A Collin County jury sentenced Karmelo Anthony, 19, to 35 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder of Austin Metcalf, a 17 year old Frisco Memorial High School student fatally stabbed during a Frisco ISD district track meet in April 2025. The case has drawn statewide attention from Grayson County south through the Dallas metro. The sentencing took place at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, with Judge John Roach presiding.
Verdict and sentence
A Collin County jury convicted Anthony of murder on Tuesday afternoon, rejecting both the lesser charge of manslaughter and the defense's claim of self defense. The same jury returned the 35 year sentence later in the day after deliberating for under three hours, according to the Associated Press. Under Texas law, Anthony will be eligible for parole after serving half of the sentence, or roughly 17 and a half years.
The incident at Frisco ISD stadium
Anthony, then 17 and a junior at Frisco Centennial High School, stabbed Metcalf, a 17 year old junior at Frisco Memorial High School, during a District 11-5A track meet at Kuykendall Stadium on April 2, 2025. According to trial testimony reported by ABC News, the two had words under a tent during a rain delay. Metcalf put his hands on Anthony to move him out of a Memorial team area. Anthony pulled a folding knife from his bag and stabbed Metcalf once in the chest. Metcalf died at the scene.
Dr. Elizabeth Ventura, the Collin County medical examiner, testified that the blade penetrated the right ventricle of Metcalf's heart. A pocket knife was later recovered on the bleachers.
Prosecution and defense arguments
Lead prosecutor Bill Wirskye argued that Anthony's response was disproportionate and intentional. "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent," Wirskye told the jury during sentencing, according to CNN. He also argued, "You don't respond to a shove with a stab, especially if you provoked the shove."
