McKINNEY, Texas — A Texas jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty Tuesday of the 2025 murder of Austin Metcalf, a fellow high school student at a Dallas-area track meet.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The verdict, read by Texas District Court Judge John Roach Jr., carries with it a sentence of five years to life in prison.Anthony was 17 at the time, but Texas law allowed him to be charged as an adult.
He is now 19.Some in the courtroom reacted with cries and Metcalf’s twin brother, who made his first appearance in the courtroom, leaned forward.
Anthony’s mother wept.Roach had warned people in the courtroom to control their emotions when the verdict was read.
Anthony’s attorney kept an arm wrapped around him.Metcalf, 17, was fatally stabbed on April 2, 2025, as the track teams of Anthony’s Centennial High School and Metcalf’s Memorial High School participated in a district-wide meet in Frisco, a Dallas suburb.Anthony’s legal team argued he acted in self-defense after he’d sat in the bleachers under the tent of rival high school Memorial and was confronted by members of its track team and told to leave, under the pressure of physical intimidation.Metcalf died in his twin brother’s arms that rainy day, their father said.In closing arguments, Anthony’s attorney Mike Howard told jurors that prosecutors failed to prove his client did “anything but defend himself” after Metcalf and others became enraged that Anthony was in their high school’s tent.Howard had sought to establish during the trial that going to rival teams’ tents and socializing is customary at meets, that Anthony was invited to the tent and that Metcalf and his twin brother, standing nearby, were physically intimidating.
“Is it reasonable to worry these kids might jump in, that (Metcalf’s brother) might pop in to defend (Metcalf) ...because the split second of chaos is you can’t know what’s about to ha...