Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Jun 11
Jeff Metcalf Speaks After 35-Year Sentence for Son's Killer, Vows to Fight Parole in 17 Years
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Jun 11

Jeff Metcalf Speaks After 35-Year Sentence for Son's Killer, Vows to Fight Parole in 17 Years

3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jun 11

Summary

  • Jeff Metcalf said the 35-year sentence for 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony brought him his first sense of peace in 14 months, after a gag order had kept him from speaking publicly during the trial.
  • Anthony was convicted Tuesday in the 2025 stabbing death of Austin Metcalf at a Texas track meet, a killing Jeff Metcalf said was made even more devastating by body-camera audio of Austin's twin brother, Hunter.
  • Metcalf said no prison term could satisfy him and that he wanted a life sentence; if Anthony becomes eligible for parole in 17 years, he said he will oppose release in person or by recorded video.
  • Death threats, doxing and swatting have compounded the family's ordeal, while Metcalf rejected claims the case was about race and said online attacks had wrongly vilified his son.
  • Forgiveness, Metcalf said, is part of a long healing process already underway through memories of Austin and a scholarship in his name, but it does not mean forgetting the killing.

Insights

Could a recent Texas self-defense ruling be the key to overturning Anthony's 35-year murder sentence?
The victim’s family says race wasn't a factor. Why do the convict's supporters call this a racist verdict?
A shove met with a knife at a school event. What can communities learn from this teen tragedy?