MCKINNEY, Texas — A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a high school meet was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison Tuesday in a case that drew wide attention beyond the booming Dallas suburb where they were students. A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony’s claims of self-defence during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in stadium bleachers last year. Most people who testified were students who described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team. Anthony, now 19, did not testify at trial and only his mother took the stand during the sentencing phase, telling jurors her son was sorry. Notoriety about the case spread, in part, because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race. Jeff Metcalf, Austin’s father, had also denounced those who sought to stoke racial divisions after his son was killed. A year later, he said again in a Collin County courtroom that it was never about race while his voice swelled with anger over the death of his son. “You failed your parents, you failed yourself and you failed society,” said Metcalf, looking at Anthony after the teenager was sentenced. Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a lesser charge, manslaughter, but didn’t choose it. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye had asked for a lengthy prison term. “Mercy to the guilty,” he said, “is cruelty to the innocent.” Earlier Tuesday, during the trial’s closing arguments, the jury heard duelling narratives from Wirskye and defence attorney Mike Howard about what happened in April 2025. Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Austin Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation. Howard told jurors that Metcalf had “no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo.” “Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard said. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.” During the nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor. “This is not self-defence, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Wirskye said. Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report. Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest. “You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said. The teens, both from Frisco, didn’t know each other. “He’s very sorry for what he did. Please, have mercy on my son,” Anthony’s mother, Kala Hayes, pleaded to jurors shortly after the verdict. The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at the Collin County courthouse. As police officers watched Tuesday, dozens of people stood outside the courthouse in 90 degree Fahrenheit heat (32 C) to await the verdict. There were wails of grief from one woman -- “This isn’t real!” -- when the result became known. Frisco is one of Texas’ fastest-growing cities and is dotted with dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities. The parents of Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students who planned to go to college. Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to leave his team’s tent, scoffed before Anthony reached into a bag and pulled out a knife. One teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, “You don’t have anything in that backpack. It’s Frisco.” ------ Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report. Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press
