Inyoung You's Lawyers Seek Dismissal Of BC Texting-Suicide Case
BOSTON (CBS) -- The defense for the former Boston College student charged in her boyfriend's suicide plans to file a motion to dismiss the case next month. They believe prosecutors are overreaching by charging Inyoung You with involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Alexander Urtula.
You, 21, is accused of urging him to take his own life through roughly 75,000 text messages hours before his graduation last May. Urtula died when he jumped off the roof of a parking garage in Roxbury.
A hearing for the motion to dismiss is scheduled for April 9. The defense called the case a radical expansion of the Michelle Carter case. Like the defense in the Michelle Carter case, they argue that what she said in the text messages were protected free speech.
Prosecutors argue that You ruthlessly abused Urtula through the text messages, making him feel trapped. The defense says this is a false narrative.
"As soon as Miss You learned that her boyfriend was in trouble, she begged him repeatedly not to hurt himself, told him that she loved him, immediately tried to get to the scene," said Defense Attorney Howard Cooper.
Thursday, the defense released some of You's text messages that they say prove this. One text exchange goes as follows:
You: "Don't leave me like that if u ever loved me stop. If u wanna show me you love me stop."
Urtula: "I did love you just not well enough."
"That's the exact opposite of what Michelle Carter did. She told her boyfriend to get back in the truck," Cooper said.
You's defense team also wants You's travel restrictions to be lifted. Right now she must stay in Massachusetts. The judge on Thursday said You needs to name a specific address before that can happen.
You's lawyers now describe her as a distraught young woman. "She's a young woman who's 21 years old who's had the negative limelight shone on her," said Defense Attorney Steven Kim.
The defense team also wants access to Urtula's family's phones.
For immediate help if you are in a crisis, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls are confidential.
