Inyoung You appeared in court in November 2019. (Li Zhou, a reporter of the United States Chinese Network, data map)
According to the US Chinese Network, a former Boston College female student pleaded guilty to sending thousands of text messages on Thursday to instigate her boyfriend to commit suicide.
Under the plea agreement, Innocent You, 23, was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison, suspended for 10 years, for manslaughter, prosecutors said. If all the terms of the probation are observed, including ongoing mental health treatment and community service, she will be spared jail time.
Prosecutors said that during the last two months of his relationship with her Filipino boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, You sent tens of thousands of messages, many of which urged him to "commit suicide." Urtula, then 22, committed suicide in Boston in May 2019, the day he graduated from Boston College.
Prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that investigators described the couple's 18-month-long relationship as "turbulent, dysfunctional and unhealthy" and believed you had committed "deeply disturbing and sometimes relentless verbal, physical and psychological abuse" toward her boyfriend. These actions intensified in the days and hours leading up to Urtula's death.
Alexander Urtula and Innocent You. (SuffolkShire District Attorney's Office)
Inyoung You was born in South Korea and is a naturalized citizen of the United States. The prosecutor's office said you sent more than 47,000 text messages to the former from late March 2019 until her boyfriend's death, in which she "repeatedly told the victim he should commit suicide or die and launched an abusive operation that deprived the victim of her free will." ”
"Words matter." SuffolkShire District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement that "belittling language, ridicule and insults can deeply affect people." ”
Rawlings said the plea deal was reached after consultation with Urtula's family.
Urtula's family described driving to Boston that day to celebrate graduation, only to find it necessary to organize a funeral.
Before being arraigned in November 2019, You initially pleaded not guilty. She also posted text messages through a PR firm suggesting she was trying to stop her boyfriend from committing suicide and alerting his brother in the moments before his death.
You declined to speak in court Thursday. Her lawyer said she was "very upset."
Her attorney, Steven Kim, said You was a "wonderful young woman with deep remorse." (Original title: Send tens of thousands of text messages to instigate boyfriends to commit suicide Asian female college students plead guilty and get suspended)