ix times.

The outraged Metcalf briefly mentioned the pro-Karmelo Anthony protesters who had formed outside the courthouse as he shot down the group's claims that the trial was racist against a young black teen who had committed the stabbing in self-defense.

 This was never about race,  he said.  It is about right and wrong. The public's response sickens me … The moral decay is frightening. 

Here's the latest on Karmelo Anthony's murder trial following the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf

Metcalf concluded by speaking to his son,  RIP Austin Metcalf, love, Pops. 

Metcalf kept his glare directed at Anthony as he walked away from the stand, coming within two feet of his son's killer, according to the outlet.

Austin Metcalf's mother, Meghan, directed her anger toward Anthony over what she had lost because of the fatal stabbing.

 We will never know what our future could have been,  the heartbroken mother said, fighting through tears.  For journalists, activists, this is a story. For our family, this is our reality.

6 Karmelo Anthony appears in court during his murder trial for killing Austin Metcalf on June 4, 2026. AP

 There was a part of him you can never take from me, the strength I still get from him every day, because I know what it was like to be loved by him. My son was murdered. He didn't just die. He was taken from us. Just as he was starting to live,  Meghan said.

Meghan Metcalf shredded the seemingly reduced sentence handed to Anthony, who had been facing a maximum of 99 years in jail.

 You may have just been given a sentence of 35 years, you should feel lucky because I've been sentenced to a life without my son. 

6 Crime scene tape surrounds the team tent where Austin Metcalf was fatally stabbed by Karmelo Anthony at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Fox4

6 Jeff Metcalf said Austin's death  destroyed the person I used to be  during his emotional victim impact statement. Family Handout

The jury deliberated for about three hours before delivering the guilty verdict. The panel deliberated for another three hours before returning with the three-and-a-half-decade sentence.

During the sentencing phase, the jury weighed the potential extenuating circumstances of  sudden passion  - crimes committed in the heat of the moment that, in Texas, can mean lighter sentences.

Hunter, who was born two minutes after Austin, shared his own emotional statement to the court.

 You took a son, a brother, a friend, and my best friend, from this world. You took someone from me who was supposed to be an uncle, godfather to my kids. Now I want everything taken from you,  Hunter choked out.

After the hearing, Anthony's mother, Kala, and his brother blasted the killer's conviction and sentence as  racist and biased  to cheering supporters who chanted,  Free Karmelo.