Karmelo Anthony sentenced to 35 years for track meet murder

2 min readUpdated June 13, 2026

A Texas jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder and sentenced him to 35 years in prison Tuesday for the fatal stabbing of fellow high school student Austin Metcalf at a Dallas-area track meet in April 2025, according to The Associated Press. Anthony, now 19, was 17 at the time of the killing and was tried as an adult under Texas law.

The guilty verdict came back within three hours of the jury beginning deliberations, NBC News reported. Manslaughter, which under Texas law carries a maximum 20-year sentence, was available to the jury as a lesser alternative, but jurors passed over it. A separate penalty-phase argument by the defense — that Anthony had killed under the influence of "sudden passion" and should face no more than two to 20 years — was also turned down by the jury.

Prosecutors maintained that Anthony provoked the confrontation and that a shove did not justify a lethal response. The defense argued Anthony reacted out of fear after being physically confronted by Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter, who were both described as substantially larger than Anthony.

Anthony chose not to take the stand at any point in the proceedings. During the penalty phase, his mother, Kala Hayes, was called as the only witness, imploring jurors for leniency and telling them her son carried deep regret, according to ABC News.

After the sentence was read, Metcalf's parents and twin brother delivered victim impact statements addressing Anthony directly. Addressing Anthony directly, Meghan Metcalf said he ought to count himself lucky: her own sentence, she told him, was a lifetime without her child, according to NBC News.

Texas teen Karmelo Anthony sentenced to 35 years for murder in track meet stabbing

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