Wave Staff and Wire Reports
DALLAS, Texas – Attorneys for a Black teenager convicted of fatally stabbing a white teen at a high school track meet in 2025 filed an appeal June 10, one day after an all-white jury sentenced him to 35 years in prison in connection with the killing, media reports show.
Lawyers also filed a document with the court declaring financial destitution and requesting a court-appointed lawyer for the convicted teen, according to the Dallas Morning News.
After hearing five days of testimony, a Collin County jury deliberated three hours June 9 before convicting Karmelo Anthony, 19, of stabbing Austin Metcalf, 17, during a physical confrontation at a track meet last April in nearby Frisco, Texas.
Jurors rejected claims from defense attorneys that Anthony, then 17, stabbed Metcalf in self-defense.
The verdict sparked dueling protests outside the courthouse in a case that drew national scrutiny over issues of race, justice, violence and self-defense. Video posted on social media showed opposing crowds chanting and engaging in physical altercations.
Black protesters angrily claimed that Anthony was railroaded by an all-white jury while Metcalf supporters said the accused teenager got what he deserved.
The sentencing even drew comments from Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B, who called the verdict “disgusting” on social media.
“Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING,” she posted on X. “This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!”
The Bronx rapper later posted a second message, reading: “They both deserve better,” pairing images of Anthony alongside 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, the South Carolina teen who was fatally shot in the back by a store owner who mistakenly thought the boy had stolen four bottles of water. The store owner, Chikei Rick Chow, 61, was acquitted of the teenager’s murder last week.
In the Texas case, Anthony did not testify, but his mother pleaded for her son’s life during the sentencing phase of the trial.
“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.
According to testimony from eyewitnesses, Anthony and Metcalf got into a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy day to leave a stadium bleacher tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team.
Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation. Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and said: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.
Several students testified that Metcalf scoffed when Anthony reached into the bag.
“You don’t have anything in that backpack,” one teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony. Metcalf then pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest.
Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a lesser charge, manslaughter, but chose instead to convict the boy of first-degree murder.
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 June 9, dozens of people stood outside the courthouse in 90-degree Fahrenheit heat to await the verdict.
When the guilty verdict was announced, audible gasps and wails of grief could be heard from some spectators. One woman reportedly screamed: “This isn’t real!”
