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Girl who convinced friend to commit suicide found guilty of involuntary manslaughter
- Thread starter Volimar
- Start date
Her age and mental state I believe is to be considered.
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Fuckin' a, at least learn something about the story before you post. This is not just someone saying "kill yourself!"
2.5 years seems low but in our seemingly random justice system, at least she didn't get off.
You're misunderstanding what I'm trying to say. I know about the story. I know he asked her and she told him to keep doing it. What I'm asking is at what point does this become a precedent for cases if even telling someone to kill themselves results in that person actually doing it.
It's not even 2.5yrs apparently it is 15 months.
https://twitter.com/BostonDotCom/status/893189086877540352
https://twitter.com/BostonDotCom/status/893189086877540352
DOWN
Banned
Its new territory. Verbal encouragement of harmful acts committed by someone else that you arent physically present to enforce is unusual. Maybe laws will get more tough on this in the future now that people communicate and bully remotely more than they could when laws were made.
I thought she'd get probation, so I'm pleasantly surprised.
Right to forget
excelsiorlef
Member
Dunno about this. Manslaughter seems like a strange charge, this should have it's own charge, like incitement to suicide of a mentally unstable person, or something along those lines.
Suicide is the individual's own choice in the end, she encouraged it but she didn't make him do it. I think a couple of years in prison and the complete condemnation of what she did by everyone around her is punishment enough, and unless she's utterly insane, more than enough of a deterrent against this kind of behaviour in the future.
Telling somebody to do anything else, and they do it, they are responsible for what they did. That should be the baseline for all behaviour. However, this kind of thing should be discouraged because there are very susceptible people out there, so I think it should be a crime if it goes far enough. I'm not talking one 'kill yourself' comment, but along the lines of what she did - she seems to have been rationally negotiating with him that he should actually kill himself, like right now. That's a bit different.
I think 2.5 years sounds just about right, maybe a little on the light side. 3-4.
Suicide is the individual's own choice in the end, she encouraged it but she didn't make him do it. I think a couple of years in prison and the complete condemnation of what she did by everyone around her is punishment enough, and unless she's utterly insane, more than enough of a deterrent against this kind of behaviour in the future.
Telling somebody to do anything else, and they do it, they are responsible for what they did. That should be the baseline for all behaviour. However, this kind of thing should be discouraged because there are very susceptible people out there, so I think it should be a crime if it goes far enough. I'm not talking one 'kill yourself' comment, but along the lines of what she did - she seems to have been rationally negotiating with him that he should actually kill himself, like right now. That's a bit different.
I think 2.5 years sounds just about right, maybe a little on the light side. 3-4.
She was on the phone with him while he was killing himself. It's the persistent pushing from her before and while he was killing himself which is the massive problem.
hipbabboom
Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
I'm no psychologist but I feel like if there's an established relationship of dependence and trust and you give advice that can bring harm then you are, at the very least, somewhat culpable to the outcome of the instructed person acting on that advice.
It's not an easy thing to prove intangibles like relationship rolls and trust but there's plenty of precedence for doing so in our legal system as far as criminal offences go. The ability to manipulate an emotional compromised person with words to do your bidding at mortal risk to themselves is not faultless. She really got off easily for someone willing to do something like this.
Good. Don't be a sociopath and encourage people to kill themselves. It's about the best kind of sentence one could hope for, given the crime.
For sure, that girl needs fucking help when she gets out. I hope part of her debt to society is on parole she has to go see a fucking counsellor.
For sure, that girl needs fucking help when she gets out. I hope part of her debt to society is on parole she has to go see a fucking counsellor.
SocksAndShoes
Banned
And not contacting anyone else who could have helped him. Having the knowledge that someone is about to kill themselves and doing nothing about it makes you culpable.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Apparently her attorney is asking for bail until they can appeal.
SolidSnakeUS
Member
I usually don't do this, but anyone thinking she got off a little light because shes... white?
LordOfChaos
Member
I mean, didn't she have exactly that?
Or was she let off for the text, but this was for knowing about the suicide and not doing anything?
Seems light.
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Ok, my bad.
The precedent has been established but this case is fairly specific. As I said, and as you know, this wasn't just someone telling someone, "Oh go kill yourself" while bullying someone at school or whatever.
This was a consistent, relatively long-term campaign and exploitation of a person with suicidal tendencies which was known by the girl; a never-ending stream of motivational language and guilt-tripping that preyed on the victim's attachment to the perpetrator as her kind-of boyfriend. It proved malicious and self-serving intent (the chick knew he was suicidal and wanted him to commit suicide to garner sympathy for herself), and finally you had her effort to get him back in the truck when he temporarily aborted the suicide attempt.
So the precedent seems to be based on the magnitude and length of the effort, plus the knowledge that it was directed at someone who was suicidal (and had already attempted it), and the final push to get the victim to complete the attempt when he was having second thoughts.
cj_iwakura
Member
Or female? If the genders were reversed, they would have thrown the book at him.
So basically your saying if you talk a mentally ill person into jumping off a bridge it's ok because they did it themselves. Or you convince a schizophrenic person that people are after them and they do something bad, your absolved from any guilt as you didn't personally do said act. This isn't a jokey comment made to a sane person.
SolidSnakeUS
Member
That is true.
MisterR
Member
No, I think she got off a little light because it's a real stretch of a case to convict her of manslaughter for telling somebody to kill themselves. I'd guess this has a strong chance of being overturned on appeal. What she did was supper shitty, but does it meet the legal standard to be manslaughter? That's a tough call.
Yup, she got the double bonus there
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
No it isn't. Not in this case.
Anyone saying this needs to watch the 48 Hours special on this story. Once you see everything that was presented in court, you will understand why it's not a stretch.
Conciliator
Banned
Yeah those texts really seem to reveal a fuckin sociopath playing with life because she's bored. I don't know the correct punishment or whatever but she is absolutely a danger to others.
Good. Girl needs fucking help.
Yes, it's manslaughter. She didn't just tell him to kill himself, but actively encouraged it. If you were suicidal and I knew that and I actively encouraged you to end your life and manipulated you into doing it, you think I shouldn't face legal action?
That's why they didn't want a jury trial I heard. They hoped a judge would agree her horrible actions don't meet the legal definition.... but not a bet they won.
Pretty simple imo. If you tell some random stranger to kill himself an he does exactly that a few hours later you're just a dick. But if you manipulate someone who you know is vulnerable over the course of months or years then you're guilty as fuck.
friskykillface
Banned
Yeesh at that sentence, should have been 5-10 at minimum
What a joke
What a joke
Guhnmystro
Member
Maybe people shouldn't tell other people to kill themselves.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Posts like these are pretty terrible simplifications. She didn't just tell him to kill himself in passing, this was a black and white case, not some awkward share of gray. Pretty telling the posters more worried about not being able to manipulate people into killing themselves like this woman than about justice for the person who died.
Not a thing in the US.
Matrix XII
Member
Sentence was very light. I think it should've been around 4 yrs. From her perspective that should seem like a victory.
but there is no law in Massachusetts criminalizing the encouragement of suicide. He also ignored all of her previous attempts of telling him to seek help. What crime was committed here that deserves jail time?
Vampfox
Banned
The guy had free will. It was his own choice. Personally I think that the guy's family is more to blame than the girl. How could they not know how mentally ill he was? Where were they in all this?
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