Karmelo Anthony has been convicted of murder in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf during a confrontation between students from rival schools at a track meet. The Texas case attracted national coverage and took on a racial dimension as Anthony claimed to have acted in self-defense and his detractors accused him of murdering his opponent.
Anthony convicted of murder as jury rejects self-defense claim
A jury on Tuesday found the now-19-year-old Anthony guilty of murder for fatally stabbing Metcalf during a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, in 2025. The verdict came just over a week after the trial began.
Prosecutors alleged that Anthony, then a student at Centennial High School, entered a tent for Memorial High School and began the confrontation with Metcalf, who was a student at Memorial. Anthony’s attorneys argued that Metcalf and his twin brother began the physical altercation with Anthony and that Anthony stabbed Metcalf in self-defense.
“There is no evidence Karmelo did anything but really think he was defending himself in that split second of chaos,” Anthony’s attorney Mike Howard told the jury Tuesday before deliberations began.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye disputed this justification, telling jurors, “You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove.”
Strictly run trial follows months of racially charged divisions over case
As Blavity previously reported, Judge John Roach enforced strict rules for the trial, including enforcing a gag order preventing parties in the trial from publicly discussing the case and barring cameras and electronic devices from the courtroom.
The Dallas-area case drew national attention and stoked racial tensions as well. Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white, though prosecutors argued that race was not a factor in the confrontation between the students. Nevertheless, some of Anthony’s detractors painted the case in racial terms, and Anthony and his family were relocated from their home following harassment and threats.
Critics also raised concerns that all Black potential jurors were excluded from the trial.
Anthony’s perceived emotional state may determine his sentence
The case largely hinged on the testimony of several teenage witnesses to the fatal altercation. According to testimony, Anthony came into the tent to greet a friend and then was asked to leave by Metcalf.
Anthony did not testify in his own defense during the trial. The jury ultimately returned a verdict of guilty rather than the lesser charge of manslaughter.
While the murder conviction would usually carry a sentence between 5 and 99 years in prison, jurors have been instructed that they can consider “sudden passion,” a concept in Texas law that lessens the sentencing range in murder cases if the convicted person is viewed as having been provoked.
Under the sudden-passion doctrine, Anthony would face between 2 and 20 years in prison.
Anthony’s mother, Kala Hayes, asked the jury for leniency as the trial entered the sentencing phase.
“Have mercy on my son,” Hayes implored.
Anthony’s conviction brings a resolution to the case that has divided the public, but it is unlikely to end disagreements between those who view Anthony’s actions as the brutal murder of a fellow teenager and those who believe Anthony’s claims that he was attempting to defend himself.
Now that a verdict has been reached, jurors are tasked with deciding how severe Anthony’s punishment will be.