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.
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.
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.