On Tuesday, a Collin County grand jury indicted Karmelo Anthony on a first-degree homicide cost — a choice that can please advocates for the alleged sufferer, 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, however outrage individuals who have questioned for months why it’s so onerous for a Black teen to be taken critically when he claims self-defense.
Anthony, who was 17 when he allegedly stabbed Metcalf to dying throughout a observe meet at Kuykendall Stadium, “may face a potential sentence of 5-99 years or life in jail,” CBS Information reported, noting that “within the Texas felony justice system, 17-year-olds are thought-about adults.”
So, what’s subsequent for the now 18-year-old, who has been on home arrest since he was launched on a diminished bond on April 14?
Properly, now that Anthony has formally been indicted, the following step is to assign a trial decide to preside over his case. That decide will then set a court docket date for the defendant’s first look. That a part of the authorized course of may take days, weeks or months.
Within the meantime, each prosecutors and protection attorneys appear desirous to make their instances.
“We all know this case has struck a deep nerve — right here in Collin County and past. That’s comprehensible. When one thing like this occurs at a faculty occasion, it shakes folks to the core,” Collin County District Legal professional Greg Willis mentioned in a press release. “However the justice system works greatest when it strikes with steadiness and with precept. That’s what we’re dedicated to. And that’s precisely what this case deserves.”
Austin’s father, Jeff Metcalf, seems hopeful that the court docket will give him and his household justice.
“I’m happy that we’re shifting ahead. With the first-degree homicide indictment, it now goes into the court docket system. I absolutely consider that justice might be served for Austin Metcalf. I stay up for the forthcoming trial. However it’ll by no means deliver my son again,” he mentioned.
Nevertheless, Karmelo’s lawyer, Mike Howard, seems to be simply as assured that his shopper might be vindicated as soon as he’s allowed to inform his model of the tragic occasion that unfolded on April 2.
“Karmelo and his household are assured within the justice system and the folks of Collin County to be truthful and neutral,” Howard mentioned in a recorded video. “After all, Karmelo appears ahead to his day in court docket, as a result of it’s solely in a trial that the complete story may be heard, and that neutral justice may be completed. We count on that when the complete story is heard, the prosecution won’t be able to rule out the affordable doubt that Carmelo Anthony could have acted in self-defense.”
On April 2, Anthony, a student-athlete at Centennial Excessive Faculty, allegedly stabbed Metcalf throughout a dispute that was a bodily altercation beneath the Memorial Excessive Faculty tent at David Kuykendall Stadium throughout a Frisco ISD district-wide observe meet. A number of witnesses, together with Metcalf’s twin brother Hunter, instructed police that the 2 teenagers didn’t know one another previous to the altercation. Witnesses additionally said that Metcalf and his teammates confronted Anthony after noticing he was beneath their group’s tent carrying a special faculty’s tracksuit. In response to USA TODAY, an arrest affidavit famous {that a} faculty useful resource officer was the primary to reach on the scene, and when he instructed Anthony to place his palms up, the teenager allegedly replied, “I used to be defending myself!”
SEE ALSO:
Karmelo Anthony Can’t Declare Self-Protection However Kyle Rittenhouse Can?
Karmelo Anthony Will Get His Diploma, However His Authorized Battle Looms
Karmelo Anthony Indicted By Grand Jury For 1st-Diploma Homicide, What’s Subsequent?
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