[Crook32]

Not sure where to put this topic.

Anyone hear about the case where a girlfriend texted her boyfriend to kill himself multiple times and finally he did. Now she is on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

Do you think she should be held responsible? She knew of his history of mental illness.

[Sunflower123]

That's a tough one. According to her attorney, she was supposedly on Celexa and she had drug intoxication and that caused a lack of empathy that caused the number and nature of texts between them. He also says the bf had attempted suicide before. Having said that, have you read some of her texts to him? She should be held accountable but to what degree I don't know. Best wishes.

[rwwff]

"on trial" is the perfect place for this, where both sides can present evidence on something that is very challenging, and then have an objective party(s) make a decision followed by likely review.

I don't know if its the decision I'd make if I were her though, but the legal system is different there. Here, chances of getting a not-guilty on a lower manslaughter charge seem pretty slim, and a reasonable deal could likely be reached. Besides, she sent the texts, there is something to be said for owning your actions.

Hard and complicated call in the end..

[bearguardian]

I think this is utter human stupidity. A girl gets on trial for a text message. On daily basis the people in power slaughter millions of innocent people. And we all just stand there and watch it happen, distracted by news like these.
Yes I know its a terrible thing she did. I would rather put her in a ward and have her reconsider things a bit in her head.

[bearguardian]

What is next after this? Burning books and records because they are dark and "promote murder". We should be personally responsible in these matters.

[still_crazy]

i don't know what to make of all this. he was obviously a vulnerable person, and she obviously thought it would be great fun to push him to kill himself. now, she's on trial and it sounds like the defense is scrambling to keep her out of prison.

what to do? psych "Treatment" ? Ummm...OK. prison? to what end? Yes, what she did was horrible, no doubt, but I think the prosecutors are going out of their way to make an example out of her. I don't quite understand what the prosecution is trying to accomplish here, aside from getting publicity and ruining this woman's life. How is society going to benefit from punishing her?

I mean...the tax payer bill for her time in prison will be huge, and her life will be ruined. The point is...? Oh, wait; its America. Locking people up is our answer to just about everything.

[bearguardian]

A good god-fearing Christian bombs children, poisons food, ruins lives for profit. But imagery of Satan. Now thats a blasphemy. Thats promoting murder. And hell for eternity...

My ex-husband offered to help me commit suicide. He knew I wanted to walk into the wilderness and die. He offered to drive me there and drop me off by the side of the road.

[bearguardian]

Originally Posted by flowerbells

My ex-husband offered to help me commit suicide. He knew I wanted to walk into the wilderness and die. He offered to drive me there and drop me off by the side of the road.

That seems more calculated then an unstable girl texting...

[leejosepho]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

I think the prosecutors are going out of their way to make an example out of her... How is society going to benefit from punishing her?

Freedom of speech does not include being free-of-consequence after yelling "Fire!" where there is none, and neither is it okay to encourage suicide. "Suicide Is Painless" is the M*A*S*H theme song, bit its lyrics had been written by a fourteen-year-old because the show's director insisted on the song being the "stupidest song ever written".

I certainly agree there are many other harmful things influencing and even encouraging destructive behaviour within society, but that fact does not excuse the actions of this young woman. At the very least, making an example of what the consequences can be will hopefully discourage others from doing the same for any reasons of their own.

Originally Posted by bearguardian

I think this is utter human stupidity. A girl gets on trial for a text message. On daily basis the people in power slaughter millions of innocent people. And we all just stand there and watch it happen, distracted by news like these.
Yes I know its a terrible thing she did. I would rather put her in a ward and have her reconsider things a bit in her head.

Bearguardian, how right you are! The Great American News gets all excited about murders and mass murders, horrible though the most certainly are - and
the News ignores the mass murders of women and children our administrations (all of them) foist on our tragic brothers and sisters in other countries. And the children who the government encourages to "join the military and get job training." The News also does not point out that the present administration is attempting to be a mass murderer, by taking away health care, mental health care, care for the homeless people and whatever other horrors they want to foist on us all.

[bearguardian]

Originally Posted by leejosepho

Freedom of speech does not include being free-of-consequence after yelling "Fire!" where there is none, and neither is it okay to encourage suicide. "Suicide Is Painless" is the M*A*S*H theme song, bit its lyrics had been written by a fourteen-year-old because the show's director insisted on the song being the "stupidest song ever written".

I certainly agree there are many other harmful things influencing and even encouraging destructive behaviour within society, but that fact does not excuse the actions of this young woman. At the very least, making an example of what the consequences can be will hopefully discourage others from doing the same for any reasons of their own.

I would make an example of schools that teach ******** instead of responsibility for your own life. Where is the line then between telling someone he is "stupid worthless idiot" and "go kill yourself". Someone can interpret this as the same thing and go kill himself.

The world is not simple or black and white as some people see it. Yes, she is responsible in part and there should be consequences. If not, lots of sociopaths could be sparked to get people to kill them selves by preying on the mentally ill with bully tactics. This sounds like it should be considered a cyber crime. Think of it this way....if a person goes out for a fun night of drinking and decides to get behind the wheel of a car while drinking and kills someone, are they responsible? Most would say yes, even though they had no real intention of harming a person at all. This lady knowingly intended to harm a person. It was her intent and she succeeded.....he probably wouldn't have done it without all her coaxing and so yes, she should be made to pay a price for her actions. If I were the judge I'd give her probation and required weekly therapy and community service. I don't think jailing her is a good idea but making sure she understands her words have consequences will make her think twice before abusing another person. Abusing vulnerable people is a crime and that is clearly what she did.

[leejosepho]

Originally Posted by bearguardian

I would make an example of schools that teach ******** instead of responsibility for your own life.

No disagreement here, and maybe you could become a watchdog for that kind of thing and get some corrective action started.

Think of it like this.....if this was your child who killed themselves after getting all these terrible texts and your child was mentally ill and the person sending the texts knew it, would you expect them to be punished? Probably.

[bearguardian]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

Think of it like this.....if this was your child who killed themselves after getting all these terrible texts and your child was mentally ill and the person sending the texts knew it, would you expect them to be punished? Probably.

I wrote earlier the similar punishment as you did.

[Artchic528]

She was found guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter. I saw it on TV live.

[Icare dixit]

Was he threatening her with suicide?

If so, I think a "Go for it." may be the best response. If the suicide is a way to provoke, it may be best to say you are not receptive. If it's a way of sending a message to be validated by her, then it might still be the better type of response. But it may not be.

Both might have been manipulating each other. You could argue she was manipulated into manipulating him.

If he doesn't have a PD you are unlikely to convince someone to commit suicide, I think. Not like that. But I'd think they both have/had one. Otherwise, there won't be a strong enough causality, I'd say. But I might be wrong. The most powerful manipulations are compulsions. She should be treated for that. To realise why she does it and how to change her behaviour.

[Faltering]

The girlfriend may have been struggling with her own mental illness, but it's hard to dispute her telling him to get back in the car when he was scared. There's no question at that point that she wanted him to go through with it. She had the opportunity to stop it and get him help. Yet she was able to keep encouraging him to commit suicide. That in particular bothers me.

That being said, she is an immature young girl who may benefit from remediation. I would find other consequences more appropriate than prison, such as mental health treatment and community service.

[wonderluster]

The so-called girlfriend is receiving a painful lesson. The boyfriend was one of about a million people on Earth who killed themselves that year. What a mess we humans are. I am glad everyone here is trying to get better <3

[Unrigged64072835]

Cyberbullying is here to stay. At least the girl is facing consequences.

[cakeladie]

He got out of his truck and he texted her that he got outnshe ordered him several times to get back into the truck and he did.

She did not want a jury trial only a trial by the judge. She could have and should have called his family or 911.

I completely understand if someone wants to leave this world. I can also understand someonendriving them to the desire location. But what's different here is he got out of the truck because he could not breath he was having second thoughts and she made him go back into the truck. That is wrong.

Also she is being tried as a juvenile not an adult she got lucky on that. Also she showed no remorse at all that is wrong.

My sister tried to commit suicide when she was a teenager. It was a cry for help. This subject is very near and dear my heart

From a legal standpoint, the sentencing makes sense and the law was applied fairly.

I think what she did was abhorrent and evil, and she 100% deserves punishment, but she cannot be charged with murder or voluntary manslaughter. Murder is YOU physically killing someone or somehow orchestrating a murder plot. She did neither. And well, the difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter is that voluntary is premeditated. I don't think her crime was premeditated, though, because I think she saw a situation and took advantage of it, maybe because she thought it was funny or because she was angry. Who knows. She's just an opportunist, albeit a twisted one. I don't think she planned this ahead of time.

I don't know wtf is wrong with her, but she obviously has issues she needs to work through. Jail probably isn't going to do much for her *or* for society, so I don't know if there is much value in locking her up, especially not for the 20 year maximum sentence. She's better off seeking mental health treatment and doing community service (as others have suggested). I don't see her as a threat to the safety of society. I'd rather free up her jail cell so that someone who is a legitimate threat can be put in there.

just my 2¢

[bioChE]

She was convicted, which I think was the right call by the judge. As has been stated she's being treated as a juvenile, so she got lucky.

[cakeladie]

But it's kinda like when let's say 3 people go in to rob a bank 2 of the 3 people did not know the 3rd guy was going to shoot someone because they were all supposed to have play guns but he does shot someone and that person dies. All three get charged with the murder because they were there

This is kinda like that. She knew what he was doing. She knew where he was she egged him on. He tried to stop once and she "ordered" him back into his truck. I used the word "order" because that's the word the judge used.

Does she deserves 20 years who knows but shes lucky that she was charged has a juvenile not has an adult. Her file can be expunged after she does her time if she does do time and if she does will it be in an adult facility or a juvenile.

I also believe if the judge hadn't gone hard on her now we would be seeing a lot more of this. My daughter was bullied in high school. In the space of 1 hour she got over 600 mean nasty text messages from these 2 girls. My daughter's cell phone was turned over to the campus police officer and the admin staff but they honestly didn't know how to handle the problem because has we get better technology these stuff is going to happen more and more.