MCKINNEY, Texas (TNND) — A jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday in the stabbing death of a Texas high school athlete during a track meet.
Austin Metcalf, 17, was killed in April 2025. Prosecutors argued that Anthony, who was 17 at the time of the murder, killed Metcalf after being repeatedly told to leave a rival school’s tent.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye questioned why a teenager would bring a knife to a school sporting event, according to The Associated Press.
“This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder, plain and simple,” he said ahead of the verdict.
Wirskye also urged jurors to consider the broader implications of the case.
“Ultimately, this case is about accountability,” he said. “What kind of community do you want to live in?”
Defense attorney Michael Howard, meanwhile, argued during that Anthony acted in self-defense after Metcalf confronted him about leaving the tent belonging to Frisco Memorial High School’s team.
Howard told jurors that Metcalf had “no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo.”
“Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard said. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.”
A jury rejected Anthony’s claims of self-defense. Anthony, now 19, didn’t testify.
According to reports, the only person to take the stand was Karmelo Anthony’s mother, who begged for mercy.
Shortly after 3:30 p.m. CDT, Karmelo Anthony returned to the courtroom after the judge announced that the state agreed to the additions of “sudden passion” as the jury continues with the sentencing phase. This addition means that the defense can argue that the murder was committed when Anthony was in an intense emotional state.
If the jury agrees with the sudden passion argument, Anthony’s charge will be reduced to a second-degree felony, lowering the punishment range to 2 to 20 years in prison.
The jury will be brought back in for a “mini-trial” with opening statements from the prosecution and the defense. Karmelo Anthony has chosen not to testify in this section of the trial as well.
A majority of people who did testify were students, who described a heated exchange over Anthony refusing to leave the tent during a rainy competition.’
“I was hearing him say, ‘I told him not to touch me,'” one teenager testified.
Austin Metcalf stabbed and killed during Texas track meet (CNN Newsource)
Tensions flared outside the courthouse throughout the trial, as videos circulating on social media appeared to show heated conflicts between groups supporting Anthony and those backing Metcalf’s family and friends. Some of the clips showed verbal exchanges that included racial insults.
Anthony is Black, while Metcalf was white.
The parents of both Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students who planned to go to college. Metcalf’s father condemned those who seized on the race of the teenagers after the killing.
“This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing. Please do not comment if you do not know what happened,” Jeff Metcalf previously said on Fox News’ “America Reports.””This is a human being thing,” he said. “This person made a bad choice and it affected both his family and my family forever.”
Anthony faces up to life in prison upon sentencing.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.