<\/p>\n
Lorenzo Henry of McKinney prays for both families, Anthony and Metcalf outside Collin County Courthouse during Karmelo Anthony\u2019s trial, Monday, June 8, 2026, in McKinney. Anthony is charged in the stabbing death of student-athlete Austin Metcalf at a Frisco ISD track meet last year.<\/p>\n
Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Signs are seen outside Collin County Courthouse, Monday, June 8, 2026, before Karmelo Anthony\u2019s trial days six starts, in McKinney.<\/p>\n
Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The exterior of the Collin County Courthouse as Karmelo Anthony\u2019s murder trial is underway in McKinney, TX, Saturday, June 6, 2026. Anthony is accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf last April at a Frisco track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The exterior of the Collin County Courthouse as Karmelo Anthony\u2019s murder trial is underway in McKinney, TX, Saturday, June 6, 2026. Anthony is accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf last April at a Frisco track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The exterior of the Collin County Courthouse as Karmelo Anthony\u2019s murder trial is underway in McKinney, TX, Saturday, June 6, 2026. Anthony is accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf last April at a Frisco track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Supporters of Karmelo Anthony chant outside of the Collin County Courthouse as Anthony\u2019s murder trial is underway in McKinney, TX, Saturday, June 6, 2026. Anthony is accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf last April at a Frisco track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Karmelo Anthony\u2019s extended family member Michael Wilson, front, of Fort Worth and other supporters of Anthony chant outside of the Collin County Courthouse as Anthony\u2019s murder trial is underway in McKinney, TX, Saturday, June 6, 2026. Anthony is accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf last April at a Frisco track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Karmelo Anthony\u2019s murder trial<\/a> resumed Monday as the defense works to establish its self-defense claim. Trial testimony shifted to the defense phase Saturday after prosecutors rested their case. Jurors heard medical evidence that Austin Metcalf\u2019s stab wound pierced his heart and was unsurvivable. \u00a0<\/p>\n The defense then began calling witnesses<\/a>, including Anthony\u2019s coach, who said athletes commonly shared tents during track meets. Later, a Frisco Memorial student offered a different account of the confrontation, telling jurors Metcalf grabbed Anthony before he was wounded, while also acknowledging under cross-examination that Anthony helped provoke the encounter.<\/p>\n The trial is expected to last through the end of the week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Journalists from The Dallas Morning News will provide live updates throughout the day from the Collin County courthouse in McKinney.<\/p>\n From Saturday:<\/strong>\u00a0Prosecution rests in Karmelo Anthony trial shaped by differing student accounts of stabbing<\/a><\/p>\n Following the last student\u2019s testimony, District Judge John Roach Jr. excused the jury for an early lunch break, stating attorneys would use the time to determine the \u201cbest way to proceed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Court was expected to resume at 12:30 p.m. As of 1:20 p.m., it remained closed to reporters and the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n About 1:10 p.m., a sheriff\u2019s deputy escorted Anthony\u2019s parents, who walked down the second-floor hallway holding hands, into the courtroom before closing the security line.<\/p>\n In their brief questioning of a Frisco police officer who responded to the scene at Kuykendall Stadium, defense attorneys appeared to suggest that a student under Frisco Memorial’s tent may have recorded part of the altercation between Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony. But the line of questioning ended without establishing whether any such video exists.<\/p>\n Officer Beau Riley testified that he was serving a search warrant on the morning of April 2, 2025, when he was called to the stadium over reports of a stabbing. Riley said his primary responsibility at the scene was interviewing witnesses.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Among those witnesses was Edwin Parra<\/a>, a recent Frisco Memorial graduate whose testimony Saturday led to the most contentious cross-examination by the defense yet.<\/p>\n Defense attorneys sought to portray Parra as being much closer to Anthony than he had indicated during direct examination and questioned why he never disclosed knowing Anthony as tensions escalated before the stabbing.<\/p>\n During his testimony, Parra was also asked about allegations that he appeared to be filming part of the confrontation on his phone. Parra told jurors he was “just fooling around” and never actually hit record.<\/p>\n The defense pressed him on what the purpose of pretending was, to which Parra repeatedly replied: \u201cI was just being dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n Defense attorney Toby Shook<\/a> on Monday questioned Riley about his review of Parra’s phone. Riley testified that he examined the device’s camera roll, text messages, call history and Snapchat account at the scene as part of what he described as “an exercise in due diligence.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Shook emphasized that Riley was not a forensic phone examiner. Riley agreed each time.<\/p>\n \u201cYou said you were thorough?\u201d Wirksye asked during a brief cross.<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d the officer affirmed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all, pass the witness,\u201d Wirskye said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: Jurors see knife at center of\u00a0Karmelo Anthony murder trial<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n A 17-year-old Frisco High School student who caught a glimpse of the altercation from the field testified that he saw several people standing around Metcalf and Anthony when the altercation occurred.<\/p>\n “All of a sudden I saw someone get pushed or punched,” he told lead defense attorney Mike Howard <\/a>on the stand, adding that he saw the student who was struck make a swinging motion with his arm.<\/p>\n “People started scattering and saying, ‘Oh my God, he just stabbed him,’ and we just ran,\u201d the student said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Roach forbade media outlets from naming minors called as witnesses.<\/p>\n Questioned by the defense, the teenager said he was not friends with Anthony and did not know the context of what led to the confrontation.<\/p>\n During cross-examination, prosecutor Bill Wirskye<\/a> again challenged the recollection: “I’m not trying to embarrass you, but a lot of what you just said was guessing.”<\/p>\n “Yes, sir,” the student agreed.<\/p>\n Wirskye cited video evidence he showed the student earlier this year, footage he said showed a different version of events than what the student previously said in his police statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt kind of shook you up that things weren\u2019t quite as you remembered them,\u201d Wirskye prompted.<\/p>\n Related: At Karmelo Anthony trial, race takes center stage outside the courtroom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The prosecution on Monday attempted to undercut the testimony of a 17-year-old Centennial High School student who told the police directly after the stabbing<\/a> that Anthony had been surrounded in the moments before he pulled the knife.<\/p>\n During direct examination by lead defense attorney Mike Howard<\/a>, the student told jurors he was warming up on the field when he noticed a shift in demeanor among athletes gathered under Frisco Memorial\u2019s tent.<\/p>\n He testified that he saw what appeared to be a shove, describing a boy \u2014 later identified as Metcalf \u2014 extending both arms and making contact with Anthony. It concerned him enough, he said, that the student recalled asking a teammate whether a fight was about to break out.<\/p>\n The student didn\u2019t witness the stabbing itself, but said he later saw Anthony crying on the track while being comforted by a coach. According to the student, Anthony appeared “very, very distraught.\u201d<\/p>\n “He put his hands on me, I told him not to,\u201d the student recalled Anthony saying. \u201cI didn’t know what else to do.”<\/p>\n Prosecutors challenged the narrative during cross-examination, using surveillance video<\/a> to demonstrate that parts of his recollection didn\u2019t match the timeline captured on camera.<\/p>\n Jurors were then shown video footage timestamped at approximately 10:00:50 a.m. Prosecutors argued the recording showed the student and his teammates warming up for their relay at the very moment the shove and stabbing occurred, instantaneously, beneath the tent.<\/p>\n “Boom, the shove and the stab just happened,” Bill Wirskye<\/a> said while reviewing the footage frame by frame.<\/p>\n Wirskye pointed out that the student and his teammates did not appear to turn toward the tent until seconds later, suggesting he could not have directly observed the shove he described.<\/p>\n “You thought it was before the stabbing,” Wirskye said, “and you realized that the people you thought were crowding a teammate of yours were doing that after the stabbing.”<\/p>\n The student conceded, and Wirskye asked whether the experience had taught him something about eyewitness memory.<\/p>\n “Have you learned a few extra things about how your brain can play tricks on you?” the prosecutor asked.<\/p>\n “Yes, sir,” the student responded.<\/p>\n “The video is the video. The timeline is the timeline,” Wirskye told him.<\/p>\n Related: No, Karmelo Anthony will not get the death penalty for the Frisco stabbing. Here\u2019s why<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The trial against\u00a0Karmelo Anthony has pitted two veteran attorneys and longtime friends on opposite sides of the courtroom.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0Toby Shook and Bill Wirskye have prosecuted some of the state’s most notorious criminals. They worked on a few of the cases together, and between them, helped send roughly two dozen murderers to Texas\u2019 death row. For a while, they were partners in the same law firm, their last names on the front door of the offices of Shook,\u00a0Gunter & Wirskye in downtown Dallas.<\/p>\n Now, Wirskye is working to convince a jury that\u00a0Anthony murdered fellow student-athlete Austin Metcalf. Shook is part of the team trying to persuade the panel that Anthony stabbed Metcalf in self-defense.\u00a0The two have barely acknowledged each other during the first few days of testimony and evidence in the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: They worked together for years. Now these lawyers are on opposite sides for 1st time in Karmelo Anthony trial<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n State District Judge John Roach. Jr.<\/a>\u00a0is overseeing one of the most high-profile trials of his career, months before he plans to retire at the end of the year.<\/p>\n Roach, who has been on the bench since 2007, has a reputation for being straightforward and fair, say those who know him. The judge previously\u00a0served in the Marine Corps and two terms on the Plano City Council. He felt called to serve as a judge after reading the book,\u00a0The Purpose Driven Life, with his wife, Laura Roach.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> A look into the veteran judge of the Karmelo Anthony trial<\/a><\/p>\n Roach spends his free time with his three sons, playing tennis or shooting guns, his wife said. A decade ago, he competed in an Iron Man triathlon, and in 2023 the couple climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regulars to Roach’s courtroom likely notice one absence during this trial: the judge’s\u00a0brown Boykin Spaniel named Justice. The medical service dog usually sits at the judge’s feet monitoring his blood pressure, but is sitting this trial out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014\u00a0 Sana Muneer and Lola Jahant<\/p>\n Saturday marked a turning point in Karmelo Anthony\u2019s murder trial as prosecutors rested their case after jurors heard from the medical examiner who performed Austin Metcalf\u2019s autopsy. Dr. Elizabeth Ventura testified that Metcalf\u2019s stab wound entered his heart and was unsurvivable, though she said the autopsy could not determine how much force Anthony used.<\/p>\n The defense then began its case by calling Anthony\u2019s football and track coach, Adam Linwood, who testified he was unaware of any rule barring athletes from sitting under another school\u2019s tent. Linwood said it was common at track meets for athletes to take shelter with competitors, especially during weather delays.<\/p>\n The day\u2019s biggest defense testimony came from a 17-year-old Frisco Memorial student who gave jurors a different account from several earlier witnesses. He testified that Edwin Parra called Anthony over to the Memorial tent, that Hunter Metcalf spoke to Anthony first, and that Austin Metcalf grabbed Anthony before he was wounded. But under cross-examination, the student also said Anthony provoked the confrontation.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong>\u00a0Jurors shown knife allegedly used in stabbing at Karmelo Anthony trial<\/a><\/p>\n Supporters of Karmelo Anthony chant outside of the Collin County Courthouse as Anthony\u2019s murder trial is underway in McKinney, TX, Saturday, June 6, 2026. Anthony is accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf last April at a Frisco track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n The case against Anthony could boil down to one key question: Did the teen act in self-defense that rainy morning in April 2025?<\/p>\n The answer may determine whether he walks free or spends up to the rest of his life in prison.<\/p>\n In Texas, a person is legally justified to use deadly force under certain conditions, according to the state’s penal code.<\/p>\n The person must \u201creasonably\u201d believe the force is \u201cimmediately necessary\u201d to prevent death or serious bodily injury. And the force must be \u201cproportionate\u201d to the threat. Also, a person claiming self-defense can\u2019t be the aggressor or engaged in criminal activity at the time, according to the code.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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