A man accused of murder shocked a courtroom in Wilmington, North Carolina, by openly mocking the victim’s family as they sat watching the proceedings.
Antonio Beatty, 21, not only showed no remorse during his appearance before a judge in Hanover County, he grinned broadly as he was charged and then he stuck his tongue out at the family of Carlton Whitley, the man he is is charged with killing.
The murdered man’s fiancee, his daughter, and his sister were in the courtroom as the man charged with murdering their loved one romped and joked. The family was furious at Beatty’s actions.
“I feel like justice needs to be served. He don’t care obviously. He showed that his self in court that he don’t care, that he don’t have no remorse for what he did, and he needs to be charged,” Whitley’s fiancee, Octavia Bryant said. “He needs to go down for this. This is not right. He took my daughter’s father from her. She don’t deserve that and then you’re going to stick your tongue out at a five-month-old? She is a baby!”
For his part, the accused said that he felt the family members were taunting him, so he replied in kind in the courtroom.
“I mean I’m upset myself, but they ain’t have no right to stick their tongue out at me, they ain’t have no right to stick their middle finger up at me. F*** y’all, they lucky I didn’t do more than that,” Beatty told WECT TV.
Naturally the family of the accused claims that he is “a good guy” and isn’t really to blame for the July murder. Still, Beatty’s family said they would try to convince him not to act so badly again in court.
Beatty faces charges of first degree murder and could get the death penalty.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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