#new There is a heavy media blackout in the Karmelo Anthony m*rder trial – as day two of jury selection continues on Wednesday – prompting critics to accuse the judge of protecting Anthony due to the current race climate
#texas
Judge John Roach Jr., ordered bans on:
Photography,
Video,
Audio recording, and
Live streaming inside the courtroom.
In addition, only 9 credentialed media seats are allowed in the courtroom – sparking journalists and critics to raise alarms about bias as they say the 9 chosen are all left leaning, many of which – they say – have already been running ‘fluff’ pieces on Anthony.
#track
Republicans are slamming the strict no-camera, no-audio, no-pool-feed blackout as a blatant effort to hide the truth and protect Anthony, who admitted to stabbing high school athlete Austin Metcalf.
The rules in this courtroom are far stricter than:
🔺️The Derek Chauvin case in Minnesota in 2021,
🔺️The Alex Murdaugh trial in South Carolina in 2023, and
🔺️The Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Wisconsin in 2021 – all of which allowed pool cameras so the public could see what actually happened.
Texas law gives judges discretion on the rules, but critics say Roach went overboard.
About 600 potential jurors were summoned, dozens have already been excused and a Karmelo Anthony supporter was reportedly thrown out of the overflow area for trying to record the jury pool during day one.
Protesters from both sides lined up outside the Collin County Courthouse as potential jurors filled out questionnaires, during the first day of jury selection.
The nine approved left leaning media outlets allowed inside the courtroom are:
🔷️Associated Press — frequently accused of slanting race stories.
🔷️KDFW-TV (Fox 4) — Left of center
🔷️KXAS-TV (NBC 5) — Left-leaning
🔷️WFAA-TV (ABC ) — Left-leaning
🔷️KTVT-TV (CBS 11) — Left-leaning
🔷️The Dallas Morning News — Left-leaning editorial slant on crime and race.
🔷️Community Impact — more neutral local paper.
🔷️Daily Mail — right-leaning tabloid style media outlet
🔷️and a shared courtroom sketch artist.
#court
Anthony, now 19, admitted to stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in the chest on April 2, of last year, in Frisco, Texas after a dispute under a team tent.
Anthony is claiming self-defense.
Prosecutors say it was an unjustified m*rder and they plan to call around 35 witnesses.
Many on the right say in a fair system, Americans would see the evidence themselves instead of getting filtered accounts from outlets with progressive biases on race and crime.
What do you think? Should everyone be able to see what happened for themselves? Or do you agree with the judge that we have to take the word of left leaning media outlets?
#ChristinaAguayoNews
