Judge Seats 12-Person Jury in Karmelo Anthony Trial, No Black Jurors — Public Prosecutor
Judge John Roach seated a 12-person jury in the Karmelo Anthony murder trial on Wednesday, and no Black jurors were selected. The public prosecutor also prevailed when the judge rejected a defense Batson challenge over three potential jurors.
Collin County Jury Selection
Potential jurors returned to Collin County as the case began to take shape around Anthony, who is charged with first-degree murder in the 2025 stabbing death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco track meet. Police said Anthony and Metcalf argued over seating in the stands before the confrontation escalated and Metcalf was stabbed in the chest with a pocketknife.
Roach excused the first 150 jurors after meeting with the attorneys on Wednesday afternoon. The final panel included a mixture of men and women, along with one educator who is an esthetician and teaches at a trade school in Dallas.
Batson Challenge On Wednesday
The defense objected during the second round of strikes, arguing that three potential jurors were Black females and were similarly situated to a white female the prosecution did not strike. Prosecutors said they removed the three women for a non-racial reason: all three listed their occupations as educators, and they did not want educators on a jury in a case involving a school function with school-aged children.
Roach sided with prosecutors and agreed to strike the three women. Anna Offit, a SMU law professor, said Batson challenges are rarely made and rarely successful because the side raising the objection must prove purposeful discrimination.
Offit said, "The reason for that is, it is not very challenging for a party to be able to come up with a number of right-neutral reasons, other reasons that a strike might have been exercised," and added, "The party challenging the strike at that point is going to have to prove purposeful discrimination."
Appeals In Karmelo Anthony Case
The defense said the Batson issue could come into question in any possible appeals later in the trial, putting the jury-selection record under scrutiny if the case is challenged after a verdict. Offit also said appellate review can look at how prospective jurors were questioned, including whether they were asked the same substantive questions and the same number of follow-up questions.
That leaves the seated jury in place and the race-based challenge unresolved only as a possible appellate issue, not as a barrier to the trial moving forward.
