Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony, the teenager indicted on first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf at a Frisco high school track meet. If a jury is seated, opening arguments are scheduled for Thursday in McKinney.
The trial puts a high-profile school-sports killing back in front of a court at a moment when the public case is tightening around the facts that will matter most to jurors. Metcalf was 17 when he died on April 2, 2025, after a stabbing at a Frisco Independent School District stadium during a track and field championship involving multiple schools.
Anthony was a then-17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, and police said Metcalf was an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School. The state has charged Anthony with first-degree murder, and the case now turns on whether a jury accepts the account he gave officers that he was protecting himself.
Before the trial starts, Judge John Roach has imposed a gag order and barred electronics, including cellphones, from the courtroom. No photography, video recording, audio recording or livestreaming will be allowed, a restriction that underscores how closely the case has been watched since the April stabbing and how tightly the court is trying to control it.
The courtroom limits come as Anthony remains on house arrest under bond conditions that were eased from $1 million to $250,000. He must be supervised by a parent or designated adult at all times, has been ordered to have no contact with Metcalf's family and needs prior court approval to leave the house.
Kala Hayes, Anthony's mother, said her family has been under attack as the trial approaches. She said, 'Whatever you think what happened... my three younger children, my husband and I didn't do anything to deserve to be threatened, harassed and lied about,' and added, 'I don't know why we are being targeted and discriminated against before a fair trial. Our son deserves the same rights under the law that everyone is afforded to.'
The facts of the case began with an altercation under a school team tent during the meet, after witnesses said Metcalf told Anthony to move. Investigators said Anthony allegedly reached into his bag, stabbed Metcalf once in the chest and fled. What comes next is no longer about the arrest report, but about whether 12 jurors can decide beyond the noise of a case that has already drawn heavy public attention and now moves into the first real test in court.
