The Associated Press

By Melissa Hanson | MassLive

Michelle Carter on Friday was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the 2014 suicide of her then-boyfriend Conrad Roy III, a controversial decision that has many asking how a person can be guilty of someone else's murder.

Taunton Trial Court Judge Lawrence Moniz, who presided over Carter's jury-waived trial, explained his decision of what led to the guilty verdict.

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Whether Roy would have taken his life later does not affect verdict

Roy was found dead on July 13, 2014, after filling the cabin of his pickup truck with carbon monoxide using a gas-powered water pump. The truck was parked in an isolated area of a Kmart parking lot in Fairhaven.

He had a history of depression and previous suicide attempts.

"Now, Mr. Roy may have tried and maybe succeeded at another time," Moniz said in his explanation of the guilty verdict. But, that did not play into the court's decision.

Moniz said the verdict came as a result of findings, laws and other processes.

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POOL PHOTO Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle

Roy gets out of the pickup truck as it fills with carbon monoxide

Moniz reminded the court that Roy tried to kill himself twice in 2012. Both times, he stopped his plan and sought help.

Roy executed significant research for his suicide plan and parked his truck in the secluded area.

"However, he breaks that chain of self-causation by exiting the vehicle he takes himself out of the toxic environment that it has become," Moniz said. "This completely consistent with his previous attempts at suicide."

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Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool

The 1816 Northampton murder case of George Bowen for the death of Jonathan Jewett

Moniz referenced the so-called "murder by counseling" of prisoner George Bowen in the death of Jonathan Jewett.

Bowen was accused of successfully inciting Jewett, convicted of murdering his father, to kill himself in his cell in the 1816 Northampton murder case.

"Approximately 200 years ago, an inmate at the Hampshire Jail was charged with causing the murder of the man in the next cell," Moniz said in court Friday. "The person who ended up taking his life in the Bowen case was named Jewett. Jewett, in fact, hung himself in his jail cell approximately six hours before he was to be publicly hanged for killing his father."

Bowen was charged with murder -- "murder by counseling" -- but, unlike Carter, he was acquitted.

"The law was different in those days, but some similarities existed," Moniz said. "Whether Mr. Roy would have ended up taking his life at another time does not control or even inform this court's decision."

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AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool

Carter told Roy to get back into the toxic pickup truck despite knowing his fears

"When Ms. Carter realizes that Mr. Roy has exited the truck, she instructs him to get back into the truck, which she has reason to know is or is becoming a toxic environment inconsistent with human life," Moniz said.

Carter's friend, Samantha Boardman, testified during the trial that Roy left the truck because he was "scared" and Carter told him to "f------ get back in."

"She instructs Mr. Roy to get back into the truck well knowing of all of the feelings that he has exchanged with her, his ambiguities, his fears, his concerns," Moniz said.

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POOL PHOTO Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle

Telling Roy to get back into the truck was wanton and reckless conduct

Despite knowing Roy's fears, Carter tells him to get back into the truck.

"This court finds that instructing Mr. Roy to get back in the truck constituted wanton and reckless conduct by Ms. Carter, creating a situation where there is a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm would result to Mr. Roy," Moniz said.

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Faith Ninivaggi/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool

Carter knew that the toxicity would take about 15 minutes to kill Roy

Moniz repeated to the court that Carter was mindful that it would take about 15 minutes for the carbon monoxide filling the truck to kill Roy. She told him to get in the truck anyway.

"Knowing that Mr. Roy is in the truck, knowing the condition of the truck, knowing or at least having a state of mind that 15 minutes would pass, Ms. Carter takes no action in the furtherance of the duty that she has created by instructing Mr. Roy to get back into the truck," Moniz said.

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Glenn Silva, Fairhaven Neighb News photo/pool

Carter knew that Roy followed her instruction to get back into the truck

"Ms. Carter knows through her own admission that Mr. Roy has followed her instruction" to get back into the truck, Moniz said. "She indicates that she can hear him coughing and that she can hear the loud noise of the motor."

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The Associated Press

Commonwealth v. Levesque

Moniz also cited the case of Commonwealth v. Levesque, which debated whether the homeless couple Thomas S. Levesque and Julie Ann Barnes were responsible for the death of six Worcester firefighters who ran into the Worcester Cold Storage factory building as it burned. Levesque and Barnes had been living in the factory. They escaped as the flames grew and failed to report the fire.

In his verdict, Moniz said he took direction from the case, saying that "where one's actions create a life-threatening risk to another, there is a duty to take reasonable steps to alleviate the risk. The reckless failure to fulfill this duty can result in a charge of manslaughter."

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Glenn C.Silva/Fairhaven Neighborhood News, Pool

Carter takes no action knowing that Roy is in the truck

Carter told her friends that she was on the phone with Roy while he was in the truck and that she heard him die.

Moniz said that based on evidence in the case and Carter's own admission, she knew Roy was inside the truck as it filled with carbon monoxide.

In a later text message, Carter admits she did nothing while Roy was in the truck, Moniz said.

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AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool

Carter had the phone numbers for Roy's family; Roy was within a mile of firefighters

Just days before Roy killed himself, Carter had asked him for his mother's and sister's phone numbers. He gave them to her, the judge said.

"She called no one," Moniz said.

Moniz also added that Roy was less than one half mile away from Fairhaven police officers and firefighters.

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Faith Ninivaggi/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool

Carter did not tell Roy to get out of the truck

"And finally," Moniz said, "she did not issue a simple additional instruction: Get out of the truck."

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Faith Ninivaggi/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool

Both Carter's actions and failure to act led to verdict

"Consequently, this court has found that the Commonwealth has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Carter's actions and also her failure to act where she had a self-created duty to Mr. Roy, since she had put him into that toxic environment, constituted each and all wanton and reckless conduct," Moniz said.

"This court further finds that the Commonwealth has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that said conduct caused the death of Mr. Roy," the judge continued.

Carter faces up to 20 years in jail.

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Faith Ninivaggi/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool

The court did not find testimony from Dr. Peter Breggin credible

Additionally, Moniz said the court did not find the testimony by Dr. Peter Breggin to be credible.

Breggin, a psychiatrist who testified as an expert witness, argued that SSRI antidepressants like Prozac can have severe adverse effects on the developing brain. They specifically disrupt frontal lobe function, which controls judgment, impulse control and weighing of future consequences.

Carter started using Prozac at age 14.

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