A woman who encouraged her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself in dozens of text messages and told him to "get back in" a truck filled with toxic gas has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter.
Michelle Carter was convicted in June by a judge who said her final instruction to Conrad Roy III caused his death.
Carter was 17 when the 18-year-old Roy was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in July 2014.
Juvenile Court judge Lawrence Moniz on Thursday gave Carter a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence but said she had to serve only 15 months of that. He also sentenced her to five years of probation.
Carter's lawyer, Joseph Cataldo, asked the judge to spare his client any jail time and instead give her five years of probation and require her to receive mental health counselling.
He said Carter was struggling with mental health issues of her own - bulimia, anorexia and depression - during the time she urged Roy to kill himself.
Prosecutor Maryclare Flynn sought the maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
Michelle Carter's parents David and Gail Carter listen at her sentencing in court (AAP) Source: AAP
In dozens of text messages, Carter had urged Roy to follow through on his talk of taking his own life. "The time is right and you are ready ... just do it babe," Carter wrote in a text the day he killed himself.
The sensational trial was closely watched on social media, in part because of the insistent tone of Carter's text messages.
"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," Carter wrote in one text.
In convicting Carter, the judge focused his ruling on Carter telling Roy to "get back in" after he climbed out of his truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide and told her he was afraid.
Conrad Roy Jr. listens as Michelle Carter is sentenced for involuntary manslaughter for encouraging his son (AAP) Source: AAP
The judge said those words constituted "wanton and reckless conduct" under the manslaughter statute.
Carter and Roy met in Florida in 2012 while both were on vacation with their families. After that, they only met in person a handful of times. Their relationship consisted mainly of texting.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.
MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78.
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