All-white jury selected in murder trial over killing at 2025 Texas high school

A courtroom sketch shows Karmelo Anthony with his lawyer in front of the judge in a courtroom in McKinney, Texas, on Thursday. Photograph: Pat Lopez via AP View image in fullscreen A courtroom sketch shows Karmelo Anthony with his lawyer in front of the judge in a courtroom in McKinney, Texas, on Thursday. Photograph: Pat Lopez via AP All-white jury selected in murder trial over killing at 2025 Texas high school Karmelo Anthony, who is Black, is accused of stabbing Austin Metcalf, who was white, at track meet in an affluent Dallas suburb Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email After a 2025 high school track meet in Frisco, Texas , ended with one student dead and another accused of murder, Karmelo Anthony, then 17, was indicted on first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf, 17. Social media posts about the death divided the case into racial lines, sparking national outrage. Anthony, who is being tried as an adult, is Black; Metcalf was white. This week marked the beginning of Anthony’s murder trial. After three days of juror selection, attorneys selected 12 jurors and six alternates for the trial, narrowed down from 600 initial summonses. None of the jurors are Black. Defense lawyers accused prosecutors of improperly striking the only three remaining Black prospective jurors, according to a local NBC affiliate . The district judge John Roach, however, accepted the state’s explanation that they were removed because they are educators. Catholic priest convicted of sexual assault in Texas sentenced to life in prison Read more “The prosecution used its final strikes to remove the remaining qualified Black jurors from the jury pool, raising serious concerns about fairness and equal justice,” the Next Generation Action Network civil rights organization, based in Dallas, wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. “We respect the court, but we will not remain silent … Every person deserves a fair trial and confidence that justice is being administered without bias. We are calling on the court to ensure Mr Anthony’s constitutional rights are fully protected.” The teens went to different high schools in the same affluent Dallas suburb. They were both at the 11-5A championship district track meet during a rainstorm that turned into a downpour. Witnesses said that the incident began when Anthony sat under a tent belonging to Metcalf’s team. According to the arrest report, witnesses said that Anthony allegedly reached inside his bag and said, “Touch me and see what happens.” Metcalf grabbed Anthony and, according to a witness, Anthony allegedly pulled a knife from his bag, stabbed Metcalf and ran away. In a packed courtroom on Thursday, jurors were shown grainy surveillance footage of the attack, taken from across the field. The video shows a person, whom the state identified as Anthony, entering the tent . There are quick movements – prosecutors told jurors that that was Metcalf, trying to push Anthony out of the tent. Later, Anthony exits