{"id":326139,"date":"2026-06-07T02:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/326139\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T02:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:09:15","slug":"karmelo-anthony-murder-trial-medical-examiner-testifies-victim-died-from-gaping-stab-wound-to-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/326139\/","title":{"rendered":"Karmelo Anthony murder trial: Medical examiner testifies victim died from \u2018gaping\u2019 stab wound to the heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

McKINNEY, Texas \u2014 A Texas medical examiner testified at the Karmelo Anthony murder trial<\/a> Saturday, saying that the 17-year-old victim, Austin Metcalf, was stabbed through the heart.<\/p>\n

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Anthony, 19, was charged in connection with the April 2, 2025, stabbing of Metcalf <\/a>\u2014 a student from a rival school \u2014 during an altercation at a track meet at a high school in Frisco, Texas. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

On the trial\u2019s third day, Collin County\u2019s chief medical examiner, Dr. Elizabeth Ventura, took the stand and reiterated that Metcalf\u2019s cause of death was a stab wound to the chest and the manner was homicide. <\/p>\n

Ventura said that the wound was oval-shaped and 2 inches in length, describing it as \u201cgaping.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said the wound perforated both the chest bone and the pericardium, the sac that surrounds the heart, and penetrated the right ventricle.<\/p>\n

Asked by the prosecution if the stabbing was survivable, Ventura said, \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ventura also showed several autopsy photos to the jurors, with Texas District Court Judge John Roach Jr. overruling objections from Anthony\u2019s attorney to show some of the images.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Ventura\u2019s testimony, Roach said people in the gallery could leave if they wanted to because of its content.<\/p>\n

Metcalf\u2019s mother left the courtroom. Some of Metcalf\u2019s friends chose to stay, with several in tears as the medical examiner\u2019s testimony went on.<\/p>\n

Ventura was the prosecution\u2019s final witness before resting their case. <\/p>\n

Within the last few days of testimony<\/a>, several of Metcalf\u2019s former classmates who witnessed the killing have taken the stand. They said that their friend was stabbed after Anthony sat uninvited under a tent reserved for Metcalf\u2019s school, Memorial High School in Frisco, and refused to leave.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s attorney, Mike Howard, is arguing that his client was acting in self-defense<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On Saturday, a male student testified that Metcalf was not originally part of the group of students trying to get Anthony to leave the tent, but then he took the lead with the effort. <\/p>\n

\u201cBro just leave ,\u201d Metcalf said, according to the teen. \u201cWe don\u2019t want you here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager added that Metcalf said he didn\u2019t want to fight and was \u201ccalm.\u201d <\/p>\n

When asked by prosecutors if Anthony was the aggressor, the teenager said: \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTouch me and see what happens,\u201d Anthony said to Metcalf, according to the teenager. <\/p>\n

The student then saw Metcalf fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only knew what happened when he lifted his shirt and saw a big hole,\u201d the student testified.<\/p>\n

It was the witness\u2019s first track meet, he said. His identity is not being made public after Roach issued an order on Friday barring public identification of any minor witnesses.<\/p>\n

Later Saturday, the defense called a 17-year-old Memorial High School student who witnessed the stabbing. <\/p>\n

The witness replied yes when Howard, Anthony\u2019s attorney, asked if he saw Anthony walk up to the tent and greet another student. <\/p>\n

Earlier, Adam Linwood, a track coach at Centennial High School, which Anthony attended, said that it\u2019s not unusual for athletes from different schools to socialize during meets. <\/p>\n

The teen witness said Hunter Metcalf, the victim\u2019s twin brother, told Anthony to leave in an escalating tone of aggression.<\/p>\n

The witness confirmed that he told police that Anthony responded by saying the only person objecting to his presence was Hunter Metcalf.<\/p>\n

At some point Austin Metcalf stood up, and when Anthony reached into his bag, the victim challenged him, saying he knew Anthony didn\u2019t have anything inside, Howard said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAustin calls his bluff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d the witness replied.<\/p>\n

The teenager said the dispute he witnessed involved only Anthony and the Metcalf brothers. Asked whether he remembered Anthony saying to Austin Metcalf that as long as he doesn\u2019t touch him, everything will remain \u201ccool,\u201d the witness said, \u201csomething like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Austin tapped Anthony on the shoulder, Howard said, and the witness recalled that Anthony then said that as long as Austin Metcalf didn\u2019t punch him, they were OK. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn that split second that Melo takes his hand out of his bag and of course then it was an tragic awful thing that happened?\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n

The teenager responded again with, \u201cYes sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

During cross-examination, prosecutor Bill Wirskye asked the witness if Metcalf stepped in to get Anthony to leave the tent, to which the witness said yes.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Anthony \u201cprovoked this,\u201d the teen replied \u201cyes, sir.\u201d He was then excused. <\/p>\n

The trial will resume Monday.<\/p>\n

Racial divisions around the case have propelled it to the national forefront, drawing the attention of both right-wing agitators<\/a> and civil rights organizations. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case has nothing to do with race,\u201d Wirskye said on Thursday during his opening remarks. \u201cThis case is not self-defense. Unjustified provoked murder \u2014 that\u2019s why we\u2019re here this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Next Generation Action Network, a civil rights organization that has been advocating in favor of Anthony, denounced<\/a> the racial makeup of the jurors. Several of the jurors are people of color, but none are Black.<\/p>\n

Anthony was 17 at the time of the killing. In Texas, 17-year-olds are considered adults. If Anthony is found guilty, he could face five years to life in state prison.<\/p>\n

He posted a $250,000 bond for his release and has since been under house arrest. Representatives for Anthony have created a crowdfunding page, which has raised over $600,000, to help him pay for legal fees and other expenses.<\/p>\n

Maria Guerrero reported from McKinney, Matt Lavietes from New York and Dennis Romero from San Diego.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McKINNEY, Texas \u2014 A Texas medical examiner testified at the Karmelo Anthony murder trial Saturday, saying that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-326139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326139","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=326139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}