Jury convicts Karmelo Anthony in Frisco track meet stabbing, gets 35 years

A Collin County jury rejected Karmelo Anthony’s claim of self-defense and decided that the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a Frisco ISD track meet was murder, closing a case that turned on a few chaotic seconds at Kuykendall Stadium. After hearing the arguments over whether the confrontation was justified or deliberate, jurors sentenced the 19-year-old to 35 years in prison.

The verdict ended a closely watched trial that began with jury selection on June 1, 2026 and reached a guilty finding on June 9. Prosecutors said the April 2, 2025 killing was senseless and unjustified, while the defense maintained that Anthony, then 17, acted in self-defense during a split-second confrontation at the school event in Frisco, Texas. Anthony was charged in Collin County with first-degree murder.

Metcalf was 17 and a student-athlete at Frisco Memorial High School. Anthony was 17 at the time and attended Frisco Centennial High School. The stabbing at Kuykendall Stadium brought an ordinary track meet into the center of a criminal case that drew national attention and fed a wider debate over self-defense, race and school safety.

The punishment phase added its own emotional weight. Anthony’s mother, Kala Hayes, asked jurors, “Have mercy on my son,” as the jury considered the sentence. Supporters outside the courthouse chanted in Anthony’s favor during the trial, underscoring how deeply the case divided the community and pulled in attention far beyond Collin County.

The sentence leaves Frisco and other school districts confronting the same hard question the case put before jurors: how quickly a school-sponsored athletic event can turn dangerous when supervision, security and conflict management fail. A meet designed for student competition became the setting for a fatal encounter, and the jury’s decision places responsibility squarely on Anthony while renewing scrutiny of the adults and institutions tasked with keeping school events safe.