Karmelo Anthony, the Texas teen convicted over the fatal stabbing of fellow student Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet confrontation, has been handed a 35-year prison sentence.
Anthony was 17 when the incident happened on April 2, 2025, at David Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Metcalf, also 17, was an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School, while Anthony was a student at Frisco Centennial High School.
Anthony, now 19, argued throughout the case that he stabbed Metcalf in self-defense during a confrontation under a team tent at the rainy track meet, which involved multiple Frisco ISD schools.
Following the trial at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, jurors were asked to weigh both murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter. On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, they returned their decision and found Anthony guilty of murder after about three hours of deliberation.
The same jury later returned a 35-year prison sentence following a punishment phase in which Anthony’s mother, Kayla Hayes, was the only witness called. The defense also asked jurors to consider whether the killing happened under the influence of “sudden passion,” which could have reduced the sentencing range, but the 35-year term showed jurors did not apply that mitigation.
Investigators said the confrontation began after Anthony was asked to leave a tent where he had been sitting. An eyewitness account cited in a probable cause affidavit claimed the exchange escalated from there.
“Touch me and see what happens,” Anthony told Metcalf, the document claimed.
Authorities alleged that when Metcalf attempted to move him physically, Anthony took a knife from his bag and stabbed the track athlete in the chest.
When he was taken into custody, Anthony told an officer “I was protecting myself”. Witnesses also testified that after the stabbing he said words to the effect of Metcalf having put his hands on him.
His defense team maintained that account in court, insisting he acted because he was afraid during a fast-moving confrontation.
Defense attorney Mike Howard told jurors: “In that split second, Melo has a decision to make: how and when to act. Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to defend yourself. He reacts in a split second of fear, chaos.
“After Karmelo defended himself with that knife, he ran. He didn’t stab again. He dropped the knife. He didn’t stab anyone else.”
During closing arguments, Howard said Metcalf had “no legal right” to put his hands on Anthony, and argued that Anthony had been confronted by larger students while trying to get out of the rain.
But prosecutors rejected the self-defense claim, arguing that Anthony provoked the confrontation and used deadly force in response to a shove. First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye told jurors the case came down to a simple point: a person cannot meet a shove with a stab, particularly if they provoked the shove.
But testimony from witnesses challenged Anthony’s version of events and raised questions about whether the situation unfolded as the defense described.
One witness said Anthony had kept his hands concealed in his backpack before Metcalf pushed his shoulders in an attempt to remove him from the tent. The witness said Anthony then produced a knife and stabbed Metcalf.
“That’s lethal force against non-lethal,” the 17-year-old witness said, per New York Post.
The same witness also disputed Anthony’s claim that he had been surrounded or ambushed by Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter, saying they did not see anyone crowding around him. Other testimony also indicated Hunter was not involved in the physical confrontation.
A second teenage witness gave a similar account, alleging that Anthony ‘tried to provoke us’ after being told to leave the tent.
Jurors also heard that Anthony had been asked to leave the tent repeatedly before the stabbing. Some student witnesses described Metcalf’s contact with Anthony as a two-handed push, while others characterized it as a smaller shove. Prosecutors emphasized that Metcalf was unarmed.
The court was told that the pocket knife used in the stabbing was recovered from the bleachers. A medical examiner testified that Metcalf was stabbed on the left side of his chest and that the wound perforated his right ventricle.
Anthony did not testify during the guilt phase of the trial, and he also waived his right to testify during the punishment phase. After the verdict was read, he was remanded into the custody of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office.
The case had drawn widespread attention even before the trial opened, in part because of concerns over the jury selection process. Although Anthony is Black and Metcalf was White, no Black jurors were selected, prompting criticism from those who questioned whether the proceedings were fair. Lawyers on both sides told jurors the case was not about race.
Judge John Roach had also imposed restrictions around the trial, including limits on what people involved in the case could say publicly and a ban on electronics inside the courtroom, due to the intense attention surrounding the proceedings.
Frisco ISD said after the verdict that the community had carried the weight of the tragedy for more than a year, adding that it respected the judicial process and would continue supporting students with compassion and care.
Under Texas law, Anthony must serve at least half of his 35-year sentence before he can become eligible for parole, meaning his earliest parole eligibility would come after 17 and a half years behind bars.