Crime, Justice & the Media

I promised a snippet today and it will happen later. But for those of us in the DFW area, it’s been a bit of a difficult week or so, especially if you have kids in school. Between a student being stabbed and killed in the stands at a track meet and three students shot and another injured otherwise in a school shooting—well, you can see where things are going. Yes, the media is having a hey day with it. What’s interesting is how the different outlets are coving it.

In the first instance, there was a confrontation of some sort between the suspect and the victim in the stands during a UIL track meet. The suspect purportedly pulled a knife out of his bag and stabbed the victim, who succombed to his injuries not long after that. The suspect was arrested shortly afterwards. He is now out on bond, after the bond amount was lowered, and is subject to house arrest and must wear a monitor.

In the second instance, a local high school was the location of a shooting inside one of the buildings. Even though there are metal detectors at the entrances, they couldn’t have stopped the shooting because, according to video released of the incident, a student opened one of the side doors that is locked to prevent outside entry, and let the shooter, also a student at the school, inside. Moments later, he opened fire before fleeing. He later turned himself in.

Karmelo Anthony, the suspect in the first case, apparently doesn’t have any criminal record. But there are questions that must be answered. Why did he have a knife on school property (something that is against the law in Texas)? Why did he not just move when told he was sitting in the wrong part of the stands instead of getting into a confrontation with the victim?

From what’s been in the media, Anthony allegedly said he felt threatened and told the victim not to touch him. So, if the victim did not lay hands on him, does that justify reaching into a bag, pulling a knife and stabbing him? Under Texas law, “Verbal provocation alone does not justify force unless accompanied by an overt act suggesting imminent harm.” The law does permit the use of non-deadly force if someone reasonably believes it is necessary to protect themselfe against the other person’s “unlawful” actions.

So, without going into the fact the victim died as a result of being stabbed, was it reasonable for Anthony to believe he needed to protect himself by brandishing the knife? We probably won’t know until the case goes to trial.

Then there’s the whole deadly force aspect of it:

Under Texas Penal Code 9.32, deadly force is justified if an individual reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect themselves from another’s use or attempted use of deadly force. The person must have a lawful right to be present and must not have provoked the confrontation.

There is no duty to retreat as long as a person is legally there. (Which could make for an interesting question for the jury. Are you legally on school ground premises if you are carrying an illegal weapon?)

The whole question about use of deadly force is being largely ignored by much of the media here. Some of it is because of Anthony’s age. Some of it is fear of the optics. But boy they didn’t hesitate to cover how the victim’s father showed up at a press conference held by Anthony’s family yesterday before being escorted out by police. Yet there is very little coverage of the fact his house was swatted last night. Fortunately he was not there at the time.

The media coverage of the shooting at the local high school is even more head-scratching. This was the second shooting at the school in the last year. Parent outrage and fear is off the charts and I don’t blame them. But the media is not as in your face with their coverage as I expected. After an initial influx of coverage about how the suspect might have gotten a gun inside, it’s been almost quiet. I know this is Texas, but there hasn’t been the usual anti-gun rhetoric. There’s been little said about the suspect other than he is a student at the school and one vague mention that there might have bene bullying at some point.

All in all, the media’s coverage of both incidents has been strange. I’m not necessarily complaining. The more muted coverage will actually help both sides get a fair trial, should the cases go that far.

For now, I need more coffee.

Oh, stay tuned. Not only will there be a snippet but possibly some news about what’s up next. Until later.