{"id":320482,"date":"2026-06-03T06:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/320482\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:02:19","slug":"why-the-jury-might-not-buy-karmelo-anthonys-self-defense-claim-in-fatal-stabbing-of-austin-metcalf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/320482\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the jury might not buy Karmelo Anthony’s self-defense claim in fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karmelo Anthony\u2019s self-defense claim in the stabbing death of fellow teen Austin Metcalf<\/a> in Texas won\u2019t get him acquitted of murder charges \u2014 in spite of raising $600,000 for a big-name lawyer, a veteran defense attorney claimed.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old from Frisco, who is black, is charged with first-degree murder for fatally stabbing 17-year-old Metcalf, who died in his twin brother\u2019s arms<\/a> on April 2, 2025.<\/p>\n

Karmelo Anthony walks free on a $250,000 bond under house arrest in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf. FOX 4 NEWS<\/p>\n

Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco, was stabbed in the chest, allegedly by 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, a student-athlete from Frisco Centennial High School. Meghan Prall Metcalf\/Facebook<\/p>\n

Anthony plans to claim he was acting in self-defense when he pulled a knife and stabbed Metcalf, whom his family said the defendant flagrantly attacked during a dispute over a seat in the bleachers.<\/p>\n

But Anthony will be hard-pressed to prove he was actually in life-threatening danger, <\/a>said Randy Zelin, an attorney of 38 years who is not involved in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be justified in killing someone with a knife and stabbing them in the chest if they were not about to use immediately use deadly force on you,\u201d said Zelin, who has served as both a prosecutor and defense attorney and is an adjunct professor at the Cornell School of Law.<\/p>\n

Authorities say Metcalf, who attended a rival school, did put his hands on Anthony, but he merely tried to shove him out from under his team\u2019s awning.<\/p>\n

Arrest photo for Karmelo Anthony, who was 17 at the time. Frisco Police Department<\/p>\n

Karmelo Anthony with activist minister Dominique Alexander, who has promoted his self-defense claim to the public. @niquealex\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Anthony told the <\/a>victim, \u201cTouch me and see what happens\u201d with a hand in his backpack, ready to pull the knife and stab Metcalf at the slightest provocation, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the defendant was doing with a knife on him, I think, is going to be telling. So you have the absence of the ability to use deadly force versus someone having deadly force immediately on hand,\u201d Zelin said.<\/p>\n

But Anthony has one ace in the hole, Zelin added: his race.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s defense has tried to cast Metcalf as a white bully <\/a>flagrantly assaulting a black victim, with the murder charge the product of a racist justice system.<\/p>\n

Austin Metcalf with his twin brother, Hunter. Jeff Metcalf \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

The narrative turned the case into a culture war, with supporters donating more than $600,000 to pay for Anthony\u2019s big-name Dallas lawyer, Mike Howard.<\/p>\n

Zelin said playing up the racial dynamic shows how desperate his case is.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a defense attorney \u2026 my job is to get my client off by any means, reasonably and legally necessary. So if I can play the race card and I can be the second coming of Johnnie Cochran, and my client walks out of the courthouse with me, either acquitted or with a hung jury, I\u2019ll sleep that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jury selection in Anthony\u2019s trial began Monday, and attorneys are expected to deliver opening statements on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karmelo Anthony\u2019s self-defense claim in the stabbing death of fellow teen Austin Metcalf in Texas won\u2019t get him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,294,102,2489,14551,85548,27,9929,734],"class_list":["post-320482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-crime","tag-dallas","tag-exclusive","tag-murders","tag-stabbings","tag-texas","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}