A teenager who fatally stabbed a standout football player at a Texas high school track meet last April was convicted of murder Tuesday.
Karmelo Anthony, now 19, faces up to life in prison following his conviction in the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a school stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco in April 2025.
Jurors at the Collin County Courthouse delivered the verdict in just over three hours after closing arguments were delivered earlier Tuesday on the trial’s fifth day, according to The Associated Press.
Anthony — who did not testify in his own defense after a volatile day of testimony by witnesses for the defense — faces up to life in prison upon sentencing.
A former student at Frisco Centennial High School, Anthony was indicted last June, about two months after he was released from jail in April after his $1 million bond was reduced to $250,000 by Collin County Judge Angela Tucker.
Under the terms of his bail, Anthony was required to wear an ankle monitor and obtain permission to leave home.
Outside the courthouse, Collin County sheriff’s deputies were seen lined up in advance of the verdict. Once the guilty verdict was read, several fights erupted outside the courthouse, with at least one person arrested, Fox News reported.
Prosecutors said the stabbing of Metcalf was an unjustified attack related to a dispute over whether Anthony could be under the tent of Metcalf’s team during a rainy track meet. Defense attorneys argued that Anthony felt threatened and believed he needed to defend himself when physical contact was made.
One of Anthony’s teammates, testifying Monday for the defense, said Anthony was “distraught” after the stabbing.
“I was hearing him say, ‘I told him not to touch me,’” the witness said.
Describing the stabbing as a “sneak, surprise attack,” Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye accused Anthony of egging on the confrontation.
Defense attorneys argued their client acted in a “split second of fear, chaos” after Metcalf made the first physical contact.
According to several teenage witnesses, the confrontation began after Anthony sat under a tent that was set up exclusively for members of the track team of Memorial High School, where Metcalf was in his junior year.
Other students competing at the meet testified that several athletes told Anthony to leave the tent and that he was the aggressor. When Metcalf told Anthony he needed to move, Anthony reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.
According to Courthouse News Service, one high school student testified that he heard Anthony say, “I’m not leaving, f— you all.”
The witness said Anthony, who at the time was a member of the Centennial High School team, which did not have a tent for its team, called the students “a bunch of p——-” who were “not going to do nothing about it.”
Defense attorneys maintain that Anthony acted in self-defense when confronted by Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter.
Wirskye asked the witness if Anthony or Metcalf had initiated the altercation.
“Yes, Karmelo put his hand in the bag and said five times, ’touch me and see what happens,” the witness testified. “Austin said he was not going to touch the guy; he was calm.”
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected].
