Karmelo Anthony sentenced to 35 years in prison for fatal Texas track meet stabbing
Phoebe Tonks
Featured Image Credit: Family handout
Karmelo Anthony, the Texas teenager who was fatally stabbed another student during an altercation at a high school track meet, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after being found guilty of the crime.
Anthony, who was aged 17 at the time of the attack, claimed he had stabbed Austin Metcalf, 17 in an act of ‘self-defense’ who the incident took place back in April 2025.
After a short trial, in which a jury considered both murder and manslaughter charges, on Tuesday June 9, they reached a final verdict and formally found the teen guilty of murder.
According to authorities, Anthony stabbed Metcalf after asking him to move from a tent under which he was sitting, an eyewitness said in a probable cause affidavit.
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"Touch me and see what happens,” Anthony told Metcalf, the document claimed.
It was then that Anthony allegedly pulled a knife out of his bag after Metcalf went to physically move him, and he stabbed the rival track star 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.”
However, one person's testimony poked holes in Anthony's self-defense claims and argued that things may not have happened the way the teen had suggested.
According to their account, 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.
The same witness also refuted Anthony's claims that he only pulled out the knife because he was being ambushed by Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter, however they said they did not see anyone crowd around Anthony.
Another teenage witness, also shared a different take on the tragic events, as they alleged that Anthony 'tried to provoke us' when he was asked the leave the tent.
Before the trial began, it had already been propelled into the spotlight over initial claims that it was ‘race-neutal’. Yet not a single juror selected for the trial was Black sparking concerns about the fairness of the proceedings given that Anthony is Black and his victim Metcalf was White.
Ultimately after just five days of deliberation, the jury ruled that Anthony was guilty of murder and sentenced him to 35 years behind bars.
He will have to serve at least half the sentence before he is eligible for parole.