⚖️ KARMELO ANTHONY DENIED A NEW TRIAL?! BABY, THIS CASE STILL DOESN’T SIT RIGHT WITH ME

📍TEXAS STEP TO THE FRONT OF THE CLASSROOM

Now y'all already know how I feel about this case.

And after everything that came out surrounding Karmelo Anthony's trial, a Texas judge has now said:

NOPE. NO NEW TRIAL.

Retired District Judge Michael Chitty denied Anthony's motion for a new trial Saturday, leaving his murder conviction and 35-year prison sentence in place. The order was only about half a page long and said the court had considered the evidence and arguments, but it didn't provide a detailed explanation for rejecting the motion. Anthony's attorney says they will appeal.

And Lady Red is sitting over here like:

THAT'S IT?!

After ALL THAT came out?!

Baby, I'm calling BS.

Not because a judge is required to agree with me. Not because Austin Metcalf didn't lose his life. A 17-year-old boy died, and his family will live with that forever.

But when somebody is serving 35 YEARS, I need the process that put him there to be so clean you can eat off the damn floor.

And THIS case has questions all over it.

🚨 REMEMBER, THE ORIGINAL JUDGE GOT REMOVED

Just DAYS before this denial, Judge John Roach Jr., who presided over Anthony's murder trial, was recused from the post-trial proceedings.

Why?

Anthony's lawyers pointed partly to Roach giving a television interview after the conviction in which he defended his rulings and said of the jury:

“THEY GOT IT RIGHT.”

Another judge concluded that Roach's impartiality could reasonably be questioned and removed him from deciding the new-trial motion.

EXCUSE ME?!

So the judge from your trial goes on television afterward talking about how the jury “got it right”...

Then another judge says:

Yeahhhh... maybe you shouldn't be the person deciding whether this man gets another trial.

But we're supposed to look at everything else and say:

NOTHING TO SEE HERE!

👀

Baby, my eyebrow has left my forehead.

⚖️ THEN THERE WAS THIS “GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT”

Anthony's new attorneys argued that prosecutors and his original defense team had an off-the-record agreement to keep damaging character information about BOTH teenagers out of the trial.

Why?

Because this case was already a racial and social-media powder keg.

According to the defense, a last-minute dispute created fear that prosecutors would introduce previously excluded material if Anthony testified.

And guess what happened?

KARMELO DIDN'T TESTIFY.

His current attorneys argue that changed their entire defense strategy and hurt his ability to personally explain why he believed he acted in self-defense.

Prosecutors dispute the defense's characterization and maintain that Anthony received a fair trial.

And THIS is where Lady Red has a problem.

Whether you believe Karmelo or not...

HOW THE HELL DOES THE PERSON CLAIMING SELF-DEFENSE NOT GET ON THAT STAND AND EXPLAIN WHAT HE WAS AFRAID OF?!

The jury heard witnesses.

They heard prosecutors.

They heard lawyers.

But they didn't hear Karmelo tell them himself what was going through his mind when that confrontation happened.

And now his new lawyers are saying decisions surrounding that testimony were affected by this behind-the-scenes dispute?

THAT DESERVES SERIOUS SCRUTINY.

AND YES, THE JURY REJECTED SELF-DEFENSE

Let's not play games with the facts just because Lady Red has an opinion.

Witnesses testified that the confrontation began after Anthony sat beneath another team's tent and was repeatedly told to leave. Prosecutors argued Anthony escalated the confrontation, while witnesses said Metcalf eventually pushed Anthony and Anthony stabbed him once in the chest.

The jury heard the case and rejected Anthony's self-defense claim, convicting him of murder in June.

That's a fact.

But here's another fact:

AN APPEAL IS NOT ASKING US TO PRETEND A JURY NEVER SPOKE.

It's asking whether the trial that produced that verdict was legally fair.

Those are two different questions.

🔴 LADY RED SAYS...

I have said from the beginning that the self-defense issue deserved to be taken seriously.

If somebody puts their hands on you, if you're scared, if a confrontation escalates in seconds, the law has to examine what a person reasonably believed in that moment.

That doesn't automatically make every use of deadly force lawful.

And it doesn't erase the fact that Austin Metcalf died.

But I am NEVER comfortable saying:

“WELL, SOMEBODY DIED, SO THROW THE OTHER KID AWAY AND STOP ASKING QUESTIONS.”

NO.

That's not justice either.

And after learning that the original judge was removed from the post-trial proceedings...

after hearing about disputes over evidence that was kept from the jury...

after hearing the defense argue that the situation affected whether Karmelo himself testified...

YOU MEAN TO TELL ME NONE OF THAT WARRANTED ANOTHER TRIAL?!

Baby.

I'M NOT BUYING IT THAT EASY.

And before somebody starts:

“Lady Red, you're saying Karmelo is innocent!”

I didn't say that.

I'm saying if you're going to take 35 YEARS OF A 19-YEAR-OLD'S LIFE, the process better be beyond reproach.

Period.

A new trial wouldn't automatically mean Karmelo walks free.

HE COULD BE CONVICTED AGAIN.

It would mean another jury hears the case under a process his attorneys believe addresses the problems they identified.

But Judge Chitty said no.

So now?

TAKE IT UPSTAIRS.

Anthony's attorney Russell Wilson says the defense will appeal, telling reporters their commitment hasn't changed and they intend to continue pursuing every lawful avenue available.

GOOD.

Because whether you believe Karmelo acted in self-defense or committed murder, everybody should want the same damn thing: a trial process clean enough that we're arguing about the EVIDENCE, not whether the process itself was fair.

Austin Metcalf deserved justice.

Karmelo Anthony deserves due process.

THOSE TWO THINGS CAN EXIST IN THE SAME DAMN SENTENCE.

And WE ain't done watching this one.

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IT HITS DIFFERENT. EVERY TIME. BOOM! 💥