The murder trial of Karmelo Anthony over the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf is now underway in Collin County, Texas.
Tensions have flared outside the courthouse over the racially charged case. Anthony, who is black, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of fellow high school student Metcalf, who is white, during a Frisco track meet in April 2025. Both students were 17 at the time.
Anthony admitted to stabbing Metcalf during a confrontation, but his attorneys have maintained he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors reject that argument, describing the incident as “an unjustified, unprovoked murder.”
The Trial Begins
After days of jury selection, a 12-person jury was seated Wednesday. What made headlines in the process is the makeup of the jury. Fox 4 Dallas reported the panel features a mixture of both men and women, but no black jurors were selected.
On Thursday, the trial got underway with opening statements and day one of witness testimony. As reported on Friday’s AM Update, jurors heard dramatic and emotional testimony about the moments surrounding the fatal stabbing of Metcalf.
In opening statements, prosecutors told jurors Anthony entered the Memorial High School team tent after it started to rain and refused repeated requests to leave. According to the state, Metcalf approached Anthony and told him to leave the tent before Anthony allegedly responded, “Touch me and see what happens.”
Defense attorneys painted a different picture, describing Anthony as an honor student, athlete, and oldest sibling who found himself caught in a rapidly escalating confrontation. The defense argued jurors will hear evidence supporting Anthony’s claim that he feared for his safety.
Jurors then viewed surveillance video from the track meet as prosecutors started laying out a timeline of the events – including Anthony running out of the tent after the stabbing.
Witness Testimony
Some of the most emotional testimony came from those administered emergency aid to Metcalf. Athletic trainer Tiffany Whitaker testified she rushed to help him after hearing screams from the stands. She performed CPR alongside another trainer until paramedics arrived, but she said that, after seeing the severity of Metcalf’s wound, she realized resuscitation efforts were a “false hope.”
Jurors also heard from Heritage High School football coach Vincent Hooper. The coach testified about his conversation with Anthony moments after the incident and recalled the defendant telling him, “He put his hands on me. I stabbed him.”
Hooper recalled warning Anthony that if the victim died, he had “changed the rest of his life.” Anthony allegedly responded, “He’s not going to die.”
Legal Analysis
Anthony has pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last roughly two weeks, and, if convicted, he faces a sentence ranging from five years to life in prison.
This case, in Megyn’s view, is likely going to hinge on how the defense presents its self-defense case. “There has been testimony that [Metcalf] grabbed [Anthony] or he may have pushed him… and, the next thing you know, he got stabbed to the heart. So, there was provocation… and the self-defense law doesn’t allow that,” she explained on Friday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show.
“First of all, you can’t provoke someone to hit you in the face and then react with deadly force and claim self-defense,” she noted. “Second of all, even if Austin Metcalf had pulled a knife, there would be a question about whether Karmelo Anthony could argue self-defense because he provoked him. You can’t provoke the person to attack you and then [claim] self-defense.”
But Anthony’s attorneys may have been setting up a slightly different theory in open arguments. “In that split second, [Anthony] has a decision to make: How and when to act,” defense attorney Mike Howard told jurors. “Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to defend yourself… He reacts in a split second of fear, chaos.”
Megyn believes that “split second” framing may be used to make the case that Anthony acted in “mistaken” or “imperfect” self-defense. “They may be getting ready to argue… it wasn’t perfect self-defense where he truly was under threat from Austin Metcalf; they may be getting ready to argue he believed he was about to get attacked by Austin Metcalf, mistakenly,” she speculated.
This type of legal theory is often employed, Megyn noted, in cases that involve the defense of others. “It’s like, [if] I shot the man in the red jacket… because I thought he was attacking that woman, [but] he was only kissing her. I was wrong. That is imperfect defense of others,” she explained. “This may be imperfect self-defense, where I thought he was going to attack me with a knife, but he didn’t.”
The issue with that type of claim is that it wouldn’t get Anthony off the hook entirely. “In Texas, if that’s your [defense], you can only downgrade [the charge] to involuntary manslaughter. You can’t get an acquittal,” Megyn explained. “So, I don’t know if that is what they are going for.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,333 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.