MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) – A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a high school meet was convicted of murder Tuesday and sentenced to 35 years in prison in a trial that drew attention far beyond the booming Dallas suburb where they were students. <\/p>\n
A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony\u2019s claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in stadium bleachers last year. Most people who testified were students who described a heated exchange over Anthony\u2019s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Anthony, now 19, did not testify at trial and only his mother took the stand during the sentencing phase, telling jurors her son was sorry and asking for their mercy. <\/p>\n
Notoriety about the case spread, in part, because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors that the tragedy had nothing to do with race.<\/p>\n
Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a lesser charge, manslaughter, but didn\u2019t choose it. <\/p>\n
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye had asked for a lengthy prison term.<\/p>\n
\u201cMercy to the guilty,\u201d he said, \u201cis cruelty to the innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier Tuesday, during the trial\u2019s closing arguments, the jury heard dueling narratives from Wirskye and defense attorney Mike Howard about what happened in April 2025.<\/p>\n
Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.<\/p>\n
Howard told jurors that Metcalf had \u201cno legal right to put his hands on Karmelo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,\u201d Howard said. \u201cIn that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors said that Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses have testified that Anthony was the aggressor. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not self-defense, folks. It\u2019s murder plain and simple,\u201d Wirskye said.<\/p>\n
Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: \u201cTouch me and see what happens,\u201d according to a police report.<\/p>\n
Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest. The teens, both from Frisco, didn\u2019t know each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,\u201d Wirskye said.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor also made a broader pitch to the jury: \u201cUltimately, this case is about accountability. What kind of community do you want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at the Collin County courthouse. As police officers watched Tuesday, dozens of people stood outside the courthouse in 90 degree Fahrenheit heat (32 degrees Celsius) to await the verdict. There were wails of grief from one woman – \u201cThis isn\u2019t real!\u201d – when the result became known.<\/p>\n
Frisco is one of Texas\u2019 fastest-growing cities and is dotted with dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities. The parents of Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students who planned to go to college. <\/p>\n
Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to leave his team\u2019s tent, scoffed before Anthony reached into a bag and pulled out a knife. <\/p>\n
One teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, \u201cYou don\u2019t have anything in that backpack. It\u2019s Frisco.\u201d <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WBAY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) – A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-329944","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\/329944","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=329944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}