GUILTY: Jury Convicts Karmelo Anthony In Track Meet Murder

A Collin County jury delivered its verdict Tuesday, finding Karmelo Anthony guilty of first-degree murder in the 2025 stabbing death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas.

The same jury later that evening sentenced Anthony, now 19 years old, to 35 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving at least half of that sentence.

The verdict came after several days of testimony from dozens of witnesses who filled the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before returning the guilty finding, a relatively swift conclusion to a trial that had drawn intense national attention since the moment the incident occurred more than a year ago.

The stabbing took place on the morning of April 2, 2025, at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco during a districtwide track and field competition involving multiple Frisco Independent School District schools.

Metcalf, an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School who maintained a 3.97 grade point average, was fatally wounded during a confrontation that developed when Anthony, then also 17 and a student at Frisco Centennial High School, sat beneath Memorial’s tent in the stadium bleachers during a rainy stretch of competition.

Witnesses testified that Metcalf and other Memorial students repeatedly told Anthony to leave the tent, as it belonged to their school.

The confrontation escalated, and Anthony stabbed Metcalf, who died of his injuries at the scene. The two teenagers had no prior connection to each other according to prosecutors, who characterized the killing as senseless.

Anthony was taken into custody shortly after the stabbing and subsequently charged with first-degree murder.

He pleaded not guilty, and his legal team mounted a self-defense argument throughout the trial.

Defense attorney Mike Howard told jurors that Metcalf had no legal right to put his hands on Anthony and that Texas law does not require a person to wait until they are struck before acting.

Howard urged the jury to put themselves in Anthony’s position during what he described as a chaotic moment.

Prosecutors pushed back hard on that framing. Lead prosecutor Greg Wirskye told jurors that Anthony was the aggressor and that the evidence supported no other conclusion.

Multiple student witnesses who were present at the stadium testified that Anthony had provoked the situation. Wirskye told the jury plainly: this is not self-defense, it is murder, plain and simple.

Anthony did not take the stand in his own defense during the trial, which began on June 1 at the Collin County Courthouse and was presided over by District Judge John Roach Jr.

Roach had imposed a gag order on the case back in July 2025, barring attorneys, witnesses, law enforcement, and court staff from speaking publicly about the proceedings.

In April 2026, he added additional restrictions, prohibiting photography, video, and audio recordings in the courtroom due to the attention the case had attracted.

During the sentencing phase, which concluded the same day as the verdict, the prosecution called no witnesses.

The defense called a single witness: Anthony’s mother, Kayla Hayes. She told the jury that her son was her firstborn, that she loved him very much, and that he was deeply sorry for what he had done.

Her testimony was emotional and drew visible reactions throughout the courtroom.

The jury rejected a defense request to consider whether Anthony acted under sudden passion, a finding that would have capped his sentence at 20 years.

By rejecting that theory, jurors were free to impose a sentence anywhere from 5 to 99 years, or even life in prison. They settled on 35 years after approximately two hours and 20 minutes of deliberation.

After the sentence was read by Judge Roach, Metcalf’s family delivered victim impact statements.

Jeff Metcalf, Austin’s father, and Austin’s twin brother addressed Anthony directly from the courtroom. The statements were described by those present as deeply moving and heartfelt.

The case had generated enormous controversy in the months between the stabbing and the trial, becoming a flashpoint in national conversations about race, youth violence, and self-defense law.

The incident involved two teenagers of different races, a fact that attracted significant online commentary, misinformation, and fundraising activity from various directions.

A group led by a man previously pardoned by President Trump staged a small protest outside the courthouse during the trial.

That demonstration drew counterprotesters and was publicly denounced by Metcalf’s father.

From the moment Anthony was charged as an adult, legal experts noted the significance of the decision.

Texas law permits juveniles to be tried as adults in first-degree murder cases, and prosecutors made clear from the outset that they intended to pursue the maximum accountability available under the law.

The trial itself lasted just under two weeks, though the jury required far less time than anticipated to reach its conclusion.

Testimony from students who witnessed the altercation, investigators who handled the evidence, and medical experts formed the core of the prosecution’s case.

Character witnesses for Anthony were called by the defense but were unable to sway the outcome.

Throughout the proceedings, Judge Roach managed a courtroom that was filled to capacity.

Court staff confirmed that the Metcalf family and Anthony’s grandmother were both present inside when the sentencing verdict was read.

The speed of the jury’s deliberation was widely interpreted as a sign that the evidence presented at trial left little room for doubt.

Prosecutors had laid out a methodical case built on eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, and the straightforward circumstances of the encounter.

With the verdict and sentence now final, the Metcalf family faces the long road of life without Austin, a young man described by those who knew him as a dedicated student and athlete.

For the Anthony family, the coming decades will be defined by what happened in less than a minute at a suburban Dallas stadium on a rainy April morning.