Teen convicted of murder in stabbing at high school track meet - ESPN

McKINNEY, Texas — A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a meet was convicted of murder Tuesday in a trial that drew national attention far beyond the booming Dallas suburb where the two students attended different high schools.

A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony's claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in the stadium's bleachers last year. Anthony, now 19, didn't testify. Most who did were students who described a heated exchange over Anthony refusing to leave a tent belonging to Metcalf's team during a rainy competition.

Anthony faces up to life in prison upon sentencing.

The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at a courthouse in Collin County. Anthony and Metcalf attended separate schools in Frisco, one of Texas' fastest-growing cities and one that is dotted with dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities.

Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to leave his team's tent, scoffed before Anthony reached a hand into a bag and pulled out a knife.

One teenage witness recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, «You don't have anything in that backpack. It's Frisco.»

Outside attention on the case spread, in part, over social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Prosecutors and defense attorneys told jurors that the case had nothing to do with race.

Instead, prosecutor Bill Wirskye called the stabbing a «sneak, surprise attack» and accused Anthony of egging on the confrontation. Mike Howard, an attorney for Anthony, said his client acted in a «split second of fear, chaos» after Metcalf made the