Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Texas Democrat, suggested Tuesday that the folding knife Karmelo Anthony used to fatally stab 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Texas high school track meet last year was not a “deadly weapon” — comments that drew swift condemnation hours after Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder.
Ms. Crockett, who lost her Senate bid this year, made the remarks during a Tuesday episode of her podcast, “Clock It with Crockett,” titled “Karmelo Anthony, Justice & Race.” During the livestream, she held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart while questioning whether the weapon should be considered deadly.
“Well, I would argue the size of it alone, you wouldn’t even think it’s a deadly weapon,” she said.
One of Ms. Crockett’s guests suggested the knife was a Swiss Army-style multi-tool. “Yeah, like with the little scissors and everything and whatever. So it was small,” Ms. Crockett said.
FOX 4 reported, citing testimony from a school resource officer, that law enforcement recovered a blood-stained 3.5-inch folding knife from the stadium bleachers following Anthony’s arrest. The officer testified that Anthony was recorded on body camera saying, “I’m not alleged, I did it. He put his hands on me.”
According to witnesses, the confrontation began when Metcalf, a Memorial High School junior, told Anthony — a student at rival Centennial High School — to leave the Memorial team’s pop-up tent during a rainy track meet. When asked to leave, Anthony reached into his bag and warned Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens.” When Metcalf pushed him, witnesses said Anthony pulled the knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest before fleeing.
Metcalf bled to death in the arms of his twin brother, Hunter.
Ms. Crockett also told her podcast audience that Black women raising sons endure greater daily hardship than the Metcalf family.
“Black women — especially Black women who have Black male children — live in fear and agony every single day,” she said, adding that the Metcalf family had “probably never spent a day living that way.”
During the nearly weeklong trial in Collin County, prosecutors argued that Anthony provoked the confrontation and that multiple witnesses described him as the aggressor. “This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Collin County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye told jurors. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning a guilty verdict on the single charge of first-degree murder, rejecting a lesser manslaughter option.
During the sentencing phase Tuesday, jurors rejected defense arguments that Anthony acted under “sudden passion,” which could have reduced his sentence. The verdict carried a maximum of 99 years; Anthony, who was 17 at the time of the stabbing, was tried as an adult under Texas law and is now 19.
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