AIBU to think USA has gone crazy - Karmelo Anthony is a murderer not a victim

[Neutralnames]

From what I have read, Karmelo Anthony (who is black African American) took a concealed knife to a track event. When it started raining he ran to another team's tent to shelter. He was told to leave by a white athlete called Austin Metcalfe. KA refused saying ' 'Touch me and see what happens', According to one account I read he was repeatedly told to leave and replied the same way each time. Austin Metcalfe then pushed KA to get him to leave and KA pulled out the knife and stabbed AM in the chest, killing him.

Apparently sections of America are outraged that KA has now been convicted of murder. Possible sentence range in America is 5 to 99 years for this offence and he got 35 years.

I don't understand how this is not murder. In UK law if you can run away you must, and he didn't. In UK law if you kill someone when you could have run, you will be tried for murder.

KA took a knife. He could have left (even if he thought it was a dick move to ask him to leave when it was raining - you can't murder people for being dickish about their gazebo) but chose to not to, escalating the situation with threatening language and then stabbed a young man in the chest.

I just think something has gone terribly wrong in USA society where this man is treated as a victim, not the person who he killed, and this case is regarded as an injustice against him. I hope the UK does not go down this route.

Ok. I see you have immense faith in Texas courts.
I am sure you are applauding their 3rd degree murder convictions as we speak.

I’m not minimising anything…I just believe in facts and context. I’m not a simplistic.

@Walkyrie

Like this 3rd degree murder:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-charged-murder-abortion-pill-lizelle-gonzalez-claims-against-d-a-sheriff/

The difference here is that KA was carrying a knife, repeatedly provoking a fight with someone who was bigger than him ‘touch me and see what happens’ , refusing all de-escalation ‘Leave’ ‘I won’t fight you’ and then took out and used the knife to stab through the chest with great force.

That sounds very much like someone who from the start of the confrontation felt emboldened by the knowledge he had a knife to use on the bigger guy.

The weather was stated as a reason he went into the tent. He sat down. The victim's twin brother started hassling Anthony. Austin Metcalf (the victim) wouldn't let it go and is on camera shoving Anthony. Both brothers and another boy was standing over him (on camera). Other students in the tent said it was a scuffle, instigated by the Metcalfs. Anthony stabbed him, he claims, in self defence. The coach said, in court that it wasn't unusual to share tents and they had no reason to bulky Anthony out of the tent. The knife he was carrying wasn't illegal. Three black women were cut from the jury. Anthony was 17, considering everything, he shouldn't lose his whole life to this.

He murdered someone, of course he fucking should.

@Neutralnames the other students in the tent didn't say Anthony was the aggressive one. The Metcalfs had no reason, or right to tell him to get out.

The fact is it was a knife capable of killing a man, did kill a man and was carried by a man who felt confident enough to provoke a fight with someone bigger than him.

So not all white then?

You really are beclowning yourself now.

@Malinia he acted in self defence. He shouldn't have been threatened with assault. He reacted as a lot of 17 year olds would. The Police said he was in shock, remorseful and scared, when arrested. The Metcalfs were described by other students as bullies.

Ok you’re rewriting history here to omit the shoving. Wonder why you are so desperate to edit out some of the facts? Is it you think a victim has to be perfect to be a victim?

KA is a killer, he is guilty and deserves prison.

But do you see what you are doing? You are manipulating what happened, erasing context (what some would call lying by omission) to sway opinion.

Young men, teenagers, boys, not men. All under 18. You can kill with a pen.

He turned himself in the next morning as well. He may have been spoiling for a fight, but I don’t think he coldly planned to murder anyone when he went out that evening to the track meet.

I said in my OP that it may have been a dick move to tell him to get out of the tent, but you can’t go around stabbing people for being dickish about their gazebos.

He was told to leave. He could get away. You don’t stay and stab people to death. That’s murder.

Look back over my posts. I have REPEATEDLY referred to the pushing and shoving. As I’ve just repeated, I said in my OP it may have been a fuck move to tell KA to get out of the tent, but you don’t stab people for being dicks.

It’s a gazebo which has open sides, that is understood to be shared. It’s not private. Who pushes someone out into the rain because they don’t like them?

He was apprehended and arrested immediately. And admitted it.

The way to achieve that would be to have left. Drunk drivers don’t set out to kill anyone either but they still rightly go to prison.

I have to go now, but I am going to circle back to what I said at the start about UK law, as this case shows well the sense of that law ( maybe it applies in USA too), if you are able to leave, you leave. If you stay to attack, you are responsible for the harm you cause to others. Because if you had left, that harm would not have occurred.

Oh please. Acting in self defence would've been shoving back not stabbing someone to death. Do you understand what proportionate response means?

You omitted it here, which is what I said. I didn’t say you’d never mentioned it.
The difference here is that KA was carrying a knife, repeatedly provoking a fight with someone who was bigger than him ‘touch me and see what happens’ , refusing all de-escalation ‘Leave’ ‘I won’t fight you’ and then took out and used the knife to stab through the chest with great force.

my question still stands, why are you choosing to omit everything that provoked KA but keeping in and adding emotive adjectives to the provocation KA did?

The USA in general probably hasnt gone crazy about his sentence. A mad minority who will claim this is racist has gone crazy.

No need to take any notice of them

Just like the knee crap.

Many on here do not understand the concept.
It’s why they think shoving is a de-escalation to words.

( whereas shoving is an escalation and not a proportionate response to words)

The people who have gone crazy as seen on sm seem a crazy minority. Absolute aresholes screaming and leaping about.

Vast majority seem to support the conviction and sentence.

I wonder if people would be so sympathetic if the victim was black and the perpetrator was white?

I didn’t choose to omit anything. I’ve repeatedly for what, 9 pages spoken about it. It’s a bit pathetic you are trying to use this as a gotcha when I’ve spoken about this throughout the thread. No one can seriously say I’m pretending the shove did not happen. From my perspective your attempt to use this as a gotcha shows how weak your case is that you have to grasp such a feeble argument.

Anyway, I really am going now.