A Collin County jury sentenced Karmelo Anthony to 35 years in prison for the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, closing the trial phase of a case that began with a stabbing at a Texas high school track meet and became one of the most divisive criminal proceedings in the state in years.
Anthony, now 18, was convicted of fatally stabbing Metcalf beneath a team tent at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco on April 2, 2025. The killing happened during a track championship event. Metcalf died in the arms of his twin brother, Hunter.
The sentence caps a legal fight that stretched more than 14 months, drew national media attention, generated more than $633,000 in fundraising for the defendant’s family, prompted a gag order from the bench, and saw rival camps gather outside the McKinney courthouse during trial proceedings. Anthony’s defense team has signaled plans to appeal.
The facts at trial painted a grim picture. Witnesses testified that Anthony was asked to leave the Memorial High School team tent roughly 15 times before the encounter escalated. One witness recalled hearing Metcalf say, “I’m not going to fight you at a track meet.”
Others described Anthony growing increasingly confrontational before pulling a knife.
Anthony admitted on the stand that he stabbed Metcalf but maintained he acted in self-defense. His defense attorney, Mark Howard, argued Anthony feared for his safety after being confronted by a larger student. Prosecutors rejected that framing outright.
As Fox News Digital detailed in its timeline of the case, prosecutor Bill Wirskye told jurors plainly:
“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab. That equals murder plain and simple. Unjustified murder.”
The jury agreed.
Jeff Metcalf, Austin’s father, delivered a victim impact statement at sentencing. He had spoken publicly about his son’s death from the earliest days of the case. Appearing on Fox News’ “America Reports” just one day after the stabbing, Jeff Metcalf mourned the bond Austin shared with his twin.
“My son is gone, and he’ll never come home again. Austin was the light of my life.”
He described the brothers’ relationship simply: “They were so tight. They had the best bond. They were best friends.”
Hunter Metcalf’s account of the moments after the stabbing, shared on “The Will Cain Show,” remains among the most wrenching details in the public record. Hunter said he rushed to Austin’s side and tried to stop the bleeding.
“I put my hand on there, tried to make it stop, and I grabbed his head and I looked in his eyes. I just saw his soul leave, and it took my soul, too.”
No parent, no sibling, should ever have to carry that. And no amount of legal maneuvering changes what Hunter Metcalf saw under that tent.
Fox News Digital obtained Anthony’s arrest report in April 2025, and the defendant’s own statements made the self-defense argument difficult from the start. Anthony told a responding officer at the scene, “I was protecting myself,” and claimed Metcalf had “put his hands on” him.
But when the officer referred to him as the alleged suspect, Anthony’s response was blunt: “I’m not alleged. I did it.”
The report also noted Anthony asked officers whether Metcalf would be OK and whether the stabbing could be considered self-defense, questions that suggest awareness, not panic.
Anthony’s bail was initially set at $1 million. On April 14, 2025, a Collin County judge reduced it to $250,000. Anthony posted bond and was released to house arrest with an ankle monitor. Defense attorney Mike Howard urged the public not to rush to judgment, arguing there were “two sides to every story.”
Meanwhile, a GiveSendGo fundraiser established by Anthony’s family grew to more than $633,000, generating its own firestorm. The fundraising campaign and the bond fight became early flashpoints, pulling the case into a broader national debate that had less and less to do with what happened under that tent in Frisco.
Public tensions escalated quickly. A press conference organized by Dominique Alexander and the Next Generation Action Network drew national coverage after Jeff Metcalf appeared at the event and was escorted out by police. Days later, representatives for Anthony’s family said they had relocated after reporting harassment, unwanted deliveries, and safety concerns.
The personal information of Judge Angela Tucker, who had reduced Anthony’s bail, circulated online. The Metcalf family’s home was swatted hours after the tense press conference confrontation.
None of this had anything to do with justice for a dead 17-year-old.
A Collin County grand jury indicted Anthony on a first-degree murder charge on June 24, 2025. District Attorney Greg Willis announced the indictment after presenting evidence. Jeff Metcalf told Fox News Digital he was pleased the case was moving forward but acknowledged the obvious: “It will never bring my son back.”
Before the indictment, Frisco ISD had announced in May 2025 that Anthony would receive his high school diploma but would not be permitted to attend graduation ceremonies, a decision that sparked yet another round of public argument.
A trial date was set for June 1, 2026. In July 2025, Judge John Roach issued a gag order restricting public comments from attorneys, witnesses, law enforcement, and others connected to the case. The judge cited concerns that the volume of publicity could compromise Anthony’s right to a fair trial.
Jury selection began on schedule. Supporters of both Anthony and Metcalf gathered outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney. Members of the New Black Panther Party and other activists appeared during the proceedings. Protests over alleged racial bias continued outside the courthouse even as the verdict was read on June 9, 2026.
Inside, the evidence spoke for itself. Multiple witnesses described a defendant who refused to leave when asked, escalated a verbal dispute, and stabbed a teenager who had told him he wasn’t going to fight at a track meet. The self-defense claim collapsed under the weight of the testimony and Anthony’s own recorded statements.
The jury convicted Anthony of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He has since been transferred to the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and transported to the Pack Unit near Navasota, Texas.
Anthony’s defense team is preparing an appeal. Former U.S. Attorney Cully Stimson discussed potential grounds on Fox News, including a “Batson claim” related to jury selection, a legal challenge alleging racial bias in how jurors were struck from the panel. Whether that claim has merit will be tested in the appellate courts.
But the facts at trial were not ambiguous. A teenager was asked to leave more than a dozen times. He refused. He escalated. He pulled a knife. And a 17-year-old boy who said he wasn’t going to fight died because of it.
Jeff Metcalf has faced death threats and financial strain throughout the process. The family endured swatting, public harassment, and a media environment that often seemed more interested in the controversy surrounding the case than in the young man who was killed.
The Anthony case exposed fault lines that run far deeper than one courtroom in McKinney. The fundraising, the protests, the gag order, the swatting, the doxxing of a judge, all of it piled onto a case that, at its core, was about one teenager stabbing another to death at a high school sporting event.
The jury weighed the evidence. Twelve citizens heard the witnesses, reviewed Anthony’s own words, and returned a verdict of guilty. The 35-year sentence reflects the seriousness of what happened and the law as written in Texas.
Austin Metcalf went to a track meet. He told another kid he wasn’t going to fight. He never came home. Thirty-five years is the system working, not perfectly, not painlessly, but working. The rest of the noise was always a distraction from that simple, awful fact.
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