The Karmelo Anthony Verdict

 This article first appeared in New English Review.  It was written on June 10, the day after the conviction and sentencing.

Yesterday’s conviction of 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony and his sentencing to 35 years in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf have opened up old wounds in our troubled black-white relationships. Once again, the racial divide in our society has been exposed; two groups of people perceive the same set of facts differently. Different perceptions based on differences in life experience and environment. 

What we know is this: In April 2025, Anthony and Metcalf crossed paths at a school track meet in Frisco, Texas, not far from Dallas. Separate schools were in separate tents on a rainy day, and Anthony wound up in a tent assigned to Metcalf’s school. When he was repeatedly asked to leave, an argument between the two escalated, with Anthony acting in a belligerent manner, according to multiple witnesses' testimony.

It appears at one point that Metcalf gave Anthony some sort of shove, the force of which is open to question. At this point, Anthony pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the heart, killing him. Anthony, who was charged (and convicted) of first-degree murder, claimed he was acting in self-defense. Since Anthony was black and Metcalf white, the case quickly degenerated into a racial issue, which played out outside the courthouse during and immediately after the trial when the verdict was announced.

A few thoughts: We all know that kids in high school sometimes get into fights for no good reason. The important legal point is this: If a person pushes you or even hits you with his fist, that does not justify pulling a knife and responding with deadly force. Anthony’s claim of self- defense does not hold water since he could not reasonably show that he was in fear of his life.

At the same time, Anthony’s defenders are invoking the Treyvon Martin case. Martin, who was 17 at the time, was killed in an incident with George Zimmerman, a 28-year- old neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida in 2012. Here again, Martin was black while Zimmerman was white (and partially Hispanic). Zimmerman was charged with killing Martin during a physical struggle in which Zimmerman pulled out his gun and shot Martin to death. Zimmerman was acquitted when a jury decided that he truly was in danger of losing his life since Martin was repeatedly banging his head into the pavement. Nevertheless, many in the black community saw it as another example of “white justice”, hearkening back to a different era in the South when white juries would routinely acquit whites charged with murdering blacks while convicting blacks charged with murdering whites. (In my opinion, the acquittal of Zimmerman was the only reasonable outcome. Likewise, I believe that Anthony’s conviction was the proper verdict.)

In addition, it has been pointed out that the Anthony jury was all-white. It is my understanding that three prospective black jurors were excused from the jury pool because they indicated they would have a hard time convicting Anthony in this case. Three other blacks were successfully challenged by the prosecution, largely due to their advanced academic background. One should keep in mind that in Washington DC and certain other judicial districts, white defendants can expect to be judged by predominantly black juries. Of course, we all remember the OJ Simpson trial, which should have been tried in Santa Monica rather than downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the District Attorney, Gil Garcetti, was beseeched by leading black activists in Los Angeles to hold the trial downtown in the interest of a more diverse jury pool. Garcetti agreed, and a jury consisting of 9 blacks took only a couple of hours of deliberation to acquit Simpson of a double murder he most certainly committed. Previously, in my DEA career, I knew several prosecutors who welcomed black jurors, who had enough life experience and common sense to know when a defendant was guilty-even if he or she was black.

Finally, the videos coming from outside the Texas courthouse in the Anthony trial are appalling. Especially troubling was the image of a middle-aged black man, obviously old enough to know better, repeatedly calling a white man a “motherf---ing cracker” while challenging him to a fight. In addition, there were repeated scenes of whites and blacks arguing face to face while police tried to maintain order. Another sad reminder that we still have a way to go in achieving a final and lasting reconciliation.

I still hold to the belief that those people outside the Texas courthouse are not representative of the average black Americans, who are law-abiding and realize that it is precisely their own communities that suffer the most from crime and violence at the hands of people like Karmelo Anthony. In this case, Anthony’s victim was white. Most likely, his next victim would have been black.