Would assisting a suicide be charged as involuntary manslaughter or is there a separate charge for that? I'm just curious. What this girl did was definitely morally wrong but I'm not sure about legally wrong. I am uncomfortable about other people being charged when someone takes their own life. Where do you draw the line at how responsible they are. These text messages she sent him were awful and far beyond normal but I had an ex who was always talking about killing himself when things went badly for him. I tried everything to help until I absolutely couldn't take it anymore and told him to just put himself out of his misery. He didn't but if he had should I have been prosecuted?
I realise there's a difference between what I said to my ex and what she said in these messages but where do you draw the line, not in a moral sense but legally speaking?
In MA law there is a reasonable expectation of a person's duty to act responsibly. Unfortunately, in Massachusetts, "reckless endangerment" only applies to endangerment of a child. But just to get a sense of how the law sees a person's responsibility, where to draw the line, etc., some insight can be gained from the statute;
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter265/Section13L
"For the purposes of this section, such wanton or reckless behavior occurs when a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his
acts, or omissions where there is a duty to act, would result in serious bodily injury or sexual abuse [to a child.] The risk must be of such nature and degree that
disregard of the risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.
Also laws pertaining to gross negligence are more in the Civil, rather than Criminal statutes. But with regard to your Ex, it is not unreasonable to become burdened by someone constantly threatening suicide and say something like you did. If Michelle Carter had simply said that and at the very least ended contact with him she would not be accountable at all. His family knew his problems. She could have walked away and have no duty to act. Change her phone number, not respond, etc. They never actually met in person or if they did it was infrequent.
But Michelle Carter took it many steps further IMO. She provided him Motive; ' You'll be better off, at peace, your parents will get over it, seeing Jesus was a sign it's your destiny, etc.', Means; ' The CO research, the generator idea, the coaching on how it happens, how to do it, etc.', and Opportunity; 'today's the day, when are you going to do it, the parking lot, timing, etc.' She actually put him in danger when he was unable to help himself with both her failure to act as well as her actions.
The answer to your question is that no, you should not have been prosecuted if he went ahead with it. You didn't assist in his suicide.
MOO
