As jurors began deliberations late Tuesday morning in the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony, they were instructed that they could consider a lesser charge of manslaughter, KTVT-TV reported.
Anthony was 17 when authorities charged him with murdering high school star athlete and fellow 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in a stabbing at a Frisco, Texas, track meet in April 2025.
‘These guys are much bigger than you. Do you turn your back and walk away and take a chance with these teenage boys with their raging hormones?’
The murder charge is a first-degree felony, the station said, and if the jury decides to convict Anthony on the murder charge, he would face a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison.
According to Texas law, murder means a defendant “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual,” KTVT said — but manslaughter means the defendant “recklessly causes the death of an individual.”
A conviction for manslaughter — a second-degree felony — would mean a sentence of two to 20 years in prison, the station said.
Criminologist Alex del Carmen told KTVT in a separate story he believes Anthony’s case meets the threshold of manslaughter: “He didn’t get up with the intent to kill someone, but he knew the risks taking that knife to campus and pulling it out. Self-defense or not, rational choices needed to be made.”
In addition, Anthony’s defense objected to jury instructions that didn’t include criminally negligent homicide as a lesser charge available for consideration, KTVT reported.
Criminally negligent homicide is a state jail felony, the station said, adding that it’s the lowest level of felony offense in Texas law and would bring a sentence of six months to two years in prison, KTVT said.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye argued that criminally negligent homicide shouldn’t be an option for jury consideration since there is not “any evidence in the record that the defendant was unaware that his actions could lead to death,” the station said.
Collin County Judge John Roach overruled the defense’s objection, KTVT said.
RELATED: Karmelo Anthony murder trial: All prospective black jurors dismissed; 1 said he’d have ‘hard time putting a brother in jail’
In addition, the defense objected to jury instructions saying they can find Anthony’s self-defense argument not viable if they believe the defendant provoked the attack, the station said.
However, the prosecutor argued that a rational jury could find Anthony provoked the altercation, KTVT said, and therefore the instruction should remain. Judge Roach agreed with the prosecutor, overruling the defense’s objection, the station said.
The prosecutor waived the right to begin closing arguments Tuesday morning, so lead defense attorney Mike Howard was the first to address the jury, KTVT said.
Howard focused on his client’s self-defense argument, saying, “Austin Metcalf had no legal right to use force to eject Karmelo Anthony from that tent,” the station reported.
Howard added that “he had no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo” and that “Karmelo is in a public place,” KTVT noted.
Howard also asked the members of the jury to put themselves in Anthony’s shoes, noting that it was raining, the station said: “You want to get out of the rain. … Sure enough, one of the people at Memorial says, ‘Yeah, come on over.'”
KTVT said the defense attorney added that “Hunter Metcalf, or Austin, say, ‘Who are you? You need to leave.’ … These guys are much bigger than you. Do you turn your back and walk away and take a chance with these teenage boys with their raging hormones?”
“Austin and Hunter had the right to tell Melo to leave, but they did not have the right to use deadly force to make him leave,” Howard told the jury, according to the station. “Melo had an absolute right to [defend] himself against that.”
Howard also asked the jury, “How do you know in a split second of chaos when it’s too late? … Because if you wait too late to defend yourself, self defense is meaningless,” KTVT reported.
Anthony did not take the stand in his defense.
Following the defense’s closing argument, prosecutor Wirskye began speaking to the jury and rebutting Anthony’s self-defense claim, the station said.
“This is one of those rare cases where every important fact can be boiled down to one sentence: You do not get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said, according to KTVT.
“Why didn’t [Anthony] just not walk away?” Wirskye asked jurors, according to the station. “You see [he] had a choice to walk away and abandon the encounter.”
The prosecutor added that “you can meet deadly force with deadly force in Texas, but you can’t meet force — a shove — with deadly force — a stab. Size differential, it doesn’t work in this case; you don’t get to kill someone just because they are bigger than you,” KTVT reported.
Wirskye also told the jury that “self-defense has to be a reasonable belief — a reasonable belief means a belief that would [be] held by an ordinary and prudent person in the same situation as the defendant,” the station said.
“It has to be immediately necessary. Where was the immediate necessity to plunge a knife into an unarmed, young man?” Wirskye asked the jury, according to KTVT. “It’s not self-defense, folks — it’s murder. Murder, plain and simple.”
Notably, all prospective black jurors were dismissed during jury selection last week — and one reportedly said he’d have a “hard time putting a brother in jail.” Anthony is black; Metcalf was white. They attended different high schools and didn’t know each other.
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