The Texas teenager accused of fatally stabbing a 17-year-old student athlete during a track meet in Frisco will stand trial in June 2026, according to court records.

Karmelo Anthony, now 18 years old, was arrested on April 2 after the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf during a track meet. Both boys were 17 at the time. The accused killer claims that he acted in self-defense and has pleaded not guilty. 

“What we can share is that Mr. Karmelo Anthony, his family, his legal team, and his broader support team are looking forward to the opportunity to present the facts in a court of law,” the president of Next Generation Action Network, Dominique Alexander, who is spokesman for the Anthony family, told Fox News last week. 

The trial date was set a month after Mr. Anthony was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder. The indictment was issued after the Collin County district attorney, Greg Willis, spent weeks presenting evidence to a grand jury. 

“We know this case has struck a deep nerve — here in Collin County and beyond. That’s understandable. When something like this happens at a school event, it shakes people to the core,” Mr. Willis stated in a news release. “But the justice system works best when it moves with steadiness and with principle. That’s what we’re committed to. And that’s exactly what this case deserves.”

Mr. Willis also paid tribute to the Metcalf family, urging the community to “keep them in your thoughts — and if you’re willing, in your prayers as well.” The slain teenager’s father, Jeff Metcalf, responded to the indictment by noting that he was “glad this process is moving forward, and I look ahead to the trial now.” 

Mr. Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, reiterated his client’s claims of self-defense, saying in a video statement that “Karmelo and his family are confident in the justice system and the people of Collin County to be fair and impartial. Of course, Karmelo looks forward to his day in court.”

Mr. Howard insisted that “it’s only in a trial that the full story can be heard, and that impartial justice can be done. We expect that when the full story is heard, the prosecution will not be able to rule out the reasonable doubt that Karmelo Anthony may have acted in self-defense.”

Mr. Anthony has been under house arrest since he was released on reduced bond in April. 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 deadly incident occurred when Metcalf, a student at Frisco Memorial High School, asked Mr. Anthony, a student of 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.

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. Mr. Alexander, who is assisting the Anthony family, said the family has been targeted by false food deliveries and intimidation, including, they said, receiving Metcalf’s obituary in the mail.

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.

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.

A GoFundMe for the family of Austin Metcalf raised more than $566,000, 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.”