A 12-person jury was seated Wednesday in Karmelo Anthony's Texas murder trial, and none of the jurors were Black. Opening statements are expected to begin Thursday in the case over the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf.
The panel was finalized after Judge John Roach Jr. met with attorneys and excused the first 150 jurors, according to FOX 4. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the 17-year-old fellow high school student, who was stabbed at a Frisco track meet in April 2025.
The jury makeup immediately sharpened attention on a case that has already drawn national publicity, social media debate and competing accounts of what happened that day. Supporters of both Anthony and Metcalf stood outside the Collin County Courthouse on June 1, 2026, as jury selection began in McKinney, Texas, underscoring how closely watched the trial has become.
Inside the courtroom, attorneys fought over three prospective jurors the prosecution struck. Anthony's team said the women were Black and educators, and that they were similarly situated to a White female juror whom prosecutors did not dismiss. Prosecutors said they removed the three women for reasons unrelated to race.
Anthony has maintained that he acted in self-defense, a claim that will now be tested before a jury that includes no Black jurors. The choice of panel does not resolve the case's deeper divide, but it sets up a first-degree murder trial in which the next major step comes Thursday when the lawyers begin laying out their cases.
