Michelle Carter, Woman in Texting-Suicide Case, Gets 2.5 Years in Prison

The Massachusetts woman convicted in June of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison (with 15 of those months committed) on Thursday. Prosecutors recommended Michelle Carter, 20, be sentenced to at least seven years in prison, but her sentence ultimately ended up lighter. In a dozen texts, Carter encouraged then-boyfriend Conrad Roy III to follow through on thoughts of killing himself. “All she had to do was say [to late boyfriend Conrad Roy III] ‘get out of the truck,’” the prosecutor said in suggesting she showed no remorse and deserved a strong sentence. Carter was 17 when she persuaded Roy, 18, to fill his pickup truck with carbon monoxide. “The time is right and you are ready... just do it babe,” she wrote in one message.