Karmelo Anthony murder trial: heart stab wound 'not survivable', jury hears
Day 3 of the Karmelo Anthony trial in Collin County featured graphic autopsy testimony and emotional witnesses. The prosecution rested after calling 21 witnesses.
Autopsy evidence and tearful witnesses dominate day three of Anthony trial
The murder trial of Karmelo Anthony ran for nearly nine hours on Saturday at the Collin County Courthouse, with roughly a dozen witnesses taking the stand — several of them breaking down in tears, cbsnews.com reports. Anthony, 18, is charged with fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco ISD track meet in April 2025.
The prosecution rested its case after calling 21 witnesses in total. The defence then began presenting its own.
The most striking testimony of the day came from Collin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Ventura. Before she took the stand, the judge warned those present that the evidence would be graphic, prompting Metcalf's family to leave the courtroom. Ventura testified that Metcalf had been stabbed through the heart, describing the wound as gaping, two-and-a-half inches in length, and not survivable. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye showed four autopsy photographs to the jury; several jurors appeared visibly shaken, covering their mouths.
Eddie Parra, 18, a teammate of Metcalf at Memorial High School, also testified for the prosecution. He told the court he had noticed Anthony in his team's tent before the stabbing. "Karmelo was there. I dabbed him up," Parra said. When Wirskye asked whether he found it strange that Anthony was in the tent, Parra replied: "Yes, because teams are supposed to be at their own tent."
Parra broke down on the stand when recounting the moment he saw blood and a wound on Metcalf's chest and heard him screaming for help. The prosecutor asked Parra whether the case was about race or self-defence. Parra said no, and when asked who was wrong that day, he answered: "Karmelo."
A second witness — not identified by CBS News Texas because he is a minor — also rejected the self-defence narrative. "That's lethal force against non-lethal force," the witness said.
The defence called Adam Linwood, track coach at Centennial High School, who said Anthony's teammates had nominated him for a team captaincy. Linwood also told the court it was common for athletes to visit other teams' tents to socialise. Under cross-examination, however, he conceded there was no reason an athlete should carry a knife at a track meet.
Anthony's legal team argued throughout the day that he acted in self-defence, and noted that Frisco ISD had no policy at the time barring athletes from entering rival teams' tents. Defence counsel referred to their client as "Melo" during witness interviews.
The trial is set to resume on Monday at 9 a.m. with additional defence witnesses. Anthony faces a sentence of between five years and life in prison if convicted.
Source: Google News MT