A prosecutor says a Massachusetts woman accused of sending her boyfriend dozens of text messages urging him to kill himself when they were teenagers "kicked out his feet from under him" every time he expressed doubts about taking his own life.
Michelle Carter is accused in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III and is charged with manslaughter.
Prosecutors say the then-17-year-old Carter pressured Roy to take his own life through a torrent of text messages. They say she told Roy to "get back in" his truck when he became frightened while trying to kill himself with carbon monoxide.
Michelle Carter Texting Suicide Trial
In closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutors said Carter told Roy his relatives would be fine after his death and she would take care of them.
Carter's lawyer says Roy was intent on killing himself and took Carter along on his "sad journey."
Judge Lawrence Moniz will decide the case. Carter waived her right to a jury trial.
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The judge says he'll announce his ruling in open court but hasn't indicated when.
Carter's lawyer argued during the trial that Roy had attempted suicide previously and made his own decision to take his life. He has also said that she initially tried to talk him out of it.
Psychiatrist Peter Breggin testified that Carter was taking Celexa, an anti-depressant targeting the brain's frontal lobe, which controls decision-making and empathy.
Breggin said Roy talked about how he wanted to kill himself with a younger and emotionally troubled Carter. He said Carter eventually endorsed Roy's wishes.
Breggin said he reviewed all the text messages and Facebook conversations between Carter and Roy. He said that beginning in 2012, Roy told Carter he wanted to kill himself and said there was nothing she could do to stop him.
"He goes on and on for hours and hours, and pages and pages," Breggin said of Roy's communications with Carter about killing himself at a time when Breggin says Carter is "a little girl" overwhelmed by her boyfriend's unceasing focus on suicide.
Carter, now 20, has pleaded not guilty.
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