Conviction and Sentence

On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, a Collin County jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder. Judge John Roach Jr. sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving 17.5 years.

Anthony was 17 when, on April 2, 2025, he fatally stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a regional track meet at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Both were high school students at rival schools in the Frisco Independent School District.

According to testimony reported by The Guardian and Breitbart, Anthony had taken shelter in the Frisco Memorial High School team tent — his own school had no tent that day. Memorial athletes asked him to leave roughly 15 times. He refused.

Witness Eddie Parra, 18, testified that Anthony became aggressive when confronted, said "Touch me and find out," and reached into his bag. Metcalf shoved Anthony. Anthony drew a 5-inch folding knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest. The wound was two inches deep — directly into Metcalf's heart. Metcalf died shortly after.

The Self-Defense Claim

Anthony's legal team argued self-defense, citing a size disparity: Metcalf and his twin brother Hunter were described as approximately 6-foot-1 and 213 pounds, compared to Anthony's 5-foot-8, 130-pound frame. The defense claimed Anthony acted out of fear.

Multiple eyewitnesses testified that Anthony, not Metcalf, had provoked the incident. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye told the jury that video evidence showed other people in the tent had not turned on Anthony, and that this was a one-on-one confrontation Anthony had escalated. The jury convicted on murder rather than the lesser charge of manslaughter, and also rejected a "sudden passion" argument.

Race and the Verdict

Anthony is Black. Metcalf was white. None of the 12 seated jurors was Black, according to The Guardian.

No evidence presented in these sources establishes racial bias in the jury selection, the trial, or the verdict itself. Austin Metcalf's own father publicly disavowed those who made race the centerpiece of the case, according to Forbes.

The prosecution stated in opening arguments that the case "has nothing to do with race."

The online response has included deliberate disinformation. Forbes reported that the case generated fake autopsy reports and a fake social media account impersonating the Frisco police chief. An online fundraiser through GiveSendGo raised $629,724 — ostensibly for legal defense — even as donations continued flowing after the conviction, rendering the stated purpose moot. GiveSendGo unpublished the page Tuesday. The family had also drawn scrutiny over a Daily Mail report — published roughly two weeks after the murder — showing they had relocated to a $900,000 rental home in a Frisco suburb and purchased a new car.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett's Claims

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) used her podcast — titled Clock It with Crockett: Karmelo Anthony, Justice & Race — to make factually incorrect claims about the evidence.

Crockett held her fingers about an inch apart to illustrate what she implied was the knife's size, and said, "Well, I would argue the size of it alone you wouldn't even think it's a deadly weapon." The knife Anthony used was 5 inches long. It left a two-inch wound in Metcalf's heart and killed him. A guest on her podcast claimed it was a multi-tool Swiss Army Knife-style weapon. It was not.

Crockett also said that Black women with Black male children "live in worse fear and agony" than Metcalf's family — a statement made about the family of a teenager who was actually killed.

Crockett lost her Senate primary and is a lame-duck member of Congress. Breitbart News noted she did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Coverage Differences

Right-wing coverage has been accurate on the facts of the trial but has used the case to push a broader racial grievance narrative, sometimes cherry-picking emotional moments — like Anthony's grandmother shouting "Racist!" outside the courthouse — without equal weight on the legitimate questions raised by a 35-year sentence for a teenager.

Left-leaning coverage has emphasized the racial composition of the jury and the size disparity between the two boys while underweighting the eyewitness consensus — including from Anthony's own defense witness — that Anthony provoked the confrontation.

Forbes offered the most balanced factual summary. The Guardian provided key trial specifics. Both are worth reading alongside the right-leaning coverage.

The Verdict

A jury heard the evidence and rejected every defense theory offered. Multiple eyewitnesses — including one the defense called themselves — said Anthony started it.

A 17-year-old kid went to a track meet and came home in a coffin. His killer received a sentence supported by the evidence presented at trial.