Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson said the family of Karmelo Anthony intentionally invoked racial stereotypes during the case.
“It was made racially charged by the family of the now convicted killer and their supporters,” Benson said on Fox News’s Outnumbered Friday.
Anthony, 19, was found guilty on Tuesday for the fatal stabbing of another teenager, Austin Metcalf, 17, according to the Associated Press. Anthony stabbed Metcalf during a track meet on April 2, 2025.
Several students testified that Metcalf told Anthony multiple times to leave his team’s tent. Metcalf attended Memorial High School, where Anthony was not a student. Anthony then reached into a bag and pulled out a knife.
While attorneys on both sides maintained that race played no role in the incident, social media users highlighted the racial backgrounds of the two students. Anthony is a black student, and Metcalf was white.
Benson criticized Anthony’s family, who said “it’s unfortunate to where nobody wins,” and expressed concern over what they called an all-white jury during an interview with CBS Mornings on Thursday.
“There is a win in the sense of justice. A conviction is the just thing,” Benson said.
Benson said Anthony’s father lied on television about the composition of the jury, “which he knows is a lie because he was in that room.”
“That is another intentional step, I think, that the family and the supporters of this killer are putting out there in order to fan the flames deliberately,” Benson said.
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A TMZ article exposed death threats and hateful messages the Metcalf family has been receiving. One message said that Austin’s twin brother, Hunter, should have died and that Austin “f***ed around and found out.”
Benson called the threats “evil and demented,” and said, “I cannot fathom that kind of mentality, but it does exist.”