Karmelo Anthony Guilty Verdict

I am an attorney and here are my thoughts on Carmelo Anthony's guilty verdict. One, I'm surprised with how short that trial was and I am specifically questioning why the defense did not put on testimony and explain why Carmelo had the knife. That was everyone's big question. Why bring a knife to an altercation? And I was expecting the defense to maybe say something like, oh, he was bullied, that area that he walked to school in, if he walked to school was dangerous. Something like that to explain why he had the knife. And the defense did not. They literally just had a police officer explain that it was not illegal to carry the knife. I am also surprised that they found him guilty of first degree murder. I personally felt like that was a high bar, although I was one that did not believe that it was self-defense. When they included the lesser charge of manslaughter and the jury instructions, I thought maybe the jury would find him guilty of manslaughter. I thought maybe they would find him guilty of something like, oh, he was bullied, that area that he walked to school in was dangerous. Something like that to explain why he had the knife. And the defense did not. They literally just had a police officer explain that it was not illegal to carry the knife. I am also surprised that they found him guilty of first degree murder. I personally felt like that was a high bar, although I was one that did not believe that it was self-defense. When they included the lesser charge of manslaughter and the jury instructions, I thought maybe the jury would find him guilty of manslaughter. I thought maybe they would find him guilty of manslaughter. Overall, this was a really sad case for both young men. Austin lost his life and consequences do have actions. I think that people, especially young men, need to learn to control themselves and their emotions and just because someone pushes you, it doesn't mean you can return with lethal force. I also think that Carmelo is worthy of rehabilitation and I do not think that he should get 99 years in jail. And I do think that if he were to come out one day, that he is capable of learning from this mistake and getting back to his support system. We know that many people are supporting him, but overall, very sad case here.