Trial Begins For Woman Charged With Texting Suicide Encouragement

Opening statements began today in a trial involving two teenagers, texting and suicide. Michelle Carter was 17 years old when she allegedly encouraged her friend, 18-year-old Conrad Roy, to kill himself.

The central question here is, are those text messages the same as helping someone kill himself?

David Boeri, WBUR senior reporter. He tweets at @davidboeri.

Nancy Gertner, former Massachusetts federal judge, senior lecturer on law at Harvard Law School and WBUR legal analyst. She tweets @ngertner.