Karmelo Anthony is on trial for murder in Collin County. It has been more than a year since Anthony, then 17, stabbed Austin Metcalf at a Frisco ISD track meet, and the case that briefly consumed national attention is finally before a jury.

The basic outline of what happened on April 2, 2025, is largely undisputed. Anthony, attending a different school, walked into the Memorial High School team tent at Kuykendall Stadium during a district meet. Metcalf told him to leave. Anthony refused. He warned Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens,” then pulled a knife from his backpack and drove it into Metcalf’s chest. Metcalf died at the hospital. When police reached Anthony at the scene, he didn’t wait to be asked. “I’m not alleged, I did it,” he said. Now 19, Anthony has pleaded not guilty and says he was acting in self-defense.

Before the trial ever began, the case had already become something else entirely. A GiveSendGo fundraiser for Anthony’s defense raised more than $600,000. A family spokesperson called it a fight against “white supremacy.” 

The family used donated money to rent a home in a gated Frisco community and purchase new vehicles. At the same time, Anthony’s father told a court he was the sole breadwinner and could not afford the original $1 million bond. The bond was later reduced to $250,000. After a grand jury indicted Anthony in June 2025, he filed an indigent packet requesting a court-appointed attorney on the grounds that he was financially destitute.

Jury selection was its own ordeal. The pool started at 589. The prosecution struck every qualified black juror, arguing the strikes were race-neutral. The defense objected, but the judge allowed the strikes to stand.

The final jury, 12 members and six alternates, contains no black jurors. Several prospective jurors were dismissed after admitting they could not bring themselves to sentence someone Anthony’s age to life in prison. “I don’t think I can make a decision about somebody so young,” one told prosecutors. Another was more direct: “I don’t know if I feel right putting a brother in jail.”

Three days of testimony have now come in. Witness after witness has described the same sequence of events. Anthony entered the tent uninvited. He refused to leave when asked repeatedly. He grew more aggressive, not less. He kept one hand inside his backpack and told Metcalf not to touch him. When Metcalf finally pushed him on the shoulders to move him out, Anthony stabbed him. One witness, asked point-blank whether that was self-defense, put it simply:

“No. That’s lethal force against non-lethal force.”

Memorial head track coach Rob Starr testified that Anthony told him moments after the stabbing:

“He put his hands on me. I stabbed him.”

The surveillance video has also become a point of dispute in the case. Anthony’s supporters spent the past year insisting the footage proved he was attacked. It was played in open court during opening statements. The video analyst who enhanced it acknowledged under cross-examination that the footage does not clearly show what happened under the tent and that he cannot determine from it when or whether an argument even began.

For its part, the defense has tried to reframe Anthony as a small, frightened teenager making a split-second call. Lead attorney Mike Howard noted Anthony stands 5’8″ and weighs about 130 pounds, while Metcalf and his twin brother Hunter are both described as 6’1″ and roughly 215 pounds. Howard told the jury that Anthony acted out of fear after Metcalf made the first physical contact. 

Anthony’s possession of knives has surfaced previously in reporting surrounding the case. Frisco ISD barred him from participating in graduation ceremonies following an earlier disciplinary incident involving a knife, though he was permitted to receive his diploma.

Outside the courthouse, things have been ugly. Supporters of Anthony have screamed racial slurs at counter-protesters. One was recorded saying, “The only good cracker is a dead cracker.” A sniper threat against the Metcalf family was reported during the first week of proceedings. 

Judge John Roach has banned livestreaming, recording, and cellphones inside the courtroom, with protests confined to designated areas.

Anthony faces 5 to 99 years or life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. Testimony continues into next week.

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