A Massachusetts woman who was convicted of coercing her boyfriend over text messages into killing himself will serve her full sentence following a ruling on Wednesday by the state’s high court. Michelle Carter’s 15-month sentence handed down in 2017 for involuntary manslaughter had been placed on hold as the Supreme Judicial Court reviewed her appeal. This followed the defense arguing that her verbal conduct was protected free speech under the Constitution’s First Amendment and that Conrad Roy III’s death in 2014 was caused by his own actions.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Michelle Carter is seen during her sentencing for involuntary manslaughter in 2017. She was convicted of encouraging her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to kill himself in July 2014.

The court ultimately affirmed that Carter’s repeat urging of a “vulnerable person” to kill himself, even as he expressed reluctance, caused his death. “The crime of involuntary manslaughter proscribes reckless or wanton conduct causing the death of another. The statute makes no reference to restricting or regulating speech, let alone speech of a particular content or viewpoint,” the court stated in its ruling Wednesday. “We are therefore not punishing words alone, as the defendant claims, but reckless or wanton words causing death.”

The evidence against the defendant proved that, by her wanton or reckless conduct, she caused the victim’s death by suicide.

“The evidence against the defendant proved that, by her wanton or reckless conduct, she caused the victim’s death by suicide,” the court concluded. The 22-year-old has been allowed to remain free while the court reviewed her case. Carter was 17 when she urged 18-year-old Roy, who was suicidal at the time, to kill himself with carbon monoxide from his pickup truck in a Fairhaven parking lot in July of 2014. When Roy had second thoughts about doing it, Carter texted him to “get back in” his truck and complete what he had set out to do, the Bristol County Juvenile Court heard.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Carter, seen in 2017 beside her defense attorney Joseph Cataldo, listens as she is sentenced to 15 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter.