Karmelo Anthony appeals his murder conviction after being sentenced to 35 years for track meet stabbing

Karmelo Anthony appeals his murder conviction after being sentenced to 35 years for track meet stabbing Karmelo Anthony, now 19, was found guilty of murdering peer Austin Metcalf, 17, during a Dallas-area track meet last year - Bookmark Karmelo Anthony has appealed his murder conviction after being sentenced to 35 years for stabbing a fellow high schooler during a track meet last year. Anthony’s legal team had argued that it was self-defense when he pulled out a knife and stabbed Austin Metcalf, 17, at a Dallas-area track meet in April 2025. After a nearly weeklong trial, a Collin County jury found Anthony, now 19, guilty of murdering Metcalf in a fight that started when Anthony sat under a rival school’s tent in the track’s bleachers. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before reaching a unanimous verdict. They also decided to send him to prison for much of his adult life. Anthony has already taken the first step in challenging his conviction, filing a notice of appeal in the case on Wednesday, according to reports. The stabbing occurred during a rainy meet between several schools at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on April 2, 2025. Anthony, a student at Centennial High School, had refused to leave a tent belonging to Memorial High School athletes when Metcalf, a member of the track team, asked him to move, according to witnesses. During the fight, Anthony reached into his bag and told Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens,” witnesses said. Metcalf pushed Anthony, and the high schooler then pulled a knife from his bag and stabbed his victim in the chest, according to witnesses. The teens did not know each other. The stabbing gained national attention, partly because of social media posts amplifying the issue of race, as Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white. But race was not a factor in the murder, according to lawyers on both sides and Metcalf’s family. Metcalf’s father, Jeff, said after Anthony’s sentencing, “This was never about race or politics.” “We’re all humans. We all bleed the same color,” he said, per NBC News. Metcalf's mother, Meghan, also spoke after the sentencing, saying Anthony should “feel lucky.” “You may have just been given a sentence of 35 years,” she said. “You should feel lucky, because I’ve been sentenced to a life without my son.” Anthony’s mother, Kayla Hayes, spoke before her son was sentenced, asking the jury to “please have mercy on my son.” She said Anthony is “very sorry for what he did.”