Emma Ruby
Audio By Carbonatix
Update, 6/9/2026, 7:34 p.m.: After nearly three hours of deliberation, a jury sentenced Karmelo Anthony to 35 years in prison for the 2025 murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf.
A Collin County jury has found 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony guilty of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco ISD track meet last year.
The ruling was announced Tuesday afternoon after seven days of trial and three hours of jury deliberation. Murder was the highest charge Anthony faced, although the jury was allowed to consider manslaughter or acquittal.
He will now face between five and 99 years in prison. The case will now proceed to the sentencing phase.
Social media videos show that in the moments leading up to the verdict being read, a crowd gathered outside of the Collin County Courthouse and some began chanting, “Free Karmelo.” In the trial’s early days, national attention was paid to the fact that every potential Black juror was struck from the jury pool. Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white, a detail that has fueled the controversy surrounding the case.
In being found guilty of murder, the jury agreed that Anthony “knowingly and willingly caused the death of another person” through his actions.
Anthony and Metcalf were track athletes attending different high schools when they met last April. Witnesses called by prosecutors claimed that Anthony attempted to sit near Metcalf’s team tent at the meet and was asked to move but refused.
Witnesses broadly agreed that Metcalf attempted to shove Anthony following a verbal altercation, at which point Anthony pulled a knife from his backpack and stabbed Metcalf in the heart. Metcalf died moments later. During the trial, the jury was shown video evidence, 911 calls immediately following the stabbing, and autopsy evidence that showed the heart wound.
Defense attorneys argued that Anthony’s actions were self-defense because he was significantly smaller than Metcalf, who initiated the force. Witnesses called by the defense also testified to Anthony’s emotional state following the stabbing, recalling he expressed disbelief that Metcalf could die.
Prosecutors, though, argued that it was Anthony who escalated the encounter.
CBS 11 reporter J.D. Miles, who was inside the courtroom, reported that prosecutors asked the jury to consider “what kind of community” they wanted to live in during the trial’s closing arguments, adding that the case was an issue of “accountability.”
“You represent the community today; as unpleasant as it may be, it’s your duty to follow your oath and hold this young man accountable for this senseless, senseless murder,” Bill Wirskye with the Collin County District Attorney’s Office said. “I beg you to make justice swift in this case.”
