Potential jurors in the Karmelo Anthony trial said they couldn’t imagine giving him life in prison or “putting a brother in jail” — despite the heinous murder he is charged with.
Prosecutors in Collin County, Texas, grilled candidates Monday on whether they would use Anthony’s age, race, or likeness to their own children when deciding whether he killed fellow teen Austin Metcalf in cold blood.
Attorneys for the 18-year-old defendant will try to convince the jury he feared for his life when he pulled a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the heart at a track meet in April 2025.
“He looks like a child,” several said in questioning relayed by WFAA, when asked if they could consider a life sentence for the teen, who has been charged with first-degree murder.
“I don’t think I can make a decision about somebody so young. One mistake, one argument, one conflict, you can’t say he’s a bad person,” one potential juror told Assistant District Attorney Dewey Mitchell.
Dewey had to remind panelists that nobody would get “in trouble” for revealing their feelings about the hot-button case, which the Anthony family, who are black, claimed is a product of “white supremacy.”
Mitchell asked panelists how they feel about this statement: “I don’t feel comfortable finding an African American male guilty of murder.”
“I don’t know if I feel right putting a brother in jail,” one candidate stated, according to WFAA.
Lawyers began questioning the final pool of 250 candidates Wednesday and plan to have a final selection by Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, a $600,000 grassroots fund for Anthony’s legal fees continues to swell with new donations.
Many grassroots sympathizers see Metcalf as a white bully targeting a black victim when he tried to shove Anthony, then 17, from under a pop-up tent during a rain delay at the track meet in Frisco.
The fundraising could help Anthony pay for expert witnesses to bolster his case, veteran defense attorney Randy Zelin told The Post.
But Anthony’s team will be hard-pressed to disprove prosecutors’ argument that he goaded the unarmed Metcalf into the encounter, ready with his hand on the knife, Zelin added.
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