A Texas jury deliberated for just two hours before convicting Karmelo Anthony of murder Tuesday. Anthony was sentenced him to 35 years in prison for the stabbing death of a 17-year-old teen at a high school track meet last year.
The murder trial was one of most widely followed criminal cases in recent memory after Anthony’s family raised over $600,000 for his defense, claiming he was being persecuted by white supremacists.
Anthony, 19, murdered Austin Metcalf on April 2, 2025, during a districtwide track and field competition, stabbing him to death and leaving him to die in the arms of his twin brother. The jury rejected his claim of self-defense.
The murder began with a dispute over a tent.
Witnesses testified that on a rainy spring day, Anthony, a student at rival Frisco Centennial High School, entered a team tent belonging to Frisco Memorial High School, where Metcalf was an 11th grader. When Metcalf asked Anthony to leave, an argument erupted and Anthony grabbed his bag, reached inside, and told Metcalf: “Touch me and see what happens.” Metcalf pushed Anthony, and Anthony pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf to death. The two had never met before that day.
“This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Collin County District Attorney Bill Wirskye told jurors. “You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove.” He accused Anthony of bringing a hidden knife to the track meet and launching an unjustified “sneak attack” on an unarmed victim.
“Ultimately, this case is about accountability. What kind of community do you want to live in?”
Defense attorney Mike Howard countered that the law was on Anthony’s side. “Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard argued. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.”
The jury did not buy it. After only two hours and 20 minutes of deliberation, the verdict came in: murder, 35 years.
Almost from the moment of the stabbing, Anthony’s family and their lawyers framed the case in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white.
Dominique Alexander, president of the leftist Next Generation Action Network and the family’s public spokesman, blamed “white supremacy” and said the arrest of Anthony was racial persecution.
The family got a massive fundraising surge. Their “Help Karmelo Official Fund” on GoFundMe and, later, GoSendGo, raised more than $600,000 from over 18,000 donors.
Despite having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, Anthony’s family initially filed to have him represented by a taxpayer-funded public defender and claimed he was unable to afford his own attorney, leading to questions about how the money was spent.
Following the verdict Tuesday, the Metcalf family held an emotional press conference outside the Collin County Courthouse.
Their mother delivered the sharpest line of the day.
“While Anthony received 35 years,” she said, “I was sentenced to a lifetime without my son.”
Metcalf’s brother, who had held his dying twin as Austin took his last breath, stood beside her.