Yesterday, Karmelo Anthony was convicted of murder and then the judge sent the jury away to decide on the sentence. I'm used to seeing a separate sentencing hearing, usually a month or so later, where the judge decides the sentence. But apparently that is now how it's done in Texas. In Texas, the judge creates instructions about guidelines and the jury decides.
After about 2 1/2 hours of deliberations the jury came back with 35 years. That means Anthony won't be eligible for parole until somewhere around Christmas of 2043. He'd be about 36 years old. And of course there's no guarantee he gets out then. He could wind up serving more of his sentence.
But that still wasn't the end of the process. After the formal sentencing Anthony remained in the room for victim impact statements from members of Austin Metcalf's family and his teammates. Some of these were pretty brutal.
First up was Austin's aunt.
She said her sister did an amazing job raising Austin and that April 2, the day he was killed, is a day she'll never forget. She said she could still hear the sound of her sister's scream on the other side of the phone and that it was something she'll never forget...
The woman said she had the responsibility of telling Austin's grandmother that her firstborn grandson was gone.
Karmelo's head remains down...
"One question will always be with me. Why? Why could you not have just left?" she asked.
That's a very good question and a very obvious one in this case. I haven't seen a single article about this trial that tried to answer it. What motivated this kid to choose stabbing someone over just getting up and leaving. I don't think even Ta-Nehisi Coates can explain this one. Maybe he'll try.
Austin Metcalf's mother Meghan was next up.
She said from the moment her sons were born, they were her world. She described them as two energetic, beautiful souls, but now her house is quiet, and only crying is heard at night...
"There was a part of him you can never take from me, the strength I still get from him every day, because I know what it was like to be loved by him," she said. "My son was murdered. He didn't just die. He was taken from us. Just as he was starting to live."
"You may have just been given a sentence of 35 years, you should feel lucky because I've been sentenced to a life without my son," Meghan said to her son's killer.
If he serves the whole sentence, that's about half the time he took from Austin Metcalf. Next up was Austin's father Jeff Metcalf who attacked Anthony for trying to make this trial about race. He also shamed him for refusing to look him in the eye. I really wish we had video of this one.
Austin Metcalf's dad, Jeff, just unloaded on Karmelo Anthony.
— MaryAnn Martinez (@MaryAnnreports) June 10, 2026
"We were robbed, don't look down, of all of these things."
"I said from day one, this was never about race, please don't politicize it. But what did you choose to do, both. It's about right and wrong. We're all humans.…
"We were robbed, don't look down, of all of these things."
"I said from day one, this was never about race, please don't politicize it. But what did you choose to do, both. It's about right and wrong. We're all humans. We all bleed the same color.
"You're free to make choices all you want, but you're not free from those consequences. You will face those consequences starting today."
"People think that grief is sadness but its not. IT"S RAGE!!! (slamming his hands on the table.) Pure unfiltered rage,' he shouts.
"You failed your parents, your failed yourself and you failed society, You don't belong in this community," he says to Karmelo.
"You're going to prison, You can't even look me in the eyes right now but you can stab my fu**ing son in the heart."
To be fair here, it's not clear how much of a choice Karmelo Anthony had in the stupid decisions of his parents, choosing a race grifter like Dominique Alexander and the Next Generation Action Network as a spokesman. Anthony may have failed his parents but his parents failed him too.
In any case, while Jeff Metcalf was saying this was not ever about race, this was happening outside.
FRISCO: “This was a legal lynching”
— E (@ElijahSchaffer) June 10, 2026
“This is a slaughterhouse”
Representative for Karmelo Anthony claims he got 35 years in prison for the murder of Austin Metcalf because he is black
Close supporters of the family from inside the court surrounded her in tears and agreed pic.twitter.com/NkdgYgj67j
Austin's twin brother Hunter was up next. He asked Anthony to look at him and this time Anthony did look up.
Hunter started by asking Karmelo Anthony to look up, to be respectful and to look him in the eye. Karmelo, who had been looking down during victim impact statements, looked up.
Hunter said that for the last year, he'd been trying to learn to forgive and had been turning to God to understand why his brother had to go.
"You took a son, a brother, a friend, and my best friend, from this world," Hunter said, getting emotional. "You took someone from me who was supposed to be an uncle, godfather to my kids. Now I want everything taken from you."
Hunter told Karmelo he wanted him to think about the pain he causes the Metcalf family every day. Hunter told Karmelo that he let the devil take him over in that moment and that he would eventually be forgotten, but that his brother's legacy would never be forgotten.
He may not have looked up for long because MaryAnn Martinez didn't see it.
Hunter Metcalf asked Karmelo Anthony to look at him during this victim impact statement.
— MaryAnn Martinez (@MaryAnnreports) June 10, 2026
“If you could just look me in the eye while I speak, I would really respect that,” Hunter said.
Karmelo looked down the entire time Austin spoke.
After Hunter spoke, Karmelo Anthony was removed from the courtroom for the last time. Outside the courtroom, there was a brief statement to the media. The Metcalf family was present but didn't speak.
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