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Trial to decide if bullying that led to suicide is manslaughter

VICE News investigates the suicide of Kenneth Sutner to understand if someone can be held criminally responsible for another's suicide.

On December 21, 2016, Kenneth Suttner placed a series of notes in his bedroom and disappeared into the woods behind his parents’ house. That night the 17-year-old put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

In Glasgow, Missouri, a town of barely 1,000 people, it didn’t take long for the rumor mill to start churning: There were whispers that Suttner had been bullied at school and at work. The police began investigating. The county coroner called his own investigation.

In the end, a young woman was led away in handcuffs on an unprecedented charge — second degree manslaughter — and she’s now facing criminal responsibility for what some say was simply being mean.

This segment originally aired June 6, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.