There is an apparent contrast in the public response to the cases of Karmelo Anthony and Dylann Roof, as Anthony has received support from activists, commentators, and elected officials following his murder conviction and 35-year sentence for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf, while Roof was sentenced to death in 2017 for murdering nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.
Among the latest critics is ESPN Radio host Peter Rosenberg, who objected to the way Anthony is being discussed in public and questioned calls for severe punishment. He spoke on a recent episode of “The Ebro Laura Rosenberg Show,” Rosenberg acknowledged that Metcalf’s death was a tragedy but argued that he did not understand why Anthony should have “the book” thrown at him.
“Why is the solution to all of these things, ‘How badly can we punish the teenager who did it?’ I understand the feeling of anger and pain that the family would have,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t understand why we govern our laws based on that, though. It’s obviously an overall tragedy, and obviously, punishment should take place. But why is the Metcalf family going to be better off because Karmelo Anthony gets the book thrown at him and they decide he’s a murderer?”
His comments came after Anthony was charged with murder in connection with the April stabbing death of Metcalf during an altercation at a Texas high school track meet. Rosenberg is not alone in criticizing the treatment of Anthony.
Danielle Hairston, president of the American Psychiatric Association’s Black Caucus, contrasted Anthony’s case with that of Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
“They’re sentencing him to over 30 years, Karmelo Anthony. But they took this dude to Burger King,” Hairston said, referring to reports that Roof was given food by law enforcement officers after his arrest. “The adultification is traumatizing.”
Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX) called Anthony’s conviction as a “travesty” and suggested racial bias influenced the outcome, arguing that Black defendants are often denied the same self-defense protections afforded to others. Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA) also expressed sympathy for Anthony and suggested the case deserved further review, saying that Anthony “certainly appears to have been being attacked and defended himself.” He also tied the case to broader concerns about racial disparities in the justice system.
While Anthony has received significant public support, Roof received one of the harshest punishments available under American law with little comparable public opposition. In January 2017, a federal jury sentenced Roof to death after convicting him on dozens of federal hate crime and murder-related charges stemming from the massacre of nine black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Anthony was also treated with leniency when Collin County Judge Angela Tucker lowered his initial first-degree murder bond from $1 million to $250,000, allowing him to await trial on house arrest with GPS monitoring. According to reporting from FOX 4 Dallas, this bond reduction resulted in immediate online backlash, which included a doxxing campaign that exposed Judge Tucker’s personal home address on social media.