By Rebeka Zeljko
Karmelo Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of murder for stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death at a high school track meet.
Anthony, who is 19, will first become eligible for parole halfway through his sentence.
The jury reached its verdict just hours after closing arguments.
Anthony stabbed Metcalf in the heart during a track meet in April 2025 in Frisco, Texas. The two had a brief dispute, with Metcalf asking Anthony, who was from a different school, to leave his team’s tent. Anthony reached into his backpack and pulled out a knife before fatally stabbing Metcalf, who died in his twin brother’s arms. (RELATED: DUKE: Karmelo Anthony Defense Team Waves White Flag After Disastrous String Of Witnesses)
The brutality of the stabbing sparked outrage across the country, drawing national attention after Anthony claimed to have attacked Metcalf in self-defense.
A black crowd gathered outside the Collin County Courthouse to support Karmelo Anthony. There was a “tense scene in and around Collin County Courthouse. More than 2 dozen deputies outside the courtroom alone. Outside a crowd” chanted “‘Free Karmelo.'”
Multiple witnesses in the tent where Metcalf was stabbed testified for the prosecution that Anthony refused repeated requests to leave and escalated the dispute.
“Karmelo put his hand in the bag and said five times, ‘Touch me and see what happens.’ Austin said he’s not going to touch this guy. He was calm,” one witness recounted.
A key witness for the defense struggled on the stand. After originally claiming Anthony was surrounded by students prior to the stabbing — suggesting he acted in self-defense — video evidence showed the witness had his back turned to the tent during the incident and could not have seen what was happening.
“You know you’re wrong?” the prosecution asked the witness during cross-examination.
“Yes, sir,” the defense’s witness replied.
During closing arguments, the prosecution spoke directly to the jury, saying, “If you think Metcalf impaled himself on Anthony’s knife, find him guilty of manslaughter.”
“It’s not self defense folks,” the prosecution added. “It’s murder. Murder. Plain and simple.”
Anthony’s sentence could have been much longer. He had been facing between five and 99 years in prison, according to Daily Mail reporter MaryAnn Martinez, who has been covering the trial. Jurors deliberated for less than four hours before reaching their verdict Tuesday afternoon.
Protests ensued outside the Texas courtroom throughout the trial which began on June 1. Crowds were chanting “Free Karmelo” when news broke that the jury had reached a verdict.
Karmelo Anthony’s supporters falsely claimed the jury was all-white, when in fact, it included Asian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern jurors. “The jury was a mixed race jury comprised of Hispanics, Asians, a Muslim, Caucasians, and an Eastern Indian.”
The primary reason it had no black jurors was because potential black jurors admitted they might find Karmelo not guilty just because he is black, ignoring evidence of guilt. It is a perfectly valid reason to exclude a potential juror because the juror would discriminate based on the race of the accused. Yahoo News reported that one black juror said he’d “have a hard time putting a brother in jail.” Prospective black jurors were not chosen for the jury “because they admitted during voir dire that they didn’t think they could send a black man to jail. They admitted that they could not follow the evidence if it pointed to a guilty verdict.”
Racial discrimination is generally unconstitutional even when it favors blacks rather than whites. Such discrimination violates Supreme Court rulings like Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education (1986) and Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. (1989). Racial discrimination by jurors also violates the constitution.
But on social media websites like Bluesky, left-wing black activists denounced the conviction of Karmelo Anthony, ignoring the evidence, and falsely claiming the jury was all-white:
