Judge Lawrence Moniz brought the trial of Michelle Carter to recess Friday morning after the defense motioned the judge to find a verdict of not guilty.

However, after an hour of deliberating on whether the prosecution had met its burden to provide evidence that Carter was responsible for the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy, who killed himself in 2014, the judge denied the motion.

A spokesperson for the district attorney said these kinds of motion are common in trials and are often denied.

Carter was charged with involuntary manslaughter in 2015 after it was discovered that she had sent messages to her then-boyfriend Roy to follow through with his plans to kill himself.

Prosecutors say that when Roy tried to back out of his plan to kill himself by inhaling carbon monoxide in his truck, Carter instructed him over the phone to get back in and follow through with his plan.

The defense is asking the judge to consider the heightened standard of proving Carter was responsible for Roy's death beyond a reasonable doubt, something her attorney argued the prosecution failed to do this week.

The motion filed by Joseph Cataldo, Carter's lead defense attorney, struck at the heart of the controversial Carter trial: Can words kill?

He cited Massachusetts law that requires a physical act to take place for an involuntary manslaughter charge to be applied.

The defense claimed the commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Roy would not have taken his own life if not for Carter's intervention.

"There is insufficient evidence to prove that Conrad Roy would not have taken his own life," Cataldo said.

Cataldo also argued that previous court precedent shows that unprotected speech only includes true threats.

"The only words that can amount to unprotected speech would be true threats. The evidence now that the government has rested do not amount to true threats," Cataldo said. "She never threatened Conrad Roy. She never said 'I will hurt you, I will hurt your family, I will do bad things.'"

The prosecution is biting back at the claim that Carter's acts did not include elements of manslaughter.

Carter's conduct was intentional, the prosecution claimed. Additionally, a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter makes it clear that physical acts are not required to pursue a manslaughter charge. By communicating with Roy over the phone through texts and calls, she was "virtually present" to commit an act.

"The fact that she was miles away is really insignificant," Assistant District Attorney Katie Rayburn said.

Cataldo argued that because Carter was a juvenile at the time of the incident, the prosecution had to have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that someone in her position would know the dangers of their words.

Rayburn shot back, stating that Carter walked Roy into her web of influence by manipulating the victim's fragile state of mind and isolating him from his family.

Over the course of two weeks, while Roy was on vacation with his family in Horseneck Beach, Carter repeatedly texted Roy that his family would understand if he killed himself. She was able to accomplish this by telling Roy he was her "everything," and that she loved him.

"As June turned to July, she turned took feeling of comfort and reliability and turned that into, 'I love you, Kill yourself,'" Rayburn said. "Then she isolated him from his family, saying they would understand if he died."

The defense will now start presenting their evidence and interviewing witnesses on Friday.

Several key witnesses have been scheduled to take the stand over the next few days, including a controversial psychiatrist and Carter's parents.