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U.S. NEWS Friday 20 September 2019
Parole board weighs release of

woman in texting suicide case

By PHILIP MARCELO man for the state Executive she told Roy to get back in.
Associated Press Office of Public Safety and Carter didn't take the stand
NATICK, Mass. (AP) — Mas- Security, which oversees at her trial.
sachusetts officials are the parole board. Carter's attorneys argued
weighing whether to grant Carter, her lawyer and her texts were constitution-
early jail release for Mi- members of the family of ally protected free speech.
chelle Carter, the woman Conrad Roy III didn't com- The state Supreme Judicial
currently imprisoned for ment after the hearing. Court, however, disagreed,
urging her suicidal boy- Carter was convicted in upholding her conviction in
friend via text messages to 2017 of involuntary man- February. Michelle Carter, center, departs following a parole hearing on
take his own life. slaughter in 18-year-old Carter's lawyers have since Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019 in Natick, Mass.
Carter, 22, appeared Thurs- Roy's death following a appealed to the U.S. Su- Associated Press
day before the state Parole bench trial in which a judge preme Court , but the na-
Board to seek release after — rather than a jury — de- tion's highest court hasn't Carter's case has garnered "Conrad's Law," which
serving seven months of her cided her fate. decided whether it will take national attention and would make convincing
15-month jail sentence . No The judge found then-17- up the case yet. sparked legislative propos- or manipulating someone
decision was announced year-old Carter caused Carter, meanwhile, began als to criminalize suicide into committing suicide a
following the closed-door Roy's 2014 death when she her sentence in February at coercion. crime punishable by up to
hearing, and it's unclear ordered him in a phone the Bristol County House of The case was the subject five years in jail.
when a determination will call to get back in his car- Corrections in Dartmouth, of a two-part HBO docu- A wrongful death suit filed
be made. bon monoxide-filled truck the same jail where dis- mentary that was released by the Roy family against
There's no deadline for a that he'd parked in a Kmart graced New England Pa- in July. Carter was also dismissed
decision, which is typically parking lot. triots star Aaron Hernandez Lawmakers in Massachu- with prejudice in April after
made in writing and won't The phone call wasn't re- served time for murder. setts have also proposed being resolved privately.q
require another appear- corded, but the judge re-
ance by Carter, according lied on a text Carter sent
to Felix Browne, a spokes- her friend in which she said

U.S. vaping illnesses

top 500, Missouri

man is 8th death

By MIKE STOBBE Missouri joined the list later
NEW YORK (AP) — More Thursday, announcing the
than 500 people have death this week of a man
been diagnosed with in his mid-40s at a St. Louis
vaping-related breathing hospital. Canada reported
illnesses, but the cause re- its first case Wednesday, a
mains unknown, U.S. health high school student who
officials said Thursday. An was on life support and has
eighth death was also re- since recovered.
ported. All patients had used an
Meanwhile, the Food and electronic cigarette or oth-
Drug Administration re- er vaping device.
vealed that its criminal in- Doctors have said the ill-
vestigations unit started nesses resemble an inha-
tracking leads early on, lation injury, with the lungs
as cases pointed to black apparently reacting to a
market vaping products. caustic substance. So far,
The agency's tobacco di- no single vaping product or
rector, Mitch Zeller, stressed ingredient has been linked
that it is not interested in to the illnesses, though most
prosecuting individuals patients reported vaping
who use illegal products THC, the high-producing in-
but is lending a hand be- gredient in marijuana.
cause of the unit's "special The man who died in Mis-
skills." souri told his family he
The Centers for Disease started vaping in May for
Control and Prevention chronic pain, but investi-
said 530 confirmed and gators have not yet de-
probable cases have been termined if he was vap-
reported in 38 states and ing THC, according to a
one U.S. territory, up from spokeswoman at Mercy
380 a week ago. Hospital St. Louis.q