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Karmelo Anthony, now 19, was convicted of murder and sentenced
to 35 years in prison after a Collin County jury in June
rejected his claims of self-defense during a confrontation with
Austin Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year.
Hearings on Anthony's requests for a retrial and a new judge
were set to begin Wednesday in suburban Dallas.
Anthony’s legal team has argued that a retrial is warranted in
part because state District Judge John Roach enforced overly
strict courtroom rules and gave incomplete instructions to the
jury that convicted the teenager at the end of the nearly
weeklong trial. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours
before returning the verdict.
The case attracted attention in part because of a flood of
social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms.
Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides,
however, told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race.
Anthony did not testify during the trial.
During the trial, students described a heated exchange over
Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that
belonged to Metcalf’s team. The teens went to different high
schools.
Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the
Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers.
Austin Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave,
witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.
Prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses
testified that Anthony was the aggressor.
Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me
and see what happens,” according to a police report.
Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony
then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.
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