Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Karmelo Anthony Defense Witness Fumbles After Damning Prosecution Testimony

Wikimedia Commons/Public/Joe Gratz

Karmelo Anthony’s claims that he stabbed a Texas teen in self-defense may be falling apart after a witness called by his own lawyers changed their tune.

Collin County prosecutors rested their case against the 19-year-old on Saturday after calling up 21 witnesses to testify about 17-year-old Austin Metcalf’s fatal stabbing at an April 2025 high school track meet, according to multiple reports covering the untelevised trial. Anthony was the aggressor throughout the deadly altercation, entering a school sports team’s tent where Metcalf was, cursing and taunting those who asked him to leave and killing Metcalf with a knife after Metcalf pushed him, witnesses reportedly testified.

More testimony from first witness and cross examination
Defense:What did you see when you first noticed something was wrong?
Witness:I saw the arms go out I see arms and make contact with Karmelo

Defense:Can you see how much contact is being made with Melo?
Witness:no sir…

— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) June 8, 2026

Anthony’s defense began calling up witnesses on Monday, including one who admitted to inconsistencies in his testimony upon questioning from a prosecutor, CBS News reported. The witness reportedly testified that he initially told police Anthony was surrounded by a mob when the stabbing happened and later realized it was after the stabbing based on surveillance video.

“You know you’re wrong?” the prosecutor reportedly asked.”Yes, sir,” the witness replied.

Defense attorneys have argued Anthony was visiting a friend in the tent and acted in self-defense by pulling his knife out of the backpack and killing Metcalf, according to Courthouse News.

Anthony told people in the tent, “I’m not leaving, fuck you all,” one 16-year-old Memorial High School student reportedly testified, according to Courthouse News. Anthony called the crowd “a bunch of pussies” who were “not going to do nothing about it” and began reaching for his backpack threateningly, the witness reportedly said.

“Karmelo put his hand in the bag and said five times, ‘touch me and see what happens,'” the witness reportedly told jurors. “Austin said he was not going to touch the guy; he was calm.” No one in the tent knew who Anthony was, another teenage student reportedly testified.

Anthony was asked to leave the tent 15 times, one witness testified, according to the New York Post.

The case has inflamed racial tensions due to Anthony being black and Metcalf being white. One prospective juror previously brought up race and told the court “I don’t know if I feel right putting a brother in jail” before being dismissed, CBS News reported. Attorneys asked prospective jurors questions about how Anthony’s age and skin color could make them biased in finding a verdict.

Several jurors in the trial are minorities, though none are black, NBC News reported.