A Texas teenager accused of fatally stabbing a 17-year-old at a high school track meet will not face the death penalty convicted, the Collin County District Attorney announced Wednesday.
Prosecutors charged Karmelo Anthony, 17, with first-degree murder in the April 2 stabbing of Austin Metcalf. The incident happened at the Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco during a multi-school track and field championship.
District Attorney Greg Willis said that his office will not seek the death penalty in the case, FOX News Digital reports.
“The Supreme Court has said not only can you not seek the death penalty against someone who committed a crime when they’re 17, you can’t even get them life without parole,” Willis said, in reference to the 2005 Roper v. Simmons case. “That would not be something we could do even if we wanted to.”
According to the Justia U.S. Supreme Court Justice Center, “sentencing a defendant to death for a crime committed when they were under 18 is unconstitutional per se under the Eighth Amendment.”
Police have not yet handed over the case to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, as the investigation remains ongoing.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by CrimeOnline indicated that witnesses told police the confrontation started when Metcalf asked Anthony to leave a tent set up for Metcalf’s track team.
The affidavit stated that the two had never met before the incident.
Police said Metcalf got into an altercation with Anthony, who sat under a tent designated for Memorial High School students.
Metcalf was a junior football star at Memorial, while Anthony attended Frisco’s Centennial High School. The affidavit stated that after Anthony reached into his bag upon being told he was sitting in the wrong area.
A witness reported hearing Anthony say, “Touch me and see what happens.”
The witness told police that Metcalf then touched Anthony, who then encouraged Metcalf to punch him. Metcalf reportedly tried to make him move. That’s when Anthony pulled a black knife from his bag and stabbed Metcalf in the chest before fleeing, the witness said.
Anthony later asked police if the incident constituted self-defense and asked if Metcalf was going to be OK.
“I know that my client said it was self-defense. I don’t have any reason to disbelieve that, but I need to develop facts, talk to people and figure out what’s going on before I make any statements about what I think happened,” Anthony’s defense lawyer, Deric Walpole, told NBC 5. “I don’t have any reason to think it wasn’t self-defense at this time.”
Meanwhile, ABC 8 reports that Anthony’s family has faced harassment and threats since the incident. Dominique Alexander, founder of the Next Generation Action Network, told the outlet that someone leaked the family’s address online, prompting a wave of graphic and racist threats
Anthony remains behind bars in the Collin County Jail. His next court appeared is scheduled for Monday 10:00 a.m. His lawyers plan to argue for a lowered bond.
Check back for updates.
[Feature Photo: Austin Metcalf/Memorial High School]
