Karmelo Anthony found guilty of murder in Texas track meet stabbing
Karmelo Anthony, the teenager killer behind a fatal Texas track meet stabbing has been found guilty of murder after just three hours of deliberation.
The 19 year old, who was 17 at the time of the attack, stabbed rival track star Austin Metcalf, 17, to death in what he described as an act of ‘self-defense’ during an April 2025 altercation.
During the April 2 incident, Anthony killed Metcalf after a run-in prompted a dispute over seating at the track and field event in Frisco.
According to witnesses, Metcalf had asked Anthony to move from his place under a seating tent, to which Anthony refused.
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Metcalf then allegedly went to shove him by the shoulders, only for Anthony to pull a knife from his backpack and stab Metcalf in the chest.
At the time of his arrest, he told the officer attending “I was protecting myself”.
Anthony's legal team backed the teenager's self-defense claim and argued that he had acted out of ‘fear’.
His lawyer Mike Howard told the court: "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.”
Several other witnesses meanwhile refuted these claims, with one arguing that Anthony kept his hands hidden in backpack until Metcalf shoved his shoulders to get him to leave their tent. They proceeded to say that Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf.
"That’s lethal force against non-lethal," the 17-year-old witness said, per New York Post.
Following the swift guilty verdict on Tuesday June 9, the jury immediately shifted into further deliberation for how the teenager will be sentenced.
Under Texas law, he could face up to 99 years in prison for the fatal stabbing alongside a hefty fine, however his defense attorneys have argued for a lesser charge of second-degree murder to be considered under the defence of ‘sudden passion’
During his closing remarks during sentencing, prosecutor Bill Wirskye told the jury that ‘sudden passion,’ aka ‘heat of passion,’ means passion directly caused by and rising out of provocation by the individual killed.
However they also argued that this did not apply as it was the defendant, Karmelo Anthony, who was the one provoking and that ‘sudden passion’ doesn't fit the bill here.
If the jury finds in favour of the lesser charge, Anthony will face between two and 20 years in prison alongside a fine.
Phoebe Tonks