Michelle Carter Has Parole Hearing

NATICK, MA — Michelle Carter, the woman who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for using text messages to encourage her boyfriend to kill himself, has her parole hearing Thursday morning in Natick. Carter has served seven months of a 15-month prison sentence

The Massachusetts Parole Board was not expected to make its decision Thursday. Because Carter is serving less than a life sentence, the hearing was not open to the public.

Carter started her prison sentence in February, some five years after her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, killed himself at 18 years old. Her lawyers have said she isn't responsible for his death, despite her telling him to get back into his truck as it filled with carbon monoxide in the parking lot of a Fairhaven Kmart in 2014. Carter was 17 at the time.

Roy's family was reportedly at the parole hearing Thursday.

Carter's attorney, who has argued her text messages to Roy were protected under the First Amendment, has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to decide whether it will hear the case.

The highest court in Massachusetts denied her attorney's request to keep her out of jail while an appeal was being pursued.