Prosecutor: Woman in texting suicide case wanted attention

Attorney Joseph Cataldo talks to his client, Michelle Carter, before meeting at a side bar at the beginning of the court session at Taunton Juvenile Court in Taunton, Mass., on Monday, June 5, 2017. Carter is charged with manslaughter for sending her boyfriend text messages encouraging him to kill himself. (Faith Ninivaggi/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)

TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) — Prosecutors say a Massachusetts woman charged with manslaughter for allegedly sending her boyfriend text messages encouraging him to kill himself wanted the sympathy and attention that came with being the “grieving girlfriend.”

Opening statements in the jury-waived trial of Michelle Carter were held Tuesday in juvenile court in Taunton.

The 20-year-old Carter is charged in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in his pickup.

Prosecutor Maryclare Flynn said Carter sent 40 text messages to Roy urging him to kill himself.

Defense attorney Joseph Cataldo said Roy previously was suicidal and Carter had talked him out of taking his life. Cataldo said Roy had been depressed since his parents’ divorce and abused by relatives. He says Carter was not responsible for his death.