The Massachusetts conviction last month of Michelle Carter for involuntary manslaughter in the suicide death of boyfriend Conrad Roy raises a host of legal questions and related speculations about what precedents it has set. After repeated urgings via texts by Carter, Roy, having outfitted his own vehicle with a device to channel its exhaust, died by carbon monoxide poisoning on July 14, 2014. Carter was not present at the scene. Roy was eighteen years old at the time, and Carter seventeen and classified as a juvenile under Massachusetts law. Involuntary manslaughter is the unintentional killing of a human being directly caused by some act done recklessly. The Massachusetts law is a fairly standard representative of the law of all the states. It can be committed by “wanton or reckless conduct” or by “wanton or reckless failure to act.” The conduct that kills is intentional, but the killing is not. Death is not intended. By contrast, in first and...(Read Full Article)