Karmelo Anthony Found Guilty of Murder in Fatal Stabbing of Austin Metcalf, 17

A Texas jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, after a high-profile trial that garnered national attention from observers who said the case had racial undertones. The trial kicked off last week at McKinney, just over a year after Metcalf was stabbed at a track meet at Frisco. The deadly altercation began after Metcalf, a student at Frisco Memorial High School, noticed that Anthony, a student of Centennial High School, had entered the Memorial High School tent. Metcalf, who was white, asked Anthony, who is black, to leave his team’s tent. Anthony fatally stabbed Metcalf, then fled the tent. Upon being detained, he declared, “I’m not alleged, I did it.” Much of the trial centered on whether it was Metcalf or Anthony who provoked the confrontation. Jurors deliberated for roughly three hours before they reached their verdict on Tuesday. The first-degree murder charge carries a penalty of between five and 99 years in prison. At the beginning of the trial, the lead prosecutor, Bill Wirskye, called the stabbing an “unprovoked” and “senseless” murder, saying that Metcalf “pushed and shoved” Anthony to try to get him out of the Memorial High School tent. Anhony did not testify in his own defense. However, the defense attorney, Mike Howard, argued that he acted in self-defense. Mr. Howard said that after Metcalf asked his client to leave, other Memorial High School students stood up, as if they were preparing to fight, and that Anthony had a “decision to make” and “defended himself with that knife.” Prosecutors showed jurors surveillance footage of the tent. The defense team argued that the footage, which was taken from a distance, did not provide insight into what happened in the tent before the stabbing. A forensic video analyst, Mark Porter, told a defense attorney, Toby Shook, that the video did not clearly show mouth or head movements. He also said that viewers would not be able to tell if there was an argument before the stabbing. A local TV station, NBC DFW, reported that the video showed “someone pushing another person, followed by a sudden burst of movement.”During cross-examination, a defense witness was repeatedly grilled as he made inconsistent statements about whether Antony was surrounded by Memorial High School students before the stabbing.Another defense witness said during cross-examination, “I think Karmelo was in the wrong” and provoked the confrontation. During closing arguments, Mr. Howard put the blame on Metcalf, saying, “Austin Metcalf had no legal right to use force to eject Karmelo Anthony from that tent.”“He had the right to ask him to leave, but he didn’t have any legal right to use force,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. Mr. Wirskye told jurors they should focus on Anthony’s mindset, not motive, saying, “He took a knife to a track meet. He, of course, felt empowered that he was going to come out on top of any encounter.”“If you think Austin Metcalf impaled himself on Karmelo Anthony’s knife, find him guilty of manslaughter,” Mr. Wirskye said, Fox News reported. Ahead of the trial, supporters of Anthony donated more than $600,000 to support his family. There was also controversy surrounding the jury selection as an advocacy organization, Next Generation Action Network, which has assisted Mr. Anthony’s family, said in a statement that it was “outraged” that there were no black jurors. Prosecutors argued that the case had nothing to do with race and said three potential black jurors were struck because they were teachers.

Karmelo Anthony Found Guilty of Murder in Fatal Stabbing of Austin Metcalf, 17

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