Wednesday, June 10, 2026 - A Texas teenager accused of fatally st@bbing one of his peers at a high school athletics event in the Dallas area was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday, June 9, and was sentenced to 35 years in jail.
A jury found the now-19-year-old Karmelo Anthony guilty of
murder for fatally st@bbing Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet in
Frisco, Texas, in 2025. Both were 17 at the time of the incident.
Prosecutors alleged that Anthony, then a student at
Centennial High School, entered a tent for Memorial High School and began the
confrontation with Metcalf, who was a student at Memorial. Anthony's attorneys
argued that Metcalf and his twin brother began the physical altercation with
Anthony and that Anthony stabbed Metcalf in self-defense.
"There is no evidence Karmelo did anything but really
think he was defending himself in that split second of chaos," Anthony's
attorney Mike Howard told the jury Tuesday before deliberations began.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye disputed this justification, telling
jurors, "You don't get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you
provoke the shove."
Judge John Roach enforced strict rules for the trial,
including enforcing a gag order preventing parties in the trial from publicly
discussing the case and barring cameras and electronic devices from the
courtroom.
The Dallas-area case drew national attention and stoked
racial tensions as well. Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white, though
prosecutors argued that race was not a factor in the confrontation between the
students.
Critics also raised concerns that all Black potential jurors
were excluded from the trial.
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