Karmelo Anthony has been sentenced to 35 years in state prison for stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf to death at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, in April 2025.
The perpetrator himself, Anthony, was also 17 at the time of the killing. According to witnesses, he was told to leave a tent at the stadium where the track meet was taking place by Metcalf’s twin brother, which led to the start of the altercation. Austin Metcalf then tried to push Anthony out of the tent, to which the perpetrator responded by stabbing him in the heart with a pocketknife and running away.
Anthony was charged with murder right away as an adult and booked in Collin County jail on a $1 million bond. His bond was reduced to $250,000 on appeal, and he was subsequently released on bail.
In the meantime, a crowdfunding campaign was set up to aid the defendant’s legal case. Controversially, it raised over $600,000, collecting donations from those who felt that Anthony was unjustly prosecuted for his race, and believed the defence’s theory about justified self-defence on the defendant’s part. The campaign was removed by the hosting site GiveSendGo—which was also used by Kyle Rittenhouse’s supporters to collect donations for his criminal trial in November 2021—after its intended recipient’s guilty conviction.
This theme followed the entire case: left-wing progressive activists alleging racial bias, while right-wing to centrist observers being appalled at a young white man’s life being taken by a violent black teen.
The actual trial commenced on 1 June 2026, over a year after the killing, which is not an unusual timeframe for a charge as severe as murder.
Based on the jurors’ decision, it was a clear-cut case. They delivered their verdict on the same day as the closing arguments, 9 June. Even some of the witnesses called by the defence corroborated the prosecution’s theory that Anthony was the aggressor.
Thus, the jury unanimously voted for a guilty verdict after a short deliberation.
Jasmine Crockett’s Inflammatory Statements about the Austin Metcalf–Karmelo Anthony Case
Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas, who recently ran for Senate in the Lone Star State in her party’s primary and lost, caused quite a lot of outrage with the comments she made while the Karmelo Anthony trial was ongoing.
On the show hosted on her own social media, she talked about the size of the knife Anthony used in his stabbing, arguing that it was not big enough to be considered a deadly weapon. This makes little sense, as all edged weapons, regardless of their size, are typically considered deadly weapons in criminal cases. Furthermore, this weapon in question evidently had the potential to end someone’s life, as it actually did.
After the sentencing, while talking to TMZ, she opined that the length of the prison sentence was too harsh on Anthony, and described the killer as ‘a kid’ who just went into the wrong tent to shield himself from the rain.
Tensions were high at the sentencing as well, with opposing crowds, in favour and against the defendant, gathering outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas. Two people were arrested on the scene as the sentence was delivered on the same day as the verdict, 9 June.
Anthony was given 35 years in state prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving half, 17.5 years.
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