In the early morning hours of a Wednesday in June, the promise of a new beginning for Anthony Carter was tragically cut short on a street in Lexington, Kentucky. At 47 years of age, the man known to his loved ones as 'Tone' had moved from Michigan just six months prior, seeking better opportunities to support his seven children. His brother had encouraged the move, believing Lexington offered a more hopeful future.
On June 11, 2014, those hopes were extinguished.
A resident in the 400 block of Chestnut Street was startled by the sound of a gunshot around 5:40 a.m. and discovered Carter lying in the street. Though still breathing when found, he succumbed to a single gunshot wound to the back shortly after arriving at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:16 a.m.
Witnesses reported seeing someone flee the scene on a bicycle. The police investigation that followed led them to a suspect named Jefferey Charles Morris. A witness testified to seeing Morris, also known as 'Black Jeff,' at a house on Nelson Avenue shortly before the shooting. She claimed Morris took a phone call, stated he was 'going to get' Carter, and then left on a bicycle. She heard a gunshot before she could reach Carter to warn him.
Morris was later apprehended by federal marshals in November in Glendale, Arizona, where he was staying with a woman who had previously lived in Lexington. He was charged with the murder of Anthony Carter. During his trial in October of the following year, his defense attorney argued that Morris was in Louisville visiting his children at the time of the shooting and had even gone to the county attorney's office to inquire about child support, an action they claimed someone guilty of murder would not take. Despite his defense, the trial proceeded with testimony from witnesses who placed him at the scene.
