A Collin County judge has imposed a sweeping gag order in the racially charged case of a fatal stabbing at a Frisco high school track meet, citing concerns that extensive media coverage could jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

Judge John Roach issued the gag order on Monday, stating that “extensive pre-trial publicity poses a serious risk to the fairness of the trial.”

The gag order bars anyone associated with the case from speaking publicly about the fatal stabbing. The restriction applies to families of the victim, Austin Metcalf, and of the defendant, Karmelo Anthony, as well as prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement officials, and witnesses.

The Next Generation Action Network, which has spoken on behalf of the Anthony family, welcomed the gag order. The organization stated it has “no interest in trying this case in the court of public opinion” and emphasized its commitment to ensuring Mr. Anthony receives “a fair and unbiased trial.”

Nevertheless, the group — which organized a press conference where Mr. Anthony’s family discussed receiving death threats — argues the gag order doesn’t apply to the organization because it is not an official party to the legal proceedings.

Mr. Anthony was arrested on April 2 and later indicted by a grand jury on first-degree murder charges. He claims that he acted in self-defense and pleaded not guilty. He will stand trial in June 2026.

Because Mr. Anthony was under 18 at the time of the killing, if he is found guilty at trial, he cannot be sentenced to death, nor can he be sentenced to life without parole. He could, however, get sentenced to a mandatory 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

The racially charged case — Mr. Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white — has made national headlines and pitted the accused’s and the victim’s families against each other.

The Anthony family has been vocal about the racially charged threats and harassment that they say they have received in the wake of their son’s arrest.

The Metcalf family has also been subject to harassment, having been targeted in April by a false gunfire report that was later identified by Frisco police as a “swatting” attack. “Swatting” — a reference to the Special Weapons and Tactics team that the police will often assemble in response to serious crimes — is when a false report is made with malicious intent to draw significant police presence to the home of an unsuspecting individual or family.

The deadly incident occurred when Metcalf, a student at Frisco Memorial High School, asked Mr. Anthony, a student at Centennial High School, to move from his seat under the Memorial High School tent.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, witnesses testified that Mr. Anthony then reached into his backpack and warned, “Touch me and see what happens.” As Metcalf went to grab Mr. Anthony to move him, Mr. Anthony allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest. Metcalf’s twin, Hunter, said he tried to save his bleeding brother before he succumbed to his injuries in his arms.

Mr. Anthony was released from jail two weeks later after his bond was reduced to $250,000 from $1 million. His homecoming was met with fierce criticism by victims’ rights advocates as well as conservative commentators, who claim the case would be handled very differently by law enforcement and the media if the races of the two teenagers were reversed.

At the same time, Mr. Anthony has also received some community support. A GiveSendGo fundraiser has raised more than $545,000 for Mr. Anthony and his family. The money, according to the family, has been used for their son’s legal expenses as well as to finance the family’s “safe relocation” amid “escalating threats to their safety and well-being” and to cover their “basic living costs, transportation, counseling, and other security measures.”

While critics have called on GiveSendGo — a faith-based platform that will host fundraisers for controversial cases — to drop the campaign, the company’s co-founder, Jacob Wells, shot them down, citing his commitment to “presumption of innocence.” Mr. Wells conceded, however, that “the facts don’t look good for Karmelo Anthony, according to what we’ve seen so far.”

Hosting Mr. Anthony’s fundraiser is a departure for GiveSendGo, which is better known for hosting fundraisers for white men and boys accused of racially or politically charged killings, such as Daniel Penny and Kyle Rittenhouse.

A GoFundMe for the family of Austin Metcalf raised more than $567,000, slightly outpacing the fundraiser for Metcalf’s accused killer. Metcalf’s grieving father wrote in the fundraiser that his son “was a bright young man with a great future ahead of him” whose “smile would light up the room.” Mr. Metcalf lamented that his son’s passion for football — which led him to be voted team MVP last season — was “unbelievable.”