Woman convicted for encouraging boyfriend to kill himself released early

A Massachusetts woman convicted for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself has been released after serving less than a year in prison.

Michelle Carter, 23, was released Thursday morning, more than three months early, after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, her attorney confirmed to The Hill. Video released by local station NBC 10 WJAR showed her walking outside the Bristol County jail with guards holding clear garbage bags with her belongings. 

Michelle Carter walks out of Bristol County jail. pic.twitter.com/I59eSPl6XX

— NBC 10 WJAR (@NBC10) January 23, 2020

Carter was sentenced to 15 months in prison and five years probation in 2017 for involuntary manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend Conrad Roy II in 2014. 

She was convicted of urging Roy to kill himself with poisonous gas in his car, at one point telling him to “get back in” the car when he was having second thoughts. Carter and her legal team have claimed her texts were constitutionally protected free speech.

Both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Massachusetts Supreme Court declined to pick up the case, leaving her conviction standing. She applied for parole in September and was denied, but she garnered enough credits for good behavior to be released early.

The Roy family released a statement in response to her release, saying “news of the Supreme Court denying to hear her case far out shadowed the news of her early release,” according to NBC News.

“Her time in jail, no matter how long or short, will not change the outcome of a guilty verdict which is thankfully being upheld,” they added. 

The family is currently pushing for state and federal laws to make it a crime when a person “intentionally coerces or encourages” someone to kill themselves, punishable by up to five years in jail, according to the network.

—Updated at 1:44 p.m.