A psychiatrist has claimed that a Massachusetts teenager who allegedly encouraged her boyfriend to commit suicide was ‘involuntarily intoxicated’ by prescribed antidepressants she was taking at the time she acted.
Michelle Carter, now aged 20, is set to stand trial in June charged with manslaughter following the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III.
Mr Roy took his own life in 2014 via carbon monoxide poisoning. Prosecutors maintain Carter, who was 17 at the time, is criminally responsible for the tragedy because she drove him to kill himself in a series of text messages which have been made public.
Psychiatrist Dr Peter Breggin has been hired by Carter’s defense team and appeared at Taunton Juvenile Court this week so a judge can determine whether he should be allowed to provide expert testimony in Carter’s forthcoming trial.
Dr Breggin – who is regarded as controversial having been banned from testifying in other cases – told the court that Carter loved Mr Roy but was not responsible for his death because she was being treated with the antidepressant Celexa in 2014. This would have altered her brain and meant she wouldn’t have understood the impact of her texts, he stated.
According to WPRI.com Dr Breggin said: ‘She had no notion of wrongfulness on what she was doing. The impairment of being on the drugs while you are growing up, while your brain is maturing, while your frontal lobes are developing, you’re talking about being inundated with neurotoxic effects.’
During cross-examination, prosecutors questioned Dr Breggin’s credentials and accused him of being an ‘extremist’ who was critical of antidepressants.
Assistant District Attorney Katie Rayburn pushed him to admit he only reached his conclusion about Carter based on medical records and the text exchange between her and Mr Roy.
Carter’s defense team was granted a request late last year for funds to hire an expert to examine the antidepressant she was taking at the time. Her attorney Joseph Cataldo has said that Celexa could be the key to her defense because it can increase suicidal thoughts.
The judge did not immediately rule on whether Dr Breggin can testify.