The twin brother of victim Austin Metcalf just delivered a breathless, face-to-face confrontation with killer Karmelo Anthony right in court, turning the courtroom into a tear-soaked pressure cooker.
The twin brother of victim Austin Metcalf just delivered a breathless, face-to-face confrontation with killer Karmelo Anthony right in court, turning the courtroom into a tear-soaked pressure cooker. What was expected to be a mere procedural statement before a 35-year sentence was handed down became something else entirely — the surviving brother’s ice-cold exposé of the murderer’s “true face” ripped the mask off the cruelty behind the stabbing, forcing the once-defiant criminal to completely break down moments before receiving his deserved 35-year prison term.
“The first thing he did, and you could tell that this was kind of off his script, but he asked Karmelo to look him in the eye. He said, ‘Man, just out of respect, can you at least look up? Can you at least look me in the eye while I’m talking to you?'” Fields said.
“Karmelo did look up for about 15 seconds, and then he looked right back down and did not look at Hunter for the remainder of Hunter’s victim impact statement,” Fields continued. “[Karmelo] refused to respect that.”
“Actually, for all of the victim impact statements, he was looking down,” said Fields. “The only time he looked up was when Hunter asked him to look him in the eye.”
During Hunter’s victim impact statement, according to Fields, Hunter told the man who killed his brother, “You took someone away who was supposed to be an uncle to my children and a godfather to my children. … Eventually your name will be forgotten, but my brother’s legacy will live forever.”
During those statements, said Fields, “Karmelo still refused to look him in the eye.”
The Associated Press reported that the jury rejected Anthony’s claims of self-defense after the confrontation with Metcalf resulted in the teenager’s death.
Last year, during the track meet at Kuykendall Stadium, Metcalf allegedly pushed Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest. The case drew national attention due to the races of the two individuals involved. Anthony is Black, and Metcalf was white.
However, according to the AP, lawyers on both sides said that race did not play a part in the deadly altercation.
