Karmelo Anthony. ABC News/Frisco PD.
Karmelo Anthony has been convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the killing of Austin Metcalf. ABC News. Anthony stabbed Metcalf after being confronted for trespassing in a tent at a track meet. Anthony argued that the stabbing was justified self defense as Metcalf had shoved Anthony, but they jury did not agree. The trial did not go well for the defense with many students testifying that Anthony had been asked to leave and that he had threatened Metcalf before the murder. Another witness said that Metcalf had specifically told Anthony that he didn't want to fight him. The jury found Anthony guilty in just three hours and were able to sentence him the same day.
My Comment:
The jury reached the right verdict as the evidence against Karmelo Anthony was extreme and incontrovertible. He entered a tent he had no right to be in and he refused to leave when asked. He made a threat against Metcalf for no reason and escalated the situation to the point where Metcalf shoved him. Instead of shoving him back or walking away, Anthony stabbed Metcalf and killed him in cold blood.
Self defense didn't apply in this case. Not only was Anthony the aggressor, he had no valid reason to fear for his life. Metcalf even said that he didn't want to fight! And when Metcalf did shove him, Anthony responded with a massive overreaction in force. Stand your ground didn't apply and even by the rules of regular self defense, you can't stab someone who shoves you when you are in a place that forbids weapons and that you have no right to be in in the first place.
Despite these being the facts of the case, Anthony somehow has supporters. If you are charitable you could say that they somehow believed that he wasn't the aggressor here, or they simply don't seem to understand the laws of self defense. To be fair, most people don't understand that, how else could people think that Kyle Rittenhouse wasn't justified after being chased, assaulted and having a gun pulled on him?
But it's pretty obvious that this case was just about racism. Anthony wasn't the victim of racism, I doubt Metcalf would have acted any different if Anthony was White or any other race. But I am guessing most of Anthony's supporters just hate White people and think he should get off because he killed one.
Indeed, they are complaining about an jury with no Black people on it, but they forget to point out that some of the Black jurors disqualified themselves by saying they wouldn't convict Anthony no matter what the facts of the case were. The three that passed that bar were rejected because they were all educators and the prosecution correctly argued that they couldn't be trusted to be impartial in a case that happened at a high school.
Regardless, I am happy that justice was served in this case. I do think the sentence was fairly lite given that he killed someone, but it's fair under the laws of Texas. At the very least, he won't be getting out anytime soon. Supposedly, if he behaves, he could be out halfway through his sentence, but I really don't see that happening with the facts of this case.
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