Carmelo Anthony (left) is convicted of killing Austin Metcalf in Texas.
The murder of Texas teenager Austin Metcalf became one of the most closely watched cases in the United States last year, and on Tuesday, a jury convicted Carmelo Anthony of stabbing Metcalf at a sports meet.
The case made national headlines as Carmelo Anthony is black. Carmelo Anthony received a lot of support because of his race, and his supporters portrayed Austin Metcalf as a bully. They raised money for Carmelo, and as the ruling was handed down, his supporters created chaos, causing an uproar outside the court.The stabbing incident occurred on April 2, 2025, when Anthony and Metcalfe met for the first time at Fresico Stadium. They were from rival schools and a fight broke out over seating.
Carmelo Anthony pulled out a knife and stabbed Austin Metcalfe, who died in the arms of his twin brother, who was sitting next to him.
Carmelo Anthony’s lawyer argued that the stabbing was in self-defense and that Metcalf used force to remove Carmelo Anthony from where he was sitting. “Austin Metcalf did not have the legal right to use force to get Carmelo Anthony out of that tent,” Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, said during closing arguments in the Collin County trial — as Anthony looked on intently from the defense table.
“He had the right to ask him to leave, but he had no legal right to use force,” Howard said of Metcalf, according to a Daily Mail report. Witnesses testified that several members of Frisco Memorial High School, including Metcalf, asked Anthony, then a 17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, to leave their team tent about 15 times. Eventually, Metcalf pushed Anthony, who responded by plunging a semi-serrated folding knife once into Metcalf’s chest, the students testified.
Howard said Anthony “has the absolute right to defend himself.”
