After a yearlong legal battle stemming from the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet, a Collin County jury found 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder.
In April 2025, during a Texas high school track meet in Frisco, Anthony, 17 at the time and a student at Centennial High School, entered the Memorial High School team’s tent. Metcalf, a Memorial High School student, told Anthony to leave because he was not part of their team.
During the confrontation, Anthony pulled a 2-inch knife from his bag and stabbed Metcalf in the heart, causing him to bleed out in his twin brother’s arms.
Anthony told officers he acted in self-defense but was arrested and charged with murder. He was initially held on a $1 million bond, which a judge later reduced to $250,000.
Anthony’s family launched a GiveSendGo fundraiser that raised more than $630,000. He was later released from custody and placed under house arrest, prompting widespread controversy.
Months later, a Collin County grand jury indicted Anthony on a first-degree murder charge in Metcalf’s death.
This month, Anthony stood trial, and was convicted of first-degree murder after a proceeding that lasted about a week. Jurors deliberated for nearly three hours before returning a guilty verdict, rejecting Anthony’s self-defense claim.
Following the verdict, tensions escalated among supporters of both Metcalf and Anthony outside of the courthouse.
Soon after the verdict was announced, Democrat U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett went on her podcast to question the impartiality of the jury and suggested racial bias may have played a role in the case.
“I’m not necessarily convinced — not that I could tell you the name of one person on this jury — that we had 12 impartial White folk out of Collin County sitting on a jury for this young black man,” she said.
Democrat U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee also criticized the verdict, calling it “a travesty.”
“A travesty, two lives ruined, and what struck me most is that you had an all-White jury,” Menefee said. “You had preemptive strikes that were used in order to achieve an all-White jury.”
“Case after case, after case you see that if it is a young Black person, they’re not allowed to be fearful, they’re not allowed self-defense, they don’t get the same standard ground opportunities that other people get,” Menefee continued. “But then other races do.”
Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison and will become eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence. He has since filed a notice of appeal and requested a court-appointed public defender.
