Karmelo Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Monday for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a track meet after the jury rejected a proposed \u201csudden passion\u201d argument that could have significantly reduced his punishment.<\/p>\n
The jury in Collin County, Texas deliberated for about three hours before finding Anthony, 19, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Metcalf earlier Monday afternoon. They then spent nearly another three hours deciding his lengthy sentence.<\/p>\n
Anthony was found guilty of murder on Tuesday. Frisco Police Department<\/p>\n
Anthony was found guilty of fatally stabbing Austin Metcalf. Meghan Prall Metcalf\/Facebook<\/p>\n
He was sentenced to 35 years in prison. AP<\/p>\n
During the sentencing phase, the jury weighed the potential extenuating circumstances of \u201csudden passion\u201d \u2013 crimes committed in the heat of the moment that, in Texas, reduce punishments.<\/p>\n
The jury wasn\u2019t swayed by Anthony\u2019s lawyers \u201csudden passion\u201d claim and sentenced him to 35 years. He faced a maximum of 99 years or life.<\/p>\n
The \u201csudden passion\u201d extenuation would\u2019ve downgraded his verdict from first-degree to second-degree murder and shrunk his steep punishment to a maximum of 20 years.<\/p>\n
Before the jury broke for deliberation, prosecutor Dewey Mitchell explained that the sentencing was about deciding the cost \u201cof taking a life\u201d in Collin County \u2013 one of the most conservative parts of Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are going to be bleachers at stadiums in Collin County where parents are going to watch their kids play. One of the reasons we\u2019re in the community we live in is because we feel safe,\u201d Mitchell said, according to NBC.<\/p>\n
One of Anthony\u2019s lawyers, Mike Howard, insisted that considering the extenuating circumstance at hand wasn\u2019t about blaming anyone at the track meet the day Metcalf was murdered.<\/p>\n
A person announcing the guilty verdict in front of a crowd of Anthony supporters at Collin County courthouse. AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
A demonstrator holding a \u201cJusice 4 Austin\u201d sign outside ofthe courtroom in McKinney, Texas on June 9, 2026. AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
\u201cDecisions made in the heat of the moment are different than decisions that come after reflection.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the latest on Karmelo Anthony\u2019s murder trial following the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when something happens \u2026 and you believe that Karmelo felt terror in that moment such that it rendered his mind incapable that he didn\u2019t have time for cool reflection, then sudden passion applies,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators clashing outside of the courthouse over the Karmelo Anthony trial. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth<\/p>\n
Anthony sobbed his way through the bulk of the \u201cmini-trial\u201d after the jury delivered his guilty verdict.<\/p>\n
Anthony insisted he acted in self-defense, but did not take the witness stand during the trial \u2013 a move experts say likely sealed his guilty fate.<\/p>\n
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karmelo Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Monday for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14551,27,29,28,9929,734,117859],"class_list":["post-329955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-murders","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-trials","tag-us-news","tag-verdicts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329955","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=329955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}