Transcription

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  Hello everyone and welcome to the KB Radio Network and today is a special episode. There's no movie reviews or things of that nature. Today we're talking about a murder case that took place in Fresno, Texas. And it was the trial of Carmelo Anthony. And no, not the basketball player Carmelo Anthony. That's Carmelo with a C. This is Carmelo with a K. And. he is a 17 at least he was a 17 year old student at memorial high school in texas and he has been convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of a fellow student austin metcalf who was also 17 at the time of this incident now this was pretty much an open and shut case but intrigued me about this is the racial divide that took place. Now this happens all the time with certain cases that sweep the nation going all the way back to the Rodney King incident that took place in the 90s. The OJ trial and all this here is always a racial element involved that sparks the nation. That just sweeps the nation and it divides. the nation more divided than what we are already because this nation is already divided just watch the news so it's it doesn't help when you see cases like this but now since we've gotten a verdict on it i think it's going to be even more polarizing because of there's the question of should he had been charged with manslaughter instead of murder Because he proclaims that it was self-defense as opposed to just a cold-blooded murder. So in order to come to a fair conclusion, I figured we'd go over everything that took place that led to this 35-year sentencing of Camelo Anthony on June the 9th of 2026. So let's run it down. Let's go back to... April 2nd of last year, 2025, and Austin Metcalf, who is a white 17-year-old student at Memorial High School, was murdered by Carmelo Anthony, a black century high school student at the same age, while attending a school track meet in Fresno, Texas. Carmelo Anthony stabbed Austin Metcalf after an altercation and Metcalfe died from those injuries. camello anthony he surrendered himself to authority soon after the stabbing and was charged with murder he pled not guilty alleging self-defense in that incident just to give you a background on uh both of these young men uh austin metcap he was born on july the 31st 2007 he was a junior at memorial high school in fresno texas he was a mvp linebacker on the football team and participated in track and field. He has a twin brother named Hunter, who also played football at that high school. Camelo Anthony, he was a student and an athlete for the track team and football team, where he served as captains on both of those teams at Century High School, also in Fresno, Texas. Anthony and Metcalf did not know each other prior to this altercation. Anthony was actually born in Baton Rouge, not too far from where I am right now, and was the oldest of four children in his family. He had no prior criminal record up to this incident. Let me just say going forward, this next section, it may be triggering because we're going to go over that incident that took place that, unfortunately, Austin Metcalf. lost his life on so if you don't want to hear the details and go go over it with us i fully understand just know you've been warned i i will be speaking just giving details i'm not going to give my opinions and be disrespectful for to no parties involved in this incident so let's dive into it uh the stabbing occurred at the memorial high school tent at the david Ky Kendall Stadium. at around 10 a.m central time on april the 2nd of 2025 the altercation started when the track and field championship event was delayed due to a thunderstorm and heavy downpours hunter metcap who is austin's twin brother told anthony to move out of the memorials team tent austin then confronted uh camello anthony during the argument that ensued Anthony allegedly said touch me and see what happens while reaching his hand into his backpack. Metcalf then grabbed Anthony to move him. In response Anthony pulled out a black knife from the backpack and stabbed Metcalf once in the chest before running away. Another witness at in the Fresno police arrest report stated Austin and Anthony went back and forth and then Austin stood up in pushed Anthony to get him out of the tent. After being stabbed, Metcalf ran down the bleachers, grabbed his chest, and told those around him that he needed help. When police arrived, he was not conscious or breathing, and athletic trainers were performing CPR on him. Austin Metcalf was pronounced dead minutes after arriving to the hospital. Carmelo Anthony quickly surrendered to police. According to the reporting officer, Carmelo Anthony first said he was protecting himself and was emotional and crying after being arrested. The officer then communicated to others that he had Anthony in custody, at which he responded, I'm not alleged, I did it, end quote. As he was being escorted to the police car, Anthony reportedly said, He put his hands on me and I told him not to. While he was sitting in the back of the police car, he asked if Metcalf was going to be okay and asked the officer if what he did could be considered self-defense. Carmelo Anthony was charged with murder and transported to Collin County Jail. He was charged as an adult since under the Texas criminal justice system, defendant's age. 17 and older are prosecuted as adults. On April 14th of 2025, Judge Angela Tucker lowered Carmelo Anthony's bond from $1 million to $250,000, citing his clean criminal record and his academic and athletic achievements in school. Anthony was released on bond that same day. according to his release conditions. An adult was required to supervise him at all times. He was required to contact the judge bailiff every Friday morning, and he was prohibited from using social media or contacting the family of Austin Metcalf. Carmelo's attorney said that he would plead not guilty and claim self-defense in the trial to come. Anthony could not have been the subject of a life sentence without parole. parole or the death penalty due to being 17 years old on june the 24th of 2025 a grand jury indicted carmelo anthony on charges of murder and so we move on to the trial which began on june the 1st of this year 2026 with jury selection under judge john roach jr presiding jurors filled out their questionnaires and the jury pool included nearly 600 people during selection the defense raised a batson challenge after the prosecution struck three black female jurors from the pool of whom the defense considered to be similarly saturated to a white female juror that was not Now, if you don't know what a Batson is, challenge is you're not alone because i didn't and so i had to look it up so the term bats and challenge describes the objection of an imposing council's use of a challenge to exclude a juror from a jury pool based on the criteria of the courts have found disqualifying as race was the sole ratification of that include exclusion i should say now you the prosecution argued that the three women were struck for race. neutral reasons namely their status as teachers of school age children and so judge roach sided with the prosecution and permitted the strikes on june the third the jury was seated with no black jurors though several were people of color you know uh including the alternates but as far as black or african-american as they like to call it no it was comprised of 11 women and seven men one of the seated jurors was an educator who did not work in a traditional uh school environment opening statements began on june the 4th with collin county district attorney stating the killing was a provoked unjust murder and which anthony had provoked Metcalf to touch him and that Metcalf pushed and shoved before Anthony stabbed him in a sneak attack using a concealed knife. The district attorney stated that the case did not concern race or self-defense. The defense attorney stated there are various accounts of what occurred before the stabbing and that Carmelo Anthony was seated when confronted by Metcalf and his brother of honor. He stated it was Metcalf who made the first contact and Anthony reacted in a split second of fear and chaos as the group was turning on him. Now, the defense attorney argued that Carmelo Anthony was defending himself. The jury was then shown grainy surveillance camera footage of the incident, which prosecutors said showed Metcalf pushing Anthony and then Anthony exiting. After stabbing Metcalf, a coach from Memorial High School then testified that it was unusual for a teammate to be seated in another school's tent, as Anthony was before being confronted by Metcalf. Jurors also heard testimony from the coach of Liberty High School who viewed the aftermath of the stabbing, as well as heard the 911 emergency calls. following the stabbing and viewed Metcalf's blood-stained jacket. The defense asked the Liberty High School coach if it was normal for students from different schools to converse and asked where athletes warming up would be sheltered. Students who were under the tent during the stabbing testified on June 5th. A student witness stated that people, including Metcalf, had confronted Anthony and asked him to leave the tent to which Anthony allegedly said touch me and find out and kept his hands in his backpack warning that he had something. Witnesses estimated Anthony was asked to leave as many as 15 times. The witness said that they did not try to gain up on Anthony and that the exchange lasted about two minutes. Multiple students labeled Carmelo Anthony as the aggressor and that he had entered the tent to escape the rank. The defense cross-examination focused on the disparities between the students' testimonies and the account they initially provided to law enforcement. They further established the physical difference between Carmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf, with the latter being 50 to 60 pounds heavier and emphasize MedCap and others position over Carmelo Anthony who was seated. First responders including a paramedic and school resource officer who arrested Anthony gave testimonies as well. The defense case started on the afternoon of June the 5th after the prosecution arrest. The defense called Anthony's coach who testified that it was not usual for athletes from different schools to share tents and a fresno memorial student gave a different account of the confrontation saying metcalf grabbed anthony before the stabbing however under cross-examination he stated anthony had provoked him a police officer testified that carrying a five inch knife is not unlawful in texas even though It is against school policy. The defense rests. on june the 8th with anthony not being called to testify closing arguments occurred on june the night and after deliberating for close to three hours the jury returned a guilty verdict on camello anthony in the charge of murder the verdict was announced at 1 35 p.m the jury rejected the A sudden passion claim? and to sentence him to 35 years in prison. Now, there's a lot to unpack there. You can come to your conclusions, and everybody's going to have one. You know, everybody is going to have their own opinion that justice was served, and then you're going to have another contingent that say justice wasn't. Did he commit a crime? Yeah, he did. You know, there's no denouncing. denying that uh the young boy died at his hands now what led up to that that's where it gets iffy that's what that's where the waters get a little treacherous because uh i finally believe him this is my belief i believe that it was an altercation that took place and i believe that it was started by metcalf Now, do I believe that whatever Metcalf was saying or doing or whatever warranted being stabbed in the chest? No. That's where the problem come in at. No. Now, I can see the intimidation factor of it all, too. I mean, you're behind enemy lines here. You're under this other team's tent. It's raining. He's not thinking about that. He's trying to get out the rain. you know you're trying to you're trying to stay dry and he didn't care he i guess he felt it was harmless who knows or maybe he felt like i don't care what they think who knows i don't know what he was thinking at that moment but i i certainly believe that he wasn't thinking about killing anybody in that moment that was the last thing on his mind now why is he carrying around a knife that's a whole nother issue that's a whole nother problem within itself And so there's a lot of things, like I said, there's a lot of factors that go into this. So whereas what what is the thing? What does the does the punishment fit the crime? I guess you could say, does he deserve 35 years in prison? My humble opinion? No, I don't think he deserves that. I don't think he should have been charged with murder. He should have been charged with manslaughter. My humble opinion. And yes, he should have. spent some time in jail in prison i don't think he's a murderer now let me try to make this clear for all of you who who don't understand where i'm coming from just because i don't think he's a murderer doesn't mean that i think he's not guilty yes he is guilty he is guilty of taking that young man's life there's no denying that but i don't think he's a murderer i think it should have been manslaughter if anything Now, getting into the trial of it all, starting with the jury selection and all that there, I mean, come on. You can't tell me there's no funny business going on with this trial, you know, with the jury. That screamed guilt. That's how I knew it was guilty. I knew it was going to be guilty. I knew right off the bat. That's why I didn't really follow the trial. I waited to the end to really, to really. dive into it and find out what all happened, what all took place. Because in my feeble mind, and I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I never proclaim to be the smartest person on earth. But in my little feebled mind, I don't understand the whole notion of we can't make this about race. You know, I don't want these black women sitting on the jury because they're going to be... bias so your counter to that is to put all white people on the jury and make it bias it doesn't that doesn't the logic just don't logic with me i not not in that sense i don't i don't get that uh that's not fair that's not uh i don't feel that's that's right but i will say this about the jury. The jury had no choice but to to come up with a guilty verdict. If you know how juries work, they only can go by what's being presented to him and what charges. are laid out for the defendant so they gotta go that way they they have to go that way at least in certain cases this could be different it could be different because it's in texas i don't know the ins and outs of all their stuff you know i'm not a lawyer not a judge so i can't tell you the ins and outs of the criminal justice system in texas really can't tell you it all in louisiana where i live but I know that there's different laws for different states and different cases and charges and all this other foolishness. It's a lot. It's a lot. But I think it's kind of weird that that jury selection went the way it went and you fully saw it. This was the quickest murder trial I ever saw in my life. What, a week? that is that's crazy to me i've never seen a quicker murder trial the other thing that i kind of scratched my head on here is the defense decision not to have carmelo anthony take the stand now would that have helped him in the long run probably not it probably wouldn't have helped him you know i think i think everybody had their decisions made long before this trial started but I would love to hear from his mouth, you know, what took place or what he was his interpretation of what took place on that day. Maybe he could have shed some light on it. Maybe seeing it from his perspective, we can get a different view. Good or bad, good or bad, maybe because he can go up there and completely poo the bed, you know, and he sounds guilty of sin. And you're like, okay, guilty. Because more often than not, when defendants take the stand, you can point out if they lie. You can see if they're fibbing. So it sometimes is good for the defense. Sometimes it's bad for the defense. But I would have loved to have seen him on the stand and fight for his life. He's literally fighting for his life. He's 18 now, I believe. And he'll be what? 52 53 years old before he gets out of prison life over he didn't get a life sentence but life 53 i mean that's i don't know about the parole i didn't hear anything about eligible being eligible for parole at a certain time i don't know maybe but either way it go his life is over you know and the sad part about this case the saddest thing about this case no matter what the verdict would have been had it went not guilty or no contest or guilty as it was we got two families who lives will never be the same the anthony family life would never be the same and definitely not the metcap family their lives would never be the same they lost a son both families lost a son Now, unfortunately for the Metcalf family, unlike the Anthony family, who can go visit their son in prison, they can't visit Austin Metcalf. Now, it's sad. It's just a sad situation all the way around. And I hate that this took place. I hate that this turned into a racial war within this country as if we don't have enough racial. wars raging in this country right now with the voters right acts and all this other stuff now you got this case that it's just i don't know man it was like fuel it was like gasoline poured on the campfire when this all took place so it is it's just sad man at the worst timing man it actually is no good timing for this none none i i want to touch in on this too because they Speaking of the Anthony family, they had a situation or are going through a situation, I should say, with a fundraiser. It's a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign thing. The Carmelo Anthony family, they set up a GoSendGo, a GiveSendGo, whatever it is. It's like a GoFundMe. And it was to pay the legal bills, you know, the legal defense for their son. And they raised over a half a million dollars, $515,000. And they raised it by May. And the GoFundMe campaigns were launched by Metcalf's family as well and the owners of a pizzeria. in fresno texas where metcab worked part-time they raised nearly 250 000 dollars so the founder of the uh crowdfunding thing uh uh the give send go jacob wells he compared the case to those of a kyle riddenhouse you know the idiot that uh shot the people at the uh uh black lives matter march up there in... I think that was in Wisconsin, if I'm not mistaken. And he stated that Anthony should be afforded the same presumptions of innocence as anyone else. And so the next day on May the 2nd, Doug Gibson Gold turned off the comment function on Anthony's fundraiser page, citing unacceptable volumes of racial and derogatory remarks. which is par for the course. In doing this fundraiser thing, Anthony and his family were attacked online for allegations that they bought a car and a $900,000 house from this donated funds. According to some reports, the family had not redrawn any money from donations. those claims appear to be originated from a story in the daily mail shortly after metcalf's death uh x account impersonating the fresno police chief began spreading misinformation and fake autopsy reports and stuff like that the post gained millions of views on twitter or x whatever is being called right now and on other social media platforms as well the fresno police department and the fbi began investigating the account for police impersonation also that took place uh this was right after the uh incident that took place in april of 2025 a group calling themselves protect white americans held a protest at the stadium where uh young austin make cap lost his life protesters demanded that carmelo anthony be returned into police custody because he was out on bail at the time or on bond i should say until the trial two counter protesters were arrested and uh metcalf's father told the organizer of the protest that he disapproves of his efforts stating in our quote you're trying to create more racial divide than bridging the gap i do not condone anything you do end quote he also requested that his son's school portrait be removed from this group's website and so uh big ups to mr metcalf in that in that fight man because that that's that's just stupid that's just dumb uh protect white americans from what from who What is that? from yourselves but anywho uh yeah that's that's pretty much the case in the nutshell i just wanted to run through it for those of you who probably don't know and probably see it pop up on your feeds all over the place because it is everywhere it is all over the place and it is causing such a riff within you these two communities the black community and the white community and sadly i hate to feel this way but this is pretty much what it is i don't think that's by accident i think this is you know just look around at the at the climate you know look at look at the racial divides man how how everything is being ripped apart and it's this just played right into the narrative that this country is currently setting you know the message that's being sent by this country and it's it's sad it's embarrassing and it's it's it's tough it's really tough because man in the words of rodney king why can't we all just get along why why can't we just live our lives you know just live our lives just just incidents like this happen it happens all the time it happens Black on black, it happens white on white, it happens everywhere. It doesn't have to be a racial thing. Now, is there racial undertones through this case? Absolutely. You can't avoid them. You can't avoid them. But most of that took place after the fact. I can't tell you yay or nay if the incident between Carmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf was racially motivated i think it was more territorial thing a school we all was in high school we all had that rival high school and we all did our things with that but i don't think it was racially motivated at least that was never mentioned in any of the witnesses uh reports or anything like that and so that never came up until the trial until actually the arrest and all from that moment on. It was black versus white. And I hate that it just turned into that because that wasn't the motivations of what took place. Carmelo Anthony did not kill Austin Metcalf because he was white. He killed him because he felt threatened. He could have been white, Hispanic or Asian, whatever, or black. He felt threatened. And that's why he was carrying a knife, I guess. I don't know. Like I said, I don't know because he didn't take the stand. I wish he would have took the stand. But anyways, my condolences to the Metcalf family and also in my thoughts of the Anthony family, you know, because it's definitely not going to be easy for them either. So, yeah, man, tough, tough. And trust me. This is not the end of it. This conviction is not the end of this racial divide. It's only, sadly, the beginning. But I'd like to know your thoughts of this case. Did you agree with the judgment? Do you feel that this should have been tried differently, maybe? Do you think that Camelo Anthony should have took the stand? I mean, what are your thoughts on this case? Let me know. Email the show, kbradiopodcasts at gmail.com. You can also search for the show on all social media platforms. Just search for the KB Radio Network. Also, don't forget about YouTube. Subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel and like this video if you don't mind. Don't forget about the five stars, the reviews, and sharing this show. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever, you are currently listening to the KB Radio Network. work everybody thank you for joining me as we went over this trial of comello anthony as he's been found guilty of murder sentenced to 35 years in prison i just want to let you all know that i love you continue to love everybody and until we speak again you all be blessed