The defense was stunned this week when jury selection wrapped up in the murder trial of a white football star and ended without a single black juror being selected to hear the case against Texas high school student Karmelo Anthony.
The trial to determine if the black Texas teen is guilty of cold-blooded murder will begin on Thursday, now that the jury is chosen. But Anthony’s attorney, Mike Howard, objected to the all-white jury and says the prosecution was guided by racism to strike his last three juror picks, the New York Post reported.
“Those three were 100% of the available African American jurors in the strike zone,” the attorney said.
The prosecution, though, said they did not use their strikes against the three black jury pool members because of their race, but because they were all schoolteachers and would be hearing a case involving schools and school policy.
Ultimately, Judge John Roach, Jr., accepted the prosecution’s explanation and ruled that the strikes were not racially motivated, thereby allowing the jury verdict to stand.
Karmelo Anthony, 18, faces charges of murder for the April 2, 2025, killing of white high school football player Austin Metcalf at the high school in Frisco, Texas.
According to a police report based on an eyewitness, “Anthony was from Centennial High School and was sitting under the Memorial High School tent. [The victim] had told Anthony that he needed to move out from under their team’s tent and Anthony grabbed his bag, opened it and reached inside and proceeded to tell [the victim], ‘Touch me and see what happens.’ No one really thought Anthony really had any weapons in his bag and [the victim] proceeded to touch Anthony and then Anthony told [the victim] to punch him and see what happens. A short time later, [the victim] grabbed Anthony to tell him to move and Anthony pulled out what [the witness] recalled as a black knife and stabbed [the victim] once in the chest and then ran away.”
The witness did not know Anthony, but he knew he was a Centennial student.
After he was charged with the stabbing, donors raised $600,000 for Anthony. In a statement at the time, a family spokesman said the donations would allow donors to “stand with us in the fight against white supremacy.”
The accused murderer’s legal team is claiming self-defense and saying that the teen suspect was protecting himself against the unarmed, white football player.
Because Anthony was 17 years old at the time of the incident, he cannot face the death penalty under Texas law. If convicted, Anthony will face 5 to 99 years, or life, in a Texas prison, and an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
The threat of a long prison sentence also led to the dismissal of some of the potential jurors. Several jurors said they would have a hard time convicting Anthony because they disliked the idea of condemning such a young person to a lifetime in jail.
Social justice activist groups are weighing in on the all-white jury, and one in particular proclaimed it unfair. An organization called Next Generation Action Network (NGAN) has put out a statement saying that the jury selection “raises serious concerns about fairness and equal justice.”
“We respect the court, but we will not remain silent. NGAN will continue monitoring this case and informing the public every step of the way. Every person deserves a fair trial and confidence that justice is being administered without bias,” the Dallas-based group said in an X post on Wednesday.
“We are calling on the court to ensure Mr. Anthony’s constitutional rights are fully protected.”
NGAN is fronted by Black Lives Matter activist Dominique Alexander, who started the group in 2014. According to Influence Watch, Alexander has a criminal record of his own, having been arrested for domestic abuse in 2025, 2019, and 2011. He was also convicted in 2011 of a felony for causing injury to a child by shaking. And he was later convicted of a probation violation in 2016.
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