Involuntary Manslaughter

As with voluntary manslaughter Massachusetts statutory law does not define involuntary manslaughter. Rather, Massachusetts common law, as pronounced by the courts, provides the definition for involuntary manslaughter:One can commit involuntary manslaughter through: (1) an unintentional killing occasioned by an act which constitutes such a disregard of the probable harmful consequences to another as to be wanton or reckless; or (2) an unintentional killing resulting from a battery.

The first theory under which a person may face conviction for involuntary manslaughter requires an unintentional, yet unlawful killing resulting from the wanton or reckless conduct of the defendant. This theory of involuntary manslaughter is sometimes called "Welansky manslaughter," after the 1944 case in which the owner of a nightclub was convicted of involuntary manslaughter when a fire in his club caused the death of over 400 patrons. That case also established that wanton or reckless conduct includes both affirmative acts and failures to act where a duty to act exists. Such acts or omissions must embody a disregard for the probable harmful consequences to another. The conduct must involve a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm will result to another. The law requires that the defendant have knowledge of the circumstances and the intent to do the act that caused the death, and also requires that the circumstances presented a danger of serious harm such that a reasonable man would have recognized the nature and degree of danger. Wanton and reckless conduct is distinct from negligence or gross negligence for which, in the common law of Massachusetts, there is no criminal liability.

The second theory on which a defendant may face conviction for involuntary manslaughter requires that the defendant commit a battery, not amounting to a felony, which causes death. A person who uses a level of force against another that is likely to cause harm and which produces death is guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The law requires that the prosecution establish that the defendant knew, or should have known that his conduct created a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm would result to another. This means that the same standards of proof apply to both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

The punishment for both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, as set by statute, is the same. The maximum sentence for an involuntary manslaughter conviction is imprisonment for twenty years, except in circumstances where the voluntary manslaughter involves explosives or infernal machines, in which cases the maximum punishment is life imprisonment.

http://massmurderdefense.com/pages/manslaughter in.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6622953/Teen Michelle Carter on trial in suicide groomingcase.html

‘Have you done it yet?’...teenage girl’s texts urging her boyfriend to kill himself U.S. student’s trial in suicide grooming case

WHEN her boyfriend gassed himself to death, histeenage sweetheart professed herself heartbroken.

Michelle Carter took to Twitter to mourn “a beautiful soul gone too soon”, and vowed on Facebook to save other troubled souls “even though I could not save my boyfriend’s life”.

She even organized a charity softball tournament to raise money for mental health awareness.

But now Carter’s grief has been blasted as the crocodile tears of a sick attention-seeker.

And the 18-year-old American is in the dock in Massachusetts — accused of ENCOURAGING Conrad Roy III, also 18, to take his own life.

The evidence against Carter, a high school honour student, is a series of chilling texts she sent to Conrad ahead of his suicide.

They told the high school baseball player: “You just have to do it”, “it’s painless and quick” and “tonight is the night”.

She even helped him research the best method of getting carbon monoxide into his truck.

Conrad, of Mattapoisett, was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in his pick-up truck last July, in the car park of a Kmart store in Fairhaven.

He had used a gas-powered water pump running inside the closed truck to generate the toxic gas.

Carter, 17 at the time, pleads not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter for allegedly encouraging Roy’s death.

If convicted she could face up to 20 years in prison.

Massachusetts is one of only 12 states in America where assisted suicide is not a crime.

1Trial . . . Michelle pleaded not guilty AP:Associated Press

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6622953/Teen Michelle Carter on trial in suicide groomingcase.html

Her lawyers, who insist she has not broken any laws, say Conrad was the controlling force and made Carter help him kill himself.

Defence lawyer Joseph Cataldo said, last week, that Conrad, who had a history of depression, was trying to get Carter to participate in a “Romeo and Juliet”-style death pact, and that she was “brainwashed” into helping him commit suicide.

However, classmates of Carter interviewed by the police after the tragedy described her as someone who craves attention and cries wolf.

Conrad’s friends claimed they had never heard of her, despite her claiming she had been dating her online boyfriend “on and off” for two years.

Whatever the truth, the texts make for disturbing reading.

On the day he died, Carter and Conrad talked by phone for more than an hour while he sat in his truck as it filled with the gas.

According to court documents, she later admitted to encouraging him to stay in the vehicle as the situation became deadly.

Months after the tragedy, Carter texted a friend: “Like, honestly I could have stopped it.

“I was the one on the phone with him and he got out of the car because [the carbon monoxide] was working and he got scared. I f***ing told him to get back in.”

It appears that Carter, whose next court date is October 2, was well aware of how damning her texts to Conrad might be.

One text to a friend said: “[If the police] read my messages with him I’m done. His family will hate me and I can go to jail.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6622953/Teen Michelle Carter on trial in suicide groomingcase.html

Here are chronological snippets of the text conversations between Carter and Conrad on the day he took his life.

CARTER: You can’t think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don’t get why you aren’t.

CONRAD: I don’t get it either. I don’t know.

CARTER: So I guess you aren’t gonna do it then. All that for nothing. I’m just confused.

CONRAD: I am gonna eventually. I really don’t know what I’m waiting for but I have everything lined up.

CARTER: No you’re not, Conrad. Last night was it. You kept pushing it off and you say you’ll do it, but you never do. It’s always gonna be that way if you don’t take action. You’re just making it harder on yourself by pushing it off. You just have to do it. Do you want to do it now?

CONRAD: Is it too late? I don’t know. It’s already light outside. I’m gonna go back too sleep. Love you. I’ll text you tomorrow.

CARTER: No. It’s probably the best time now because everyone is sleeping . . . If you don’t do it now you’re never gonna do it, and you can say you’ll do it tomorrow, but you probably won’t. Tonight? . . . Love you.

Later that morning

CONRAD: I do want to but I’m like freaking for my family.

CARTER: I told you I’ll take care of them. Everyone will take care of them to make sure they won’t be alone and people will help them get through it. We talked about this and they will be okay and accept it. People who commit suicide don’t think this much. They just do it.

CONRAD: I know. I know. LOL. Thinking just drives me more crazy.

CARTER: You just need to do it, Conrad, or I’m gonna get you help. You can’t keep doing this everyday.

CONRAD: Okay. I’m gonna do it today.

CARTER: You promise?

CONRAD: I promise, babe. I have to now.

CARTER: Like right now?

CONRAD: Where do I go?

CARTER: And you can’t break a promise.

That afternoon

CONRAD: Like, I don’t want to kill anyone else with me.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6622953/Teen Michelle Carter on trial in suicide groomingcase.html

CARTER: You won’t.

CONRAD: When they open the door they won’t know it’s odorless and colorless.

CARTER: You’re over thinking. They will see the generator and realize you breathed in CO too.

CONRAD: So should I keep it in the back seat or front?

CARTER: In the front. You could write on a piece of paper and tape it on saying carbon monoxide if you’re scared.

CONRAD: I was thinking that but someone might see it before it happens.

CARTER: Well, wait, the generator is gonna be on because you’ll be passed out, so they’ll know you used carbon monoxide. Dead.

In the early evening

CARTER: So it’s time?

CONRAD: Oh, it’s been time.

CARTER: Are you gonna do it now?

CONRAD: I just don’t know how to leave them (his family), you know.

CARTER: Say you’re gonna go the store or something.

CONRAD: Like, I want them to know that I love them.

CARTER: They know. That’s one thing they definitely know. You’re over thinking.

CONRAD: I know I’m over thinking. I’ve been over thinking for a while now.

CARTER: I know. You just have to do it like you said. Are you gonna do it now?

CONRAD: I still haven’t left yet, ha ha.

CARTER: Why?

CONRAD: Leaving now.

CARTER: Okay. You can do this.

CONRAD: Okay. I’m almost there.