Whatever was going on could not be legal or good.
This can't be real.
We were just shocked.
If it wasn't for her, he's alive today.
PROSECUTOR: She used Conrad as a pawn
in her sick game of life and death.
If you want the truth,
you have to let all the evidence come forth.
LAWYER: This case, it's not about the defendant's race...
I have nothing to hide.
♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYS, CONCLUDES) ♪
♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
(BIRDS SQUAWK)
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
The trial of a Plainville woman
accused of encouraging her friend to kill himself
through text messages is now underway.
NEWS ANCHOR: Michelle Carter is on trial for manslaughter
to decide if text messages she sent
crossed a legal line
and whether she should be held responsible
for her boyfriend's decision to take his own life.
MARYCLARE FLYNN: "His death was my fault.
I could have stopped him.
I was on the phone with him,
and he got out of the car because it was working.
He got scared,
and I fucking told him to get back in."
The defendant's own words.
Seventeen-year-old Michelle Carter,
who, for weeks, badgered-- berated--
her depressed boyfriend Conrad Roy, 18 years old,
into killing himself.
And on July 12, 2014,
as his truck was filling with carbon monoxide,
he was scared.
He got out.
It was the defendant,
on the other end of the phone, who ordered him back in,
then listened for 20 minutes
as he cried in pain,
took his last breaths, and died.
She assisted and devised and advised
and planned his suicide.
She reasoned him out of his reservations.
She told him that once he was dead,
he would be free and happy.
She pushed him to kill himself sooner rather than later.
And she used Conrad as a pawn in her sick game of life and death.
♪ ("COME FIND ME" BY EMILE HAYNIE FEAT. LYKKE LI & ROMY PLAYS) ♪
♪ I fall ♪
♪ Deeper than ever ♪
♪ I call ♪
♪ Baby, come find me ♪
♪ I fall ♪
♪ Deeper than ever ♪
♪ I call ♪
♪ Baby, come find me ♪
♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪
(RADIO BEEPS)
POLICE DISPATCHER: 818 to all cars in station....
(CONTINUES)
LYNN ROY: He never was the type of kid
to not ever come home.
So...
I knew that morning that there was something...
wrong.
And I felt this rush go through my body
that I've never felt in my life.
And I felt like he just passed through me.
I've never felt that feeling in my life.
It was just, like, the most chilling feeling.
POLICE DISPATCHER:
POLICE OFFICER: Stand by. I'm looking for it.
-I have it in here somewhere. -(RADIO BEEPS)
We were sitting on the porch right here,
and, um...
a friend of the family...
called my dad and... (SNIFFLES)
told him that his truck had, uh, caution tape around it
at the, uh, Fairhaven K-Mart.
And we, uh, got in the car and drove over there.
POLICE DISPATCHER 2:
...please.
CAROLYN MCGONAGLE: We pulled into the K-Mart parking lot
and you saw the truck and you saw the yellow tape.
And he just put it in park,
he's like, "I can't go up there."
Conrad Sr. was driving back out,
and he pulled up next to Co,
and he just said, "He's gone, Co. He's dead."
(SNIFFLES) And he-- Co just broke down,
and we both... (SIGHS)
It was just like, "He's dead. He did it."
CONRAD ROY JR: It was horrible. I just...
just went and cried...
like, you know...
for days.
INTERVIEWER: Did you go to the K-Mart?
No. Mm-mm.
I think if I would have saw him or been with his body,
it would-- I don't think I would've left.
I am, um...
SCOTT GORDON: Generally, in cases where
there is an untimely passing,
we review dispatch logs, police logs.
It's for us to keep up and see
if there's anything we have to follow up on.
I came across their reports related to Conrad Roy's death.
Collectively, within our office our thought was,
you know, why would someone 18 years old take his own life?
Everyone's life is within their phone these days.
At the time in which Conrad was located,
his phone was dead.
So, there was this-- some discussion
as to whether or not to take it or not.
But the people assigned to the case that day
decided to-- to take the phone.
And there wasn't-- at that point,
it didn't seem like there was a ton of reason
to get into the phone other than to try to come up with an answer
of why an 18-year-old-boy would have killed himself.
No one knew about what had actually occurred.
GORDON: I opened the phone,
and I went right to the message part of the phone,
and there was only thread open.
And it said Michelle Carter, at which time I had no idea
that meant anything.
Uh, and then when I clicked on--
to open that actual conversation,
it was quickly where I realized that the text messages were
disturbing in nature.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
GORDON: Glenn was sitting across from me at his desk,
and at one point, I was like,
"Guys," you know, "you gotta see this."
And as I continued to read is when we, uh,
ended up thinking that we should probably contact
the DA's office just to let them know
-what we had found. -(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
GORDON: It was just constant encouragement
to take his life.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
GORDON: Almost demanding that he take his life.
It was awful.
It was awful to think
that there was somebody that could actually
push somebody towards suicide like that,
especially someone that young.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
GLENN CUDMORE: At that point, the big thing
was trying to figure out who Michelle Carter was.
GORDON: It is 5:51 on October 2nd.
We're talking to Michelle Carter at King Philip High School.
Um, Michelle, the reason why we came out here is
we were looking into Conrad's unfortunate passing.
-All right? -MICHELLE CARTER: Yeah.
GORDON: Um, did you have contact with him
the day right up until he-- he-- he passed?
-MICHELLE: Mm-hmm. -GORDON: Did you--
Do you think you had contact with him that day?
MICHELLE: Um...
GORDON: Yeah? Did he-- did he tell you
he was gonna do that or anything like that?
MICHELLE: Um...
-GORDON: Yeah? -MICHELLE: And...
GORDON: Mm-hmm.
MICHELLE:
-GORDON: What would? -MICHELLE: Of like just...
GORDON: Okay.
Is that-- is that your phone? Is that the phone you had?
MICHELLE: Yeah. It's my phone. It's kind of broken.
GORDON: Oh, it is?
MICHELLE: Uh, well, the screen--
GORDON: Is this password protected?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
GORDON: What's-- Do you know the password so I can...
MICHELLE: Um...
Here you go.
GORDON: Um...
Okay? So, we'll be taking it.
MICHELLE: Wait, so... you're taking my phone?
GORDON: Yes.
MICHELLE: Do I get it back?
GORDON: At some point, you will, yeah.
-MICHELLE: Okay. -GORDON: Okay?
CUDMORE: Her phone download was approximately 60,000 items.
There was pictures, there was voicemails,
there was call logs, there was text messages,
chats through Facebook.
We each grabbed a copy of it and went home at night
and read about a thousand text messages each.
And we came back the next morning,
and I still remember that we looked at each other,
and I don't know if I said it first
or he said it first, but it was...
"If it wasn't for her, he's alive today."
I think at that point we really realized
that we had something that was criminal.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
JUDGE: Court's in session. Be seated. Please remain quiet.
MCGONAGLE: When she arrested and the texts came out,
we were just shocked.
I mean, it was just so heinous.
"When are you gonna do it? Stop ignoring the question.
Question mark, question mark, question mark, question mark.
You can't keep pushing it off. Are you gonna do it tonight?"
And she keeps at him, Your Honor.
At him and at him to do it.
BECKI MAKI: It was almost the same feeling
as finding out that he died.
It's like an out-of-body experience.
Like reading it, it's like, "This can't be real.
Is this-- Am I dreaming?"
It's like reading a novel, or--
It's not something that happens in your family.
MCGONAGLE: The more we read, it was just like...
"You've got to be kidding."
We want to rip her face off right now.
Like, we are so angry.
NEWS ANCHOR 2: Carter was sending hundreds of texts
urging the teen to kill himself
right up until his final moments.
Carter encouraged and even guided Roy.
That really caught a lot of people's attention.
"Go ahead and do it.
Do it, babe.
Why haven't you done it yet?"
What is that puss on her face?
Hold on. Back it up, Liz.
Okay, hold everything.
NEWS ANCHOR 3: Police say at one point, before Roy died,
he got scared, got out of the truck,
and called Carter.
Carter told him to get back in.
Hi. This is Conrad Roy.
And I'm gonna talk to you about social anxiety.
For me, social anxiety feels...
like it's overwhelming my life.
Like, everything does not revolve around me.
And now I want to take steps to control it.
And the first thing I want to do...
is be more proactive
in a social environment,
try to contribute to conversation
as well as I can,
and just be more confident in myself
and my ability to...
retract my knowledge.
'Cause I-- I feel like I'm a smart man.
I'm 18 years old,
and I still haven't recovered from social anxiety, depression.
It's controlling me.
A lot of people tell me that I have a lot going for me.
I have to be happy, I have to be happy.
Well, no, you don't have to be happy.
There's people that love me.
I have a great mom.
Great dad, for the most part.
But I'm so depressed.
Feel like I'm differently wired from everyone else.
Like there's something wrong with me.
The serotonin in my head is gone.
And to replace it with dopamine, or...
another controlled substance,
but if I keep talking-- keep talking--
it's gonna get better.
(WAVES LAPPING)
CONRAD ROY SR: (SINGING) ♪ We love you, Conrad ♪
♪ Oh, yes, we do ♪
♪ We love you, Conrad ♪
♪ And we'll be true ♪
♪ When you're not near us ♪
♪ We're blue ♪
♪ Oh, Conrad, we love you ♪
My son, when he was born, he was the first one hatched.
And we named-- I said, "Oh my God,
He looks just like me. Another Conrad."
And then when Co, my son, had his son, first one,
he says, "Oh my God, he looks like just me."
And we named him Conrad.
When they came out of the hospital with C3,
they brought him down to the shipyard
where I was getting ready to leave.
And at three days old,
I had him in my hand,
and we did an assist job bringing a tanker
into New Bedford.
We've got pictures of him,
even when it was a little ship,
that, uh, he was there. I mean, you know...
not really knowing what to do or how to do it,
but he was there.
And it's, um...
I've had some great memories of that.
(SOBBING) Some real great memories.
And... I'm sorry.
♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
CONRAD ROY JR: Our family, we, uh, work in the water
and we play in the water.
When he was younger, he definitely liked, um,
being on the sailboats
and being in, like, the pleasure boats.
When he got a little bit older,
we would take him on some salvage jobs.
And then, in his, like, junior year,
he worked with me full time.
I suppose it wasn't the same since we got, you know,
divorced, you know?
It was a little-- It was different for all of us, so...
I mean, every child, um...
has difficulty with a divorce.
They always ultimately
want their parents to be together.
ROY JR: It was during high school, um,
and it was when, like,
he started school back up again.
We didn't notice it right away, but his grades were slipping
and he was saying he was having,
like, a tough time staying focused,
and, um...
He said he-- he said he was having, like, racing thoughts,
and he said he was, like, losing his memory.
We were bringing him to, uh,
you know, all these doctors and, you know, psychiatrists,
and trying to figure out, you know, what was going wrong.
If my kids are happy, I'm happy.
So, the fact that my son wasn't...
it destroyed my soul for a while. (SNIFFLES)
What I am doing is...
I'm looking at myself so negatively.
Look at myself, minuscule little particle...
on the face of this earth.
It's no good. Trash. Will never be successful.
It was really tough to watch him go through that.
(SOBBING)
Like, he didn't--
he didn't know what to, like,
who to sit with at school at times, and, uh...
It's just heartbreaking as a parent.
(SIGHS)
And then, you know, some kids would pick on him,
you know, and uh...
Listen. (YAWNS)
I just have to get the cobwebs out.
Turn the gears.
The gears need to be turning.
Turn them gears.
(CHUCKLING) That's what I gotta do.
I wish that...
I would have seen more.
I wish I would've picked up more signs
that week, that day.
If I knew he was feeling or thinking that way,
yeah, I would have had him handcuffed to, probably to a uh,
to my car and brought him to a hospital.
But he just, like--
I just thought he was doing well.
ROY JR: He seemed like he was just on the right track.
It seemed like everything was, like, getting better.
Um... And he was, um,
you know, able to get his captain's license
and he was, like,
seemed to be like really wanting to, uh,
you know, learn, like, the business.
ROY SR: I mean, when he came in the living room
and he-- he--
(VOICE BREAKING) He shows me his captain's license,
and it was like, "You must be shitting me, Co."
You know, I mean,
not that I was one to shy on words, but I mean...
I said, "Are you shitting me?
You got it already?"
He says, "Yeah, look at it." You know?
That was-- It was just a few weeks before he-- he died.
INTERVIEWER: What caused Conrad's death?
I would say-- I would say it's Michelle Carter.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
CAMDYN ROY: They met in Florida,
when we were visiting my great aunt.
She has a place down there,
like, this country club type thing,
and her-- Michelle's grandparents do too.
Um, and they were friends.
Like, so, like, February vacation,
when Michelle's family and my family--
well, Conrad's family-- were both down there,
my aunt introduced Michelle and Conrad to each other.
And like, I don't know,
they went, like, on a bike ride together.
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
MARIN COGAN: I would say the relationship between
Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy
is a thoroughly modern romance. Right?
It's a romance conducted almost entirely online.
LYNN: They met maybe five times.
That's why I didn't know they were boyfriend and girlfriend.
I never saw her.
Like, I mean I-- I saw him text her all the time,
you know, on his phone. But...
I didn't think that they had a, um, a relationship like that.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
COGAN: They had, in fact,
exchanged thousands upon thousands of messages...
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
...and had this sort of intimacy
without ever really seeing each other.
They're having this secret relationship
that is totally destructive, um, to their mental health.
REPORTER: Attorneys for Michelle Carter
do not deny the evidence.
They do not deny the text messages, et cetera.
Instead, what they say is that even though
her conduct may be reprehensible,
they say it is not criminal, and therefore,
she should not be charged with manslaughter
in connection with the suicide of her boyfriend.
Whether it's the right thing, the wrong thing,
the moral thing, the immoral thing,
what I'm certain of is it wasn't a crime.
There's no law that criminalizes
encouragement of suicide in Massachusetts,
and now the district attorney's office says,
even though our legislature
has not criminalized that behavior with the law,
we're gonna prosecute her with a homicide.
The idea that your speech alone
in the way of text messages and words in the telephone
can equal a manslaughter charge,
I think, is a dangerous, dangerous precedent.
COURT CLERK: SJC-12043. Commonwealth V Michelle Carter.
Good morning.
JUDGE: Good morning, Mr. Curhan. Why don't you get us going?
We contend that verbally encouraging someone
to commit suicide, no matter how forceful the encouragement,
does not constitute a crime in Massachusetts.
Judge 1: So, the person has a gun
and says, "I am going to kill myself."
Right? And you're saying, "Good."
CURHAN: Yes.
"Good, good. Go for it, do it." "Ah, I don't know."
"No, no. Come on. Come on. Pull the trigger."
Is-- Does that step over the line?
-CURHAN: I don't think so. -Or is that still... okay?
I don't think verbally encouraging someone--
I don't think that-- I don't think that
-would be a crime. -JUDGE 2: Wait. I mean--
You mean if somebody solicits a murder?
CURHAN: Uh, if somebody solicits--
We get that all the time.
That would odd because there's an underlying crime.
-CURHAN: Right. Right. -...of murder.
You see, the-- Part of the problem
is that Massachusetts doesn't--
is one of eleven states that doesn't have a--
a statute addressing this-- this type of behavior,
that-- encouraging suicide.
But we do have an involuntary manslaughter statute,
which talks about wanton and reckless conduct
resulting in the death, causing the death, of someone.
And, at some point,
can verbal action become wanton and reckless
if it results in someone's death?
CURHAN: The problem is that, uh,
the death was caused by the victim himself.
He's the one who got the generator,
who drove to the location, who set it up in the truck,
who turned it on, and who got in the truck.
So, I'm in the truck, and I'm dying.
And I deci-- I have to get out.
I get out.
And I call my friend,
and my friend says, "Get back in the truck.
Kill yourself."
That's not enough? That's just talk?
If she was physically present
and she said, "Get back in the truck
or I'll put you back in there myself,"
or, here, another example,
standing on the edge of a bridge.
"Jump off that bridge or I will push you."
The, uh, "or I will push you"
would probably take that over the line.
But "jump off the bridge" would not.
It doesn't matter how persistent she is.
It doesn't matter how reprehensible
we might think her conduct is.
It simply isn't a crime, and it was not at the time,
and we can't make it a crime retroactively.
Unless there are any further questions,
I'll leave the remaining points to the brief.
JUDGE 1: Thank you, counselor.
I've been doing this for 25 years now.
I read the law. I understand it.
And it's not a case that should've ever been brought.
And it's gonna have a potential chilling effect
on free speech rights
about whether or not people can openly discuss suicide
and encourage it between loved ones.
This case will set precedent.
EMILY BAZELON: I'm not someone, generally,
who's in favor of expanding the scope of the criminal law,
but I have to say, in reading those messages,
it just seemed clear that
she was trying to exert
some real influence over his behavior.
♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
BAZELON: I would really struggle with the question
of whether the kind of psychological pressure
Michelle Carter appeared to be applying and a part of
could have the same impact
as physically assisting someone with the suicide.
CATALDO: She was 40 miles away on a telephone.
He could've stayed out of the car.
He could a hung up the telephone.
So, there's no coercion here.
JESSE BARRON: My name is Jesse Barron,
and I covered the Michelle Carter case
for Esquire Magazine.
I read an article about the case
in the South Coast Times in the summer of 2016,
and I went to a pretrial hearing in December.
And I knew that I had to write about it.
On the first day of the trial, I was waiting up outside of--
We had to pick up our press badges,
and all the media's there kind of waiting
to start the show.
And at some moment, a few minutes after 9:00 AM,
a TV producer whispered, "Is that her?"
And all heads turn.
(CAMERAS CLICK)
Michelle, wearing a white quilted car coat
and high heels, is coming toward us.
(CAMERA CLICKS)
And there was this feeling of a...
weird sort of inverse star power that was put on her.
She was thin. She was blonde.
She was tanning-booth tan.
It felt like she knew she was gonna be photographed.
(COURTROOM CHATTER)
JUDGE MONIZ: Good morning, Miss Carter.
Please remain standing while you are sworn.
Please raise your right hand.
In this matter before the court
do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
I do.
JUDGE MONIZ: Please take a seat and make yourself comfortable.
And please keep your voice up nice and loud.
Please state your full name and age.
Michelle Diana Carter. Uh, 20.
JUDGE MONIZ: So, you understand, Miss Carter,
that you are fully entitled under the Constitution
to a jury of your peers to decide
whether or not you are in fact guilty of this crime?
Yes.
JUDGE MONIZ: That is the right that you are giving up
with your testimony now.
Yes.
JUDGE MONIZ: All right. Has anyone promised you anything
or threatened you in any way
to make you forgo your right to a jury trial?
No.
JUDGE MONIZ: Are you doing that of your own free will,
knowingly and voluntarily?
Yes.
JUDGE MONIZ: All right. Thank you very much.
You may step down.
Thank you.
BOB MCGOVERN: It was a genius defense strategy here,
especially doing it in the eleventh hour, uh,
right before they were supposed to select the jury.
Juries of your peers often don't know the law
as much as they know their own emotions
and how their own emotions are applied to the facts
that are put in front of them.
And sometimes emotions win the day.
This has turned into a matter of law.
So, what Judge Moniz decides here:
This is step one of what is going to be
a ever-evolving area of the law.
Now, prosecutors can show the judge--
and more importantly, I believe, show the public--
exactly what happened here.
MARYCLARE FLYNN: I'm gonna be putting on-- on the screen
a photograph.
Can you tell us who we're seeing in this photograph?
Conrad.
FLYNN: And how old would Conrad have been
in this photograph?
Eighteen.
FLYNN: I ask that be marked as the next exhibit, please.
JUDGE MONIZ: Is there an objection?
-JOSEPH CATALDO: No. -JUDGE MONIZ: May be marked.
FLYNN: Do you see Michelle Carter
present in the courtroom today?
LYNN: Yes.
FLYNN: Could you please point to her,
identify something that she's wearing?
I don't know. A red shirt, looks like.
FLYNN: Your Honor, may the record reflect
identification of the defendant.
JUDGE MONIZ: Yes, the record may so reflect.
LYNN: It's hard to see someone on the outside
and then know them in the inside.
I don't know, I thought I was pretty...
a pretty good judge of character.
I don't know. But after that? (SCOFF)
I-- I-- It's-- It's very hard for me to...
understand someone, so...
BARRON: Michelle Carter was a suburban girl
from a town called Plainville of 8,000.
She was a good student.
She was a polite, appealing teenager
who adults felt respected by.
So, outwardly, this was, like, as straight white American
suburban teenage life as you can get.
DR. PETER BREGGIN: She was, in this small community,
known as a really sweet, caring young woman.
This was a most unusual child who, for whatever reason,
wanted above all things to be helpful to other people.
But then, when I got to reading all those texts,
I entered another world of Michelle
that I didn't know about.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
FLYNN: Later on that night, that's when you get
the text message from Michelle Carter?
CAMDYN ROY: (VOICE SHAKING) Yes.
FLYNN: I'm now going to ask you about the 13th.
CAMDYN: (QUIETLY) Okay.
FLYNN: Do you recall getting a text message that said...
-"Find him yet?" -CAMDYN: Mm-hmm.
FLYNN: And you replied back, "No."
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: And then, shortly after, Michelle Carter texted you,
"Okay, just stay positive. Let me know."
Do you recall that?
CAMDYN: Mm-hmm.
FLYNN: Had she told you that she was with him
-at all that night? -No.
Did she ever tell you that she'd been on the phone
-with your brother that night? -No.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: On July 14th, do you recall
getting a text message from Michelle Carter
saying... (READS TEXTS)
-Do you recall that? -Yeah.
FLYNN: Had she ever been to your house before
-that you recall? -No.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
LYNN: I thought that she really cared about him.
You know, I told her, I said, "I'm so glad
that my son had someone like you in his life."
-(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT) -LYNN: And I thought she was
very, very sweet and compassionate and loving.
I don't know. Why would you ever think that...
someone would think the way she does?
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: After you had told her that his body was cremated,
do you recall she replied to you...
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: (READS TEXT)
-CAMDYN: Yes. -FLYNN: Do you recall that?
-CAMDYN: Yes. -Did you think that was odd?
A little.
FLYNN: Were you concerned by that?
CAMDYN: A little.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
LYNN: She messaged me at some point and said,
"You tried your hardest, I tried my hardest."
I was like, "Well, that's a red flag," you know?
Excuse my language, but...
What the fuck is she talking about?
(CHUCKLES) Like, I tried to save him?
I had no idea he was feeling that way.
It's weird because before he passed,
I told him, I said, "Conrad," I said, "Mom was a teenager.
I know how girls can be.
If you're pretty, they can just smile
and just, you know, bat their eyelashes,
and some boys will be like, 'Woo.'"
So... (CHUCKLES)
I said, "But girls can... can be very manipulative."
And uh, I never believed that my son
would be taken advantage of in the worst way possible.
FLYNN: Who would do this and why?
I would suggest the evidence will show
that the defendant was a very needy person
who craved attention.
But she didn't have many close friends.
You're going to hear from some of the girls
that knew her during high school.
They will tell you that she texted them incessantly.
She was trying to get close to them
and be part of their lives,
but these girls had many things going on
and they really didn't hang around with her
outside of school.
So, in June of 2014,
when the school year was coming to an end,
the defendant needed something to get their attention.
KATIE RAYBURN: Samantha Boardman, Your Honor.
Now, in your junior year,
did you meet someone by the name of Michelle Carter?
SAM BOARDMAN: Yes.
And do you remember how you came to meet her?
She was in two of my classes, I believe, um, or--
So, I talked to her in math class, I believe.
JUDGE MONIZ: There's another witness?
FLYNN: Olivia Mosolgo, please.
JUDGE MONIZ: All right.
FLYNN: Would you consider yourself
a close friend with her in high school?
OLIVIA MOSOLGO: We were close teammates, I would say.
FLYNN: So, you were more teammates, not friends?
We were friends in the sense that I was there for her
when she was going through things, and...
-FLYNN: Okay. -But not every day,
-like, best friends... -FLYNN: Would you go--
On weekends, would you hang out with her?
-No. -FLYNN: Uh, is it fair to say
that she expressed to you that she felt like
-she had no friends? -MOSOLGO: Yes.
FLYNN: And did she send text messages to you about that?
MOSOLGO: Yes.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
-MOSOLGO: (READS TEXT) -FLYNN: Okay.
Do you recall getting that text message from Michelle Carter?
MOSOLGO: Yes.
KATIE RAYBURN: Lexie Eblan, please.
Please describe your relationship
with Michelle Carter, if-- if you had any.
LEXIE EBLAN: It was mostly an in-school friendship.
Um... Mostly just, like, talking in school and stuff.
Um, that was kind of, like, the extent.
RAYBURN: And during those first couple of years of high school,
would you ever socialize with Michelle Carter
outside of high school?
Outside of seeing her in a classroom?
I don't believe I did.
RAYBURN: Did Michelle Carter ask you
to do things during that junior year
-via text? -EBLAN: Definitely.
-(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT) -EBLAN: Probably a couple,
a few times a week.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
RAYBURN: And what was your usual answer?
EBLAN: That I was working
or had something else to do, or no.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
RAYBURN: And as school is ending,
were there any talks between you and Michelle
about doing things over the summer?
EBLAN: Um, I believe Michelle asked us,
but I'm not sure if we had any plans.
RAYBURN: Okay. In your mind, did you have any plans
to hang out with her over the summer?
EBLAN: Not really.
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
FLYNN: She knew her plan to get attention would work
because she pre-tested it.
On July 10, two days before Conrad committed suicide,
she did a "dry run,"
texting several girls that Conrad had gone missing
while simultaneously texting and talking with Conrad,
telling him to go get the gas machine.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
FLYNN: The girls immediately responded,
texting concern,
asking if the police were involved,
and again, the defendant lied.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: She also tells her friend
that it's her fault that he killed himself.
FLYNN: They, again, offering her comfort,
-tell her it's not her fault. -(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: They are paying attention to her now.
So, she has to make it happen.
She has to make him kill himself
so that she continues to get that attention
and not be known as a liar.
She has to be the grieving girlfriend
to get the sympathy and the attention
that she believes she deserves.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
RAYBURN: The next day, 7-13-2014,
do you get a message from Michelle Carter?
BOARDMAN: Yes.
RAYBURN: What does she ask you?
BOARDMAN: "Can we do something tonight
to get my mind off of it?"
RAYBURN: So, on the night of the twelfth,
she texts you that Conrad killed himself, correct?
-BOARDMAN: Yes. -Okay.
And then the next day,
she asks you if you want to hang out?
BOARDMAN: Yes.
♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
FLYNN: In the days following Conrad's death,
she sought attention and sympathy,
posting frequently on Facebook about how she missed him.
People started texting her, consoling her,
visiting her, and she suddenly became important.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
FLYNN: What did you do, after you heard that?
MOSOLGO: I went to see her.
FLYNN: And was that something that you would normally do?
MOSOLGO: It's something I would normally do
for a friend that was having
-a difficult time-- -No, I'm asking you
would you normally do that for Michelle Carter?
-MOSOLGO: I wouldn't-- -Go to her house?
MOSOLGO: No. Not usually.
And why, on this particular day,
did you decide to go to her house?
MOSOLGO: Because I would probably want
someone to be with me if that happened.
FLYNN: So, you felt that she needed your comfort?
MOSOLGO: Yes.
FLYNN: Did you observe people, uh, comforting her
-in the days that followed? -MOSOLGO: Yes.
FLYNN: And was that more than normal?
-Yes. -FLYNN: Okay.
And at some point, um, did you learn about something called
-Homers for Conrad? -MOSOLGO: Yes.
FLYNN: How did you come to learn about that?
It was on Facebook and she told me about it.
FLYNN: Do you recall getting this text message?
Could you please read it for us?
MOSOLGO: (READS TEXT)
FLYNN: Did you check it out?
Yes.
BOARDMAN: Homers for Conrad was a tournament
that Michelle was putting on in Conrad's honor
to raise money for mental health awareness.
I was curious as to why the tournament
was being held in Plainville and not in Mattapoisett.
RAYBURN: Why were you curious about that?
'Cause all of Conrad's family and friends
-are from Mattapoisett. -(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
RAYBURN: Did you relay to her that you thought
it made more sense to have it in Mattapoisett
where Conrad's friends and family are?
-Yes. -(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
RAYBURN: And how did she respond to you wanting, suggesting,
that maybe it should be moved to be more convenient
-for his friends and family? -She wasn't willing to move it.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
TOM GAMMELL: When I kept asking about it,
she wanted to make clear
that she was getting credit for all this,
which I had no problem with.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
RAYBURN: Given that she wasn't willing to move it, sir,
what did you do?
I went to the tournament.
RAYBURN: And at some point, did Miss Carter ask that
her photograph be taken with some of the teams?
GAMMELL: Yes.
RAYBURN: And is that a fair and accurate depiction
of a team photo with your team, uh, having won,
and Miss Carter in the middle?
Yes.
RAYBURN: How would you describe
Miss Carter's demeanor throughout Homers for Conrad?
GAMMELL: She seemed very happy.
RAYBURN: Did you see other young ladies
at Homers for Conrad, as well as yourself?
BOARDMAN: Yes.
RAYBURN: Young ladies from your school,
and yourself, and Miss Carter. Is that correct?
-Yes. -RAYBURN: Thank you.
FLYNN: And were some of them, uh, her friends?
They were mostly all her friends and family.
FLYNN: She begins to get
the attention that she's been craving for.
The grieving girlfriend.
REPORTER 2: Three years after Conrad Roy committed suicide,
prosecutors took us to the site where it happened.
From what I understand,
this is where the boy took his life.
Sitting right here.
It's so sad.
I've never met the girl,
but I've seen pictures of her.
She just has that look that I remember,
that I see that look,
and it's like, "You little snot.
How could you do that to a human being,
you 90210 piece of crap?"
Uh, you know?
I'm telling you, if I was on the jury,
I'd say, "Yeah. Go ahead.
Your parents aren't gonna miss you
if you're in Framingham for the next 30 years.
See ya later, bye."
I-- I swear to God, you know.
To me, this is evil.
This is evil.
And, um, where does evil come from?
I don't know.
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
BARRON: Almost immediately after the indictment,
there was...
a narrative that got set, that didn't change.
And it was set in the community, it was set in town,
it was set in the press.
And that is of this heartless bitch
who killed a guy to get popular.
And the reason that's such a compelling story
is it combines two things that people feel about teenage girls.
One of them is that they are-- Uh, they're coercive,
that they have a kind of secret power
that men don't have, that boys don't have,
and that they can use it.
The other thing is that they're crazy
and they only live for attention
and they just want to be popular and they're vapid.
And so, in saying that Michelle was this, like,
coercive ice queen
who killed a guy in order to become popular,
it was like the perfect combination
of everything that people hate about teenage girls.
COGAN: It was near-universal revulsion
at Michelle Carter.
She was portrayed as this black widow,
this teenage black widow,
a sociopath, a monster.
She was called the worst person in the world.
Just universal shock and anger that someone could do this
to this sweet young man, Conrad Roy.
BARRON: None of this is to say that what Michelle did
wasn't scary.
But the narrative that she did it
in this kind of witchy, Satanic, coercive way,
I think, came more from us than from her.
It's an American fable.
BREGGIN: Men are terrified of women.
We all struggle with that.
There's a long history of witches
in our culture.
And who are witches?
Witches were often
strong, loving women who treated people,
deranged people, sick people.
And we have vilified women
in many roles throughout history.
There's, in many men, a fear
that women can control them.
CATALDO: There are certain stories
that may sell newspapers and television shows
that the media will latch onto and try to turn into something.
You know, you have a, uh, young girl,
a girl who's attractive, and it was...
portrayed as something, uh, that it really wasn't.
They were just trying to paint Michelle in a bad light,
to try and say she had a motive
because, again, this case is so unique.
You need to twist the facts.
You need to twist the law
and try to line it all up to meet your story.
He had had depression.
She knew that.
He was an easy target.
It was all about her getting the attention
from a dead boyfriend.
How do you even process that?
That someone could be that inhuman?
I believe some people have no soul,
no conscience.
DR. OZ: Oh, my goodness. That's horrible.
BARRON: Michelle had
serious, serious mental health issues
for most of her adolescent life.
She had a severe eating disorder.
She was incredibly lonely.
BREGGIN: I think the eating disorder did to her
what it does to all young girls
who are suffering from that kind of problem.
It tends to make you feel odd and strange,
and it tends to make you want to isolate.
You tend to isolate from your parents.
You tend to hide your eating problem.
And then, later on, she starts to cut herself.
And cutting further isolates children from adults.
They have to hide it from the doctors,
hide it from their parents.
And she spends hours
texting back and forth with kids
who also aren't talking to their parents
about cutting, about eating disorders,
about suicide.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
RAYBURN: Are there times when the defendant would text you
and you would take a while to text back?
-BOARDMAN: Yes. -And would she sometimes,
the defendant, react to that?
BOARDMAN: Yes.
And what-- How would her reaction be
if you took a long time to respond to her?
BOARDMAN: She would often repetitively--
repeatedly texted me until I responded.
RAYBURN: And what would you generally describe,
sometimes, to be the length
of the defendant's text messages to you?
BOARDMAN: Very lengthy.
BOARDMAN: (READS TEXTS)
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
BREGGIN: There's no question that Michelle
is always asking people to love her.
She's always asking to get together,
and seemingly is not often getting together.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
BREGIN: And a lot of her friends couldn't reciprocate
because she's too desperate.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
She's so needy. It's a hole no one can fill.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
Keep in mind, this is not
such a strange phenomena among young girls.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
BREGGIN: Girls in high school destroy each other.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
(CROWD CHEERING)
ANNOUNCER: Michelle Diana Carter.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (SHOUTING) Good job!
CATALDO: It was all over national news.
Michelle was made out to, uh, be the bad guy.
Her-- Her friends at that point, the ones that were called,
did abandon her.
They were painting a different reality
than what existed.
The focus became Michelle, and not Conrad.
Did he really want to die?
And so, they shied away from
the root causes of why Conrad Roy killed himself.
Your Honor, this case is a suicide case.
It is not a homicide.
There just is insufficient evidence
to a reasonable factfinder to say that Conrad Roy
would not have taken his own life
on July 12th or July 13th of 2014
but for Michelle Carter.
The Commonwealth is trying to have it
so that the evidence is all about Michelle Carter.
There is so much evidence about Conrad Roy
and his decisions and his choices.
I can't fathom the fact that
I was such a happy kid
when I was younger.
And I've created a monster out of myself
the past few years
because of my depression.
Racing thoughts...
suicidal thoughts.
(KEYBOARD TYPING)
CATALDO: Go through his Google searches.
"Committing suicide makes you happy."
(KEYBOARD TYPING)
CATALDO: There are hundreds of these searches.
(KEYBOARD TYPING)
CATALDO: It was Mr. Roy who had a plan
to take his own life.
A long-held belief.
It goes back to the causation issue.
Did she actually cause his death?
COGAN: The question at the heart of this case is
can you cause someone else to commit suicide?
The prosecution has to prove that Michelle Carter
caused Conrad Roy's death.
RAYBURN: To suggest that he had his own free will,
and-- and we all do, to an extent,
and he could've just ignored her,
is an oversimplification of what was going on here.
Between the statements of "Why haven't you done it yet?"
and things of that nature, were other words,
and they were words of love.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
RAYBURN: Although it may seem odd that I'm suggesting
that words of love could be considered reckless,
I think they are here when you look at the circumstances.
She knew that he had social anxiety.
She knew that he was depressed.
She knew his frailties because he confided in her.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
RAYBURN: But not only that, Your Honor,
she knew herself.
She knew what it was like to be lonely.
And as June turned into July,
she turned that into "I love you, kill yourself."
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
MAKI: I don't know how someone could tell someone else
to kill themselves that supposedly loved them.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERT)
You want to help them,
not help them to kill themselves.
(TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS)
BREGGIN: It's a perfect storm of a tragedy.
It's a complete tragedy.
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC BUILDS) ♪
Many things played a role in here.
And some things that seem very important
seem to me to have been withheld by the prosecution.
♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪