The prosecution had to dismiss some potential jurors in the murder trial of Karmelo Anthony after they expressed trepidation toward giving him life in prison due to his young age.
The dismissals came after prosecutors questioned potential jurors on if they would use Karmelo Anthony’s age, race, or even likeness to their own children as justification for acquittal.
Several jurors reported said that Anthony “looks like a child” when asked if they would consider giving him a life sentence for the alleged murder of Austin Metcalf.
“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 after he reportedly reminded potential jurors that nobody would be “in trouble” for being honest about their feelings. Mitchell also asked the potential jurors in another statement how they feel about “finding an African American male guilty of murder.”
“I don’t know if I feel right putting a brother in jail,” one candidate stated.
Lawyers will likely have a final jury selection on Wednesday night out of a pool of 250 candidates.
Karmelo Anthony will be standing trail for the alleged murder of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas; the teen maintains that he stabbed Metcalf in self-defense following an altercation over a seating dispute. Per Fox News:
An arrest report obtained by Fox News sheds new light on the pre-stabbing clash after Metcalf reportedly told Anthony that he needed to move out of the Memorial team’s tent, a witness told Frisco police. The report noted that Anthony “grabbed his bag, opened it and reached inside it” and said, “Touch me and see what happens.”
“Austin stood up and pushed the male to get him out of the tent,” the arrest report said.
In the next moment, the witness told police that Anthony “reached into his bag and the male took a knife out of the bag and stabbed Austin.”
Anthony immediately fled the scene after stabbing the 17-year-old Metcalf once in the chest. Metcalf died in his twin brother, Hunter’s, arms.
“I was protecting myself,” Anthony said. “He put his hands on me.”
Anthony immediately confessed to the stabbing when confronted by police – “I’m not alleged, I did it,” he reportedly said – and asked officers if Metcalf was “going to be OK.”
Hunter Metcalf, Austin’s twin brother, recalled on The Will Cain Show how his brother’s soul seemed to leave his body at the time of his death.
“I whipped my head around, and then all of a sudden I see him running down the bleachers just grabbing his chest… I put my hand on there, tried to make [the bleeding] stop, and I grabbed his head, and I looked in his eyes. I just saw his soul leave, and it took my soul, too,” Hunter said.