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convicted for involuntary manslaughter the young man who encouraged her boyfriend to commit suicide over text messages Deemed murder of a young woman who encouraged her boyfriend to take her life: “just Do it, and point”
Alexander Urtula committed suicide on may 20, almost two hours, before graduating as a biologist from Boston College. On Monday, the district attorney of the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts (united States), accused Inyoung You, your girlfriend, involuntary manslaughter. The authorities hold that the young man of 22 years, was launched from the top floor of a building after months of enduring “physical abuse, verbal and psychological” of your partner. The prosecutor Rachael Rollins blamed the more than 47,000 text messages he sent the girl to her boyfriend in the last two months, where he said “not hundreds, but thousands of times to commit suicide, or die”. The case recalls that of the media trial of Michelle Carter, who is serving a sentence of 15 months in prison for encouraging her partner to take her life. Its advocates argue that the ruling violates the freedom of expression, a right protected by the Constitution. With the case of Alexander Urtula reopened a national debate about the responsibility of a third party in a suicide.
The young man, a “talented and active student,” according to the Boston College, completed their studies last December and had begun work as a researcher in a hospital in New York. In may, he returned to Boston with his parents to pick up their diploma at the graduation ceremony. About 8.30 in the morning of the day of the event, went along with his girlfriend —according to the office of the Prosecutor— parking to the Renaissance. He climbed the last of the 10-storey building and threw himself into the void, ending his life. During the two months prior to his death exchanged more than 75,000 text messages with his girlfriend, south Korean, 21 years, and also a student of Boston College. Nearly 47,000 messages sent by You revealed, according to the Prosecution, a “full attack, and all against the will, the consciousness and the psyche” of the biologist.
“Many of the messages clearly show the dynamics of power in the relationship, in that Inyoung You used techniques of manipulation and threats of self-harm, knowing that I had total control over Urtula, both mentally and emotionally,” explained the prosecutor in a press conference. The abuse became “more frequent, more powerful and more degrading in the days and hours leading up to the death” of the young, he added. The researchers of the case supported the dynamics of abuse with what he wrote Urtula in your journal and with the testimonies of classmates and family members, who said they were witnesses of the outrage to the will of the guy by his girlfriend.
Inyoung You ended up Economics at Boston College last August and, according to The Washington Post, the spokesperson for the college, Jack Dunn, is scheduled for graduation in may of next year. However, the young man has returned to his native South Korea. The prosecutor Rollins said his office has been in contact with a lawyer of the accused, and who has the hope of that return voluntarily to stand trial. “If it does not, we will use the power that we have to go,” said Rollins, adding that they may seek extradition or to request a request for arrest issued by Interpol.
The indictment against the young man claims that his behavior was “wanton and reckless” and created conditions that threatened the life of her partner, that she “had the legal duty to relieve and not made”. The attorney acknowledged the similarities with the case of Michelle Carter, who in 2017 was convicted for involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide via text messages. Both occurred in Massachusetts and supposedly consisted of a behavior emotionally abusive girlfriends of the deceased. But made the distinction that Carter and Conrad Roy had a “physical contact is very limited” —there were more than five times during the courtship—, and “here we have the opposite of that,” he explained.
The judgment of Carter established a precedent again in the legal proceedings, in which a person can be blamed for the death of another just by the words he has said. In the controversial judgement we reviewed the hundreds of messages sent in 2014, when the event occurred, in which Carter, who was then 17 years old, encouraged Conrad to put an end to their life. As I filled his car with carbon monoxide, the young man had doubts and called his girlfriend, who, after hang up, he wrote: “come Back to get in the car. Do it and point”. He did not have answers from him and she not to alert the authorities. Currently, Massachusetts is discussing the approval of the “Law of Conrad”, which sets a penalty of up to five years imprisonment for those who coerce or encourage intentionally by the suicide of another, or provide the “physical means or the knowledge of such means” to do or “participate” in the act.
