Suspect in murder of Austin Metcalf, Karmelo Anthony, released on bail..

 

Prosecutor Greg Willis speaks about the case. Dallas Morning News

The suspect in the murder of Austin Metcalf, Karmelo Anthony, has been released on bail after a judge reduced the amount. Dallas Morning News. Anthony was arrested for the murder of Austin Metcalf at a track event. Metcalf was White while Anthony was Black. Metcalf had asked Anthony to leave and Anthony talked back, saying “Touch me and see what happens”. Metcalf reportedly put his hands on Anthony and in response Metcalf stabbed him and he died in his twin brothers arms. Anthony was held under $1 million bail but his defense team argued that it was too high. When asked why they couldn't pay the defense attorney said that Anthony's family needed the more than $415,000 raised for his defense to survive as Anthony's father was on leave from work. The bond was released to $250,000 and Anthony was released on house arrest and had an ankle monitor attached. Both men involved in this case were 17. 

My Comment:

This case has made the news on social media but not much has been said in the actual media. Normally a case like this would not be that important, but it is one of those criminal cases that both hits on race and the ideas of self defense. Had these two 17 year olds been the same race or any other combination of races I doubt it would have gone further than a local news story. 

We don't live in that world though and the response to this case has been fairly predictable. The Black community has largely rallied for Karmelo Anthony, despite the facts of the case, and they have gotten support from a lot of White leftists. Everyone else seems rather puzzled that anyone would support Antony's claims of self defense. 

My understanding of Texas law is not complete but from what I do understand this wouldn't be self-defense at all. First of all you need to have a genuine fear for your life. There is zero reason for Anthony to think that Metcalf was going to injure, kill or rape him, so by the reasonable person standard it's not self defense. Had Metcalf made a threat to kill him or was brandishing a weapon or perhaps even punched Anthony in the head, then he might have a case, but I haven't heard anything like that happening. If something like that comes out at trial, like it did in the Ahmaud Arbey case, then I might revise my opinion, but that seems extremely unlikely. 

Second, you can't be the aggressor. Not only was Anthony in a place he had no right to be, he also escalated to threats when asked to leave. His words could be seen as either a threat of violence or an invitation to fight. Though Texas has a stand your ground law, it would not apply in a situation that was at best, a mutual combat, or at worst, where Karmelo was the aggressor. Carrying a knife might be an issue as well, as I am assuming you can't bring one to a school event like the track meet where this happened at. 

Finally, any response to a threat has to be proportional. You can't escalate from someone putting their hands on you to stabbing them. Had he grabbed Metcalf's arms to move them off of him, or even pushed back, that would have been proportionate. Punching him might have been an escalation, but you could at least make a case. But instead, he stabbed him in the chest, which is hugely disproportional to what he actually did. 

Should Metcalf put his hands on Anthony? Probably not. Doing so was unwise as at the very least it could have ended in a fight. Getting help to remove a potentially violent man would have been the right move. But with that being said, he absolutely did not deserve to get stabbed. 

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that either don't know or don't care how self defense works. And let's be clear, much of this is due to race. There are a lot of racists out there that don't care what the facts of the case are, they just want their "side" to win. That's the only explanation to how Anthony was able to raise almost half a million dollars through donations. I'd like to think that many of these people either don't know the facts of the case or the self-defense laws and are simply making a mistake, but I am guessing there are more than a few that are just happy that a White teen got murdered. And though many of these racists are Black, more then a few of them are White themselves... Like I said before, I don't think this case would even be notable if the two 17 year olds were of the same race.

I also think it's absurd that bail was even offered in this case. It was a homicide and I think that folks charged with homicide shouldn't get bail period. But if there is bail it should be extraordinarily high for the fact that homicide usually comes with severe consequences if convicted. Anthony is both a huge flight risk and an obvious threat to the community. There is zero reason he should be out of custody. 

Will Antony be convicted of murder? Like I said, I can't see how he can make the claim of self defense with the scenario that we know right now. The scenario presented right now is in now way self defense by the laws of Texas. The only way that he doesn't get convicted is if some kind of mitigating circumstances arrive on trial (which is possible, but very unlikely) or the jury decides to go for nullification. That 2nd scenario is depressingly possible...