game" with another person's life.

But Carter's defence lawyer Joseph Cataldo said Mr Roy had already been contemplating suicide, even researching online for possible ways to kill himself.


Mr Cataldo said Mr Roy was depressed after his parents had divorced and he was physically and verbally abused by some of his relatives.

In fact, he added, it was Carter who had tried to convince him to seek help.

Image: Conrad Roy III killed himself in July 2014. Pic: Janice Roy

Mr Roy had met Carter around two years earlier but they had only seen each other a handful of times, despite living only 35 miles apart in Massachusetts' southeast.

Between their meetings, they used text messages and phone calls to communicate.

Mr Cataldo said: "It was Conrad Roy's idea to take his own life, it was not Michelle Carter's idea.

"This was a suicide - a sad and tragic suicide but not a homicide."

Mr Roy's mother Lynn told the juvenile court in Taunton, Massachusetts, that she had been walking on the beach with her son hours before he was found dead and he had not showed any sign of wanting to hurt himself.

She also said that after her son's death, she had received text messages from Carter with sympathy but not mentioning any knowledge of the suicide.

When she was questioned by Mr Cataldo, she admitted there was tension between her son and his father.