The Massachusetts Parole Board announced Friday that Michelle Carter’s request for early release after serving almost half of her 15-month jail sentence has been denied.
After serving seven months, Michelle Carter appeared before the Massachusetts Parole Board on Thursday. Although the parole board didn’t have a deadline to decide, they returned their decision on Friday and said Carter “needs to further address” what caused her actions to begin with, according to The Boston Globe.
“The [Board] is troubled that Ms. Carter not only encouraged Mr. Conrad to take his own life, she actively prevented others from intervening in his suicide,’’ the decision said. “Ms. Carter’s self serving statements and behavior, leading up to and after his suicide, appear to be irrational and lacked sincerity. Ms. Carter needs to further address her causative factors that led to the governing offense. Release does not meet the legal standard.”
Gregg Miliote, a spokesperson for Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III, added that it was clear Carter still didn’t show empathy for her role in her 17-year-old boyfriend’s death.
“It’s unfortunate that in the five years since Conrad’s death, the Parole Board found she still does not have sufficient insight into her crime and lacks empathy. As always, our concern is for the Roy family and the public’s safety.”
Carter’s attorney, Joseph P. Cataldo, disagreed. Cataldo indicated he planned to appeal the parole board’s decision.
However, despite the parole board’s decision, the New York Post reports that Carter will get early release regardless. She’s been participating in classes and programs and works in the jail kitchen, which reportedly earns her 10 days off of sentence each month.
“She’s earned almost two months’ good time off. Her original date was in May, and now I believe as of this morning she has earned enough that she could get out in the middle of March,” Jonathan Darling, a spokesperson for the Bristol County House of Detention said.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Carter was 17 when she sent numerous text messages to her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, 18, pressuring him to kill himself after he threatened suicide in 2014. The text messages ultimately became the reason she received an involuntary manslaughter conviction in 2017.
'You Just Have To Do It': All The Texts Michelle Carter Sent To Conrad Roy Pushing Him To Suicide https://t.co/rMVDJz9dZd pic.twitter.com/gbVvuXkD84
— Crime Time (@OxygenCrimeTime) July 14, 2019
The judge who oversaw Carter’s 2017 trial said that Carter had the duty to contact law enforcement and/or Conrad’s parents once she knew her boyfriend planned to kill himself. The judge also referenced how Carter told Conrad to “get back in” his truck and “finish the job.”
Conrad took his own life in a Kmart parking lot in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide fumes while sitting inside his truck.
Prosecutors said Carter was responsible because she pushed the teen over the edge at a critical point in time when he needed help. Carter knew Conrad had attempted to kill himself in the past and in turn, pushed him to try until he succeeded.
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[Feature Photo: Khaseen Morris/Handout]
