June 10, 2026
Karmelo Anthony Trial: Jury Given Chance To Show Mercy, They Chose Otherwise
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed A Texas jury deliberated for 2 and a half hours, quickly returning a guilty verdict for 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony who was visibly shaking in court. Anthony, who is black, was convicted of first degree murder of fellow teen Austin Matcalf, who is white. A jury with no black members then rejected a “sudden passion” option that would’ve reduced Anthony’s sentence, instead, the jury came back with a 35 year sentence for the tearful teen.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, they're folks. It is Wednesday, June tenth, and it was a swift trial, a swift verdict, and swift sentencing for Carmelo Anthony. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robe. In one week, we go through trial, verdict and sentencing and in a trial that makes so many headlines robes. The new headlines today are about his punishment.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Yes, Carmelo Anthony, the jury handed it to him. Not only did they convict him of first degree murder, they then also rejected this notion that he could have.
00:00:39
Speaker 3: Been in a sudden passion moment.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: Actually, it's a legal term sudden passion where you can actually give someone a reduced sentence. I guess it would have put his actions in a second degree felony versus a first degree, so they could have sentenced him to less. They rejected that as well. They could have given him manslaughter. They rejected that.
00:01:00
Speaker 1: Well, so Carmelo Anthony essentially is getting the worst punishment that he could possibly get. Yes, there could have been some more years onto this sentence, but the judge, excuse me, the judgment from the jurors is that now nineteen year old Carmelo Anthony should spend thirty five years in prison the sentence he has been given, I think Robes I did see as well that he has to serve at least half of that before any consideration of parole. But this case they rejected everything essentially that the defense put forward about his age, about his mindset, about his intent, about his self. Defense robes every option they had to be lenient on this kid.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: They passed on, Oh, that's true, and the defense offered at least his frame of mind through some witness testimony that he didn't start out the day angry or in a violent mood, that he was normal and chill. They talked about how he did have someone who he knew in that tent who he went over, And yes, it did seem just from what we read and what we gathered from what happened and what was testified to in that courtroom, it did seem like it's fit the exact definition of sudden passion. Yes, he did something horrific, and yes his decision led to the death of another teenager, and there has to be punishment and acknowledgment for that. He admitted to doing it. He didn't try to get away, and he seemed immediately regretful that any significant harm came to Austin Metcalf, the seventeen year old who died in this stabbing.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: If they considered any of that that you just mentioned, Robes, they didn't show it in their judgment. Yes, they had the option. He could have gotten five to ninety nine years, and you can argue, well, they didn't give him eighty, they didn't give him seventy, didn't give him fifty. But Robes, this is a really harsh punishment given the options that the judge seemed to even give the jury an off ramp if.
00:03:03
Speaker 2: They wont He did multiple times, because right before they went to deliberate yesterday, he offered them the option of manslaughter rather than first degree murder, and that too seems like that could have been a viable option. But it only took them two and a half hours to unanimously come back with a guilty of first degree murder.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: This is some complicated stuff to discuss in Robes. Two and a half hours, we know is a short period of time. Now there are defense attorneys out there that will tell you hear about a short period of deliberation that does not bode well for the defense. Sure enough, it did not in this case, Robes. This case started last Monday with jury selection that continued on Wednesday of last week. They had a jury finally in place. The jury was in place, folks, a week ago today, a week ago. But they gave us a decision yesterday, Robes, on Tuesday. That means in less than a this was days open arguments. Was last Thursday, last Thursday, here we are, and then on the following Tuesday, we have a verdict and we have a sentencing. This thing moves swiftly. Now. We did get word yesterday that the jury did have that verdict, that that was going to be read, and they did do it around two thirty local time. Rope. Some of the reports, and I know you saw all of them as well, from various people reporting independently of each other. It sounded like he was a mess in.
00:04:25
Speaker 2: Court yesterday, Yes Cam Carmelo Anthony, because look, he had been with his parents during this time awaiting trial. So the murder happens, the crime happens when he's seventeen, So he has been spending all of these months with his parents preparing for this trial. Now suddenly in that courtroom he is hearing from a jury that he is guilty of first agree murder and the reality that he is going to prison. He is going to leave his family and he is going to be there for a very very very long time. Yes, it left him shocked, is how they put and physically shaking.
00:05:02
Speaker 3: He was crying.
00:05:04
Speaker 2: They described what you would imagine a teenager, what a teenager's reaction would be to hearing that he will not be he will not be living his life outside of prison walls for decades.
00:05:18
Speaker 1: And he got It's one thing to get the sentence yesterday, and that's awful, But you don't get to regroup. He doesn't get to go home and collect some things. He was taken into the custody of the state immediately. You're not allowed to move freely anymore. Robes. He is a prisoner for possibly the next several decades. And when that hits your robes and you haven't even hit twenty in your life. Almost split decision at a track meet, beefing with some guy who this is an awful, awful story. Yesterday in court and again rope he hurt the verdict, but then they moved right into the sentencing fase. This is the phase that we we mentioned, we're talking about this earlier. Sometimes this happens days, weeks, even months later.
00:06:06
Speaker 2: I was curious about the intentionality of moving this along so quickly, and perhaps because there was I don't know if this is the case, but I was just wondering because this case has garnered so much international attention, because there was so much racial tension outside that courtroom.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: There were protesters on.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Both sides, and there was concern police were monitoring the groups outside that had visible emotional reactions. But maybe the thought was getting this all done at one time might basically rip a band aid off and let the healing begin, versus dragging this out over weeks and months meeting out the punishment.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: Not sure they moved swiftly in this county down there in Texas. Yes they did, they say, in this particular court, they've even talked about the conviction rates, like it's rare that anybody gets off.
00:06:54
Speaker 3: Yes, they did say that.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: We were watching local news coverage and they made that point very clear that this is not a state, This is not a district where you typically see jurors be lenient towards defendants.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: So he hears the sentence, They take a little break, and they go right into the sentencing phase. Now, the sentencing phase is as they describe, and as you'll hear, here was a mini trial in which, yes, they can call witnesses and there's an opening statement, closing and remarks that are allowed by the defense and the prosecution. There was only one witness that was available. Let's get to the witness first, and that one witness, Robes, was Carmelo, Anthony's mom and Robes, what else could she do but just beg for mercy?
00:07:36
Speaker 2: And that is basically what we heard from Kayla Hayes. She went on the stand and talked about Carmelo and said he's my oldest he will always be my baby. I love him very much. The defense attorney asked, you believe Mellow regrets what he did. She responded, yes, I know my son and he's very sorry for what he did. And then the defense attorne and he asks, is there anything you want to tell the jury. She responds, please have mercy on my son.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: And maybe they feel like they did. I mean, maybe they were people in that arguing for a much harsher sentence than the thirty five years. Who knows. She was questioned you can imagine. I think this might have been the only question Rhodes. But with the cross examination, the prosecution was allowed to ask the mother of Carmelo Anthony questions as well. They didn't take a whole lot of time here with her, but they wanted to take this opportunity. And this makes me uncomfortable and understand maybe what they're trying to do. I just I didn't like it.
00:08:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, the prosecution wanted the perspective to land on the jury, and so he asked, you love your son, and you realize you're still going to be part of his life. She responded, yes, I do. Meaning this mother, although she will lose her son, logistically, you still can visit him, she still can speak with him. And obviously the point being made was that the mother of Austin Metcalf can no longer have a relationship with their son because he's dead.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: I hate it. I hated I hated it. I hated it. I just hated it. I maybe understand.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: It was just it seemed cruel to his mother at that moment.
00:09:22
Speaker 1: Thank you for the word. The word is cruel and I hate comparative suffering. Right, Yes, everybody can acknowledge what Austin Metcalf's family is going through independent of what this mother also is going through, and to hit her with that, it was I thought that was shitty.
00:09:42
Speaker 2: Because it's yes, because it was directed towards his mother.
00:09:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, call him a monster, do whatever. He's the one convicted now, fine, But anyway, that was just one moment. Then they did have several victim impact statement. Yes, and we heard from four members of Austin Metcalf's family. And these are folks we haven't heard a whole lot from, so it was interesting to have them come up and speak.
00:10:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't know how they felt, what kind of justice, what justice looked like for them, but look, they were emotional as you might imagine. So, yes, we heard from Austin's aunt who basically asked the question that we heard often throughout this trial about Carmelo Anthony, why could you not just have left?
00:10:24
Speaker 1: We have that, we all have that question.
00:10:26
Speaker 2: Why could he not have just left that tent? Austin's mom, you may have just been given a sentence of thirty five years. You should feel lucky because I've been sentenced to a life without my son.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: That's that's hard man, that's true. And that's it.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: It's true, but it is tough to hear.
00:10:45
Speaker 2: And then the father this one was this one was tough just I you know, we had talked about that, we had seen him and heard him make the rounds leading up to this trial, really trying to bring down the temperature on this racial tension that was building between the black community and the white community.
00:11:03
Speaker 3: And then sadly he got up on the stand.
00:11:06
Speaker 2: I think, I don't mean to pass judgment on him, but I just felt like, of all the things he could have said, he said, you don't belong in this community. Seemed unnecessary, but he lost his son to the feelings is justifiable.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: He has every now I feel about him differently and saying what he wants to say versus the prosecutor, that's true, but I give the data pass on anything he wants to say that language in the way, I just know how that's going to.
00:11:32
Speaker 3: Be received exactly.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: So I'm just saying it in the terms of the racial tension that he was very well aware that he actually took I said, a moment to actually try and bring down the ti that is just going to increase the temperature with that kind of.
00:11:45
Speaker 3: Language that he gets to choose, and I get to say.
00:11:48
Speaker 1: What he wants. And I don't know if that was a prepared statement, he might have gotten up there and just started riffing, getting nervous or whatever. I give him a total pass, even if I don't like that sentence. But yes, he can say what he wants.
00:11:57
Speaker 2: And then Austin's twin brother, Hunter Austin literally died in his arms during that track meet. He said, you let the devil take over in that moment. Eventually your name will be forgotten, but my brother's memory will live on.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: This is su this is it's tough. This is an awful story, baby, It's just it was unnecessary. It didn't have to happen. And just so you see how he split second decision has changed the course of lives of two from from Robes. Really by all accounts, two good kids, by all accounts, you didn't have people Carmelo. Anthony was a terrible kid, had a bad history.
00:12:34
Speaker 3: And history, my GPA issues.
00:12:38
Speaker 1: So this is just an awful, awful story. Now what you just said there, his brother got up and said, you let the devil take over in that moment, in that moment, a split second, a moment, but the jury didn't buy any argument. Robes that it was a split second that he didn't let himself cool off because there was an argument they could consider, a sudden passion argument that they could have considered and it would have gotten Carmelo Anthony a lighter sentence. Stay here will explain exactly what that is and how all sides were agreeing that the jury should be able to consider it, but the jury said no. Stay here.
00:13:32
Speaker 2: Well, welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are going over the quick verdict and the fairly shocking sentencing that followed. Immediately after the Carmelo Anthony jury came back and they made swift and harsh decisions. They were, as we said right before the break, told that they should and could consider the sudden passion argument, and this was something that the prosecution had degrees to agree on as well, that they were okay with the jury taking in this into consideration. And here is the sudden passion argument. The defense can argue murder was committed in an intense emotional state that was brought up or brought on by provocation from the victim. So when the defendant didn't take time to cool off, that's when the murder ensued.
00:14:23
Speaker 3: That is what a sudden passion argument would be.
00:14:26
Speaker 2: And if they found that to be the case, then the sentencing guidelines would be just two to twenty years versus five to ninety nine years or opes.
00:14:37
Speaker 1: They got they had two options. The judge said, you can consider manslaughter. The judge said, you can consider sudden passion. They had two options not to give him a harsh penalty. I mean, well, they had an option. We don't just have to say guilty or not guilty. We don't have to just say guilty of first degree murder or not. We actually have options that might be a compromise somewhere in the middle that could lessen this thing. Said nope, faces out, uh nope, and went with the harsher penalty. This one surprised me, Roes.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: I thought for sure they were going to give him and maybe even give him twenty years, you know, maybe give him the highest end of the sudden passion argument. So you know, I was thinking, I bet they're going to go with twenty fifteen to twenty something like. That is where my head was. And look, thirty five isn't as bad as seventy five. They could have gone to ninety nine. But still that was harsher than I was expecting, and it seemed as though it was harsher than Carmelo Anthony was expecting.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you you're still a teen and to hear that, I mean, look five.
00:15:46
Speaker 2: Years anyone who was a teenager, and look, I understand what he did was criminal. What he did took away the life of another person. And it was intentional. It wasn't like it was a car accident or something was intentional. Did he murder him? It was an intentional act of violence that led to murder.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: And that has consequences of ropes. It's nothing to be taken away. I again, have nothing to be taken away from what this crime was and the impact it had a robesy a something about it even made it worse that Austin Metcalf had a twin brother, Like there are so many little details, yes.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: Like his his image is still what he looked like, is still walking around, is in that courtroom. It's haunting in a way because he does have an identical twin brother who survives.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: And he's going to There are going to be kids later that look like Austin Metcalf. Because of his brother. Wow, Like this kind of all this stuff adds and you think about twin boys born together and one of them died in the other's arms. Like you keep adding these things. This is an awful tragedy for this family, for the Metcalf family. There's nobody taking anything away from that. This dude should be going to jail for what he did. Robes, And I think a lot of people outside I know there was a lot of I think there were arrests yesterday, the clashes outside the courthouse and whatnot. But you heard people on both sides. I think reasonable people saying what we're saying, this is an awful tragedy. Nobody wins. It sucks for the Metcalf family. It sucks for the Anthony.
00:17:18
Speaker 3: It really does.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: I think anyone, any parent listening right now, can put yourself in the Metcalf family position, and I think you can put yourself in the Anthony family situation as well, that maybe your kids just did something stupid in the heat of a moment, and it's it's I think this is something that's relatable to everyone.
00:17:39
Speaker 1: Robes. We will wrap up here. There was one quote in particular that kind of brought it home, and I will give the prosecution credit for this line. This is a difficult balance, right, how do you give honor to the victim and the victim's family, but trying to consider the other which includes a seventeen year old kid that did something really stupid that ended in the death. And I thought the prosecutor, I can't argue with this line.
00:18:11
Speaker 2: This is what he said to the jury before they made their decisions. Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.
00:18:21
Speaker 1: I don't know if that line is something common among prosecutors. I'd never heard it used before, but Robes that one's going to stay with me.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: It's something that juries have to consider. And it's a tough position to be. And I've never served on a jury, and frankly, I wouldn't want.
00:18:39
Speaker 1: To, depends on what kind of crime.
00:18:42
Speaker 3: See you've often said, oh, I'd be on that jury.
00:18:46
Speaker 2: But yes, this is another tragedy that we witnessed actually take place very quickly in terms of just outcome. This isn't usually what you see victims' families to have such us just so quickly.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: Think about this, This murder just happened a year ago.
00:19:03
Speaker 2: Some families wait decades to even get to trial, let alone to see a sentence. This is pretty remarkable how they did things down there near Dallas.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: Well, look, if you can take something from it, I mean, swift justice is something that the defendant and the victim should both have. I don't have. Everyone should do this. We always talk about how the family's in death row cases. Was never that, But they have to show up for this appeal, and there's another appeal, and there's this thing, and it keeps showing up to court. They don't have to come back to court. They don't have to wait a few months. They don't have to keep seeing headlines boom all in life? Are we There's something to this that I agree.
00:19:46
Speaker 2: It was incredible to witness and we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone, Thank you as always. I'm Amy Roback alongside TJ.
00:19:54
Speaker 3: Holmes. We will talk to you very soon.
00:20:00
Speaker 2: Eight ten
Speaker 1: Hey, they're folks. It is Wednesday, June tenth, and it was a swift trial, a swift verdict, and swift sentencing for Carmelo Anthony. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robe. In one week, we go through trial, verdict and sentencing and in a trial that makes so many headlines robes. The new headlines today are about his punishment.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Yes, Carmelo Anthony, the jury handed it to him. Not only did they convict him of first degree murder, they then also rejected this notion that he could have.
00:00:39
Speaker 3: Been in a sudden passion moment.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: Actually, it's a legal term sudden passion where you can actually give someone a reduced sentence. I guess it would have put his actions in a second degree felony versus a first degree, so they could have sentenced him to less. They rejected that as well. They could have given him manslaughter. They rejected that.
00:01:00
Speaker 1: Well, so Carmelo Anthony essentially is getting the worst punishment that he could possibly get. Yes, there could have been some more years onto this sentence, but the judge, excuse me, the judgment from the jurors is that now nineteen year old Carmelo Anthony should spend thirty five years in prison the sentence he has been given, I think Robes I did see as well that he has to serve at least half of that before any consideration of parole. But this case they rejected everything essentially that the defense put forward about his age, about his mindset, about his intent, about his self. Defense robes every option they had to be lenient on this kid.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: They passed on, Oh, that's true, and the defense offered at least his frame of mind through some witness testimony that he didn't start out the day angry or in a violent mood, that he was normal and chill. They talked about how he did have someone who he knew in that tent who he went over, And yes, it did seem just from what we read and what we gathered from what happened and what was testified to in that courtroom, it did seem like it's fit the exact definition of sudden passion. Yes, he did something horrific, and yes his decision led to the death of another teenager, and there has to be punishment and acknowledgment for that. He admitted to doing it. He didn't try to get away, and he seemed immediately regretful that any significant harm came to Austin Metcalf, the seventeen year old who died in this stabbing.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: If they considered any of that that you just mentioned, Robes, they didn't show it in their judgment. Yes, they had the option. He could have gotten five to ninety nine years, and you can argue, well, they didn't give him eighty, they didn't give him seventy, didn't give him fifty. But Robes, this is a really harsh punishment given the options that the judge seemed to even give the jury an off ramp if.
00:03:03
Speaker 2: They wont He did multiple times, because right before they went to deliberate yesterday, he offered them the option of manslaughter rather than first degree murder, and that too seems like that could have been a viable option. But it only took them two and a half hours to unanimously come back with a guilty of first degree murder.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: This is some complicated stuff to discuss in Robes. Two and a half hours, we know is a short period of time. Now there are defense attorneys out there that will tell you hear about a short period of deliberation that does not bode well for the defense. Sure enough, it did not in this case, Robes. This case started last Monday with jury selection that continued on Wednesday of last week. They had a jury finally in place. The jury was in place, folks, a week ago today, a week ago. But they gave us a decision yesterday, Robes, on Tuesday. That means in less than a this was days open arguments. Was last Thursday, last Thursday, here we are, and then on the following Tuesday, we have a verdict and we have a sentencing. This thing moves swiftly. Now. We did get word yesterday that the jury did have that verdict, that that was going to be read, and they did do it around two thirty local time. Rope. Some of the reports, and I know you saw all of them as well, from various people reporting independently of each other. It sounded like he was a mess in.
00:04:25
Speaker 2: Court yesterday, Yes Cam Carmelo Anthony, because look, he had been with his parents during this time awaiting trial. So the murder happens, the crime happens when he's seventeen, So he has been spending all of these months with his parents preparing for this trial. Now suddenly in that courtroom he is hearing from a jury that he is guilty of first agree murder and the reality that he is going to prison. He is going to leave his family and he is going to be there for a very very very long time. Yes, it left him shocked, is how they put and physically shaking.
00:05:02
Speaker 3: He was crying.
00:05:04
Speaker 2: They described what you would imagine a teenager, what a teenager's reaction would be to hearing that he will not be he will not be living his life outside of prison walls for decades.
00:05:18
Speaker 1: And he got It's one thing to get the sentence yesterday, and that's awful, But you don't get to regroup. He doesn't get to go home and collect some things. He was taken into the custody of the state immediately. You're not allowed to move freely anymore. Robes. He is a prisoner for possibly the next several decades. And when that hits your robes and you haven't even hit twenty in your life. Almost split decision at a track meet, beefing with some guy who this is an awful, awful story. Yesterday in court and again rope he hurt the verdict, but then they moved right into the sentencing fase. This is the phase that we we mentioned, we're talking about this earlier. Sometimes this happens days, weeks, even months later.
00:06:06
Speaker 2: I was curious about the intentionality of moving this along so quickly, and perhaps because there was I don't know if this is the case, but I was just wondering because this case has garnered so much international attention, because there was so much racial tension outside that courtroom.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: There were protesters on.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: Both sides, and there was concern police were monitoring the groups outside that had visible emotional reactions. But maybe the thought was getting this all done at one time might basically rip a band aid off and let the healing begin, versus dragging this out over weeks and months meeting out the punishment.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: Not sure they moved swiftly in this county down there in Texas. Yes they did, they say, in this particular court, they've even talked about the conviction rates, like it's rare that anybody gets off.
00:06:54
Speaker 3: Yes, they did say that.
00:06:55
Speaker 2: We were watching local news coverage and they made that point very clear that this is not a state, This is not a district where you typically see jurors be lenient towards defendants.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: So he hears the sentence, They take a little break, and they go right into the sentencing phase. Now, the sentencing phase is as they describe, and as you'll hear, here was a mini trial in which, yes, they can call witnesses and there's an opening statement, closing and remarks that are allowed by the defense and the prosecution. There was only one witness that was available. Let's get to the witness first, and that one witness, Robes, was Carmelo, Anthony's mom and Robes, what else could she do but just beg for mercy?
00:07:36
Speaker 2: And that is basically what we heard from Kayla Hayes. She went on the stand and talked about Carmelo and said he's my oldest he will always be my baby. I love him very much. The defense attorney asked, you believe Mellow regrets what he did. She responded, yes, I know my son and he's very sorry for what he did. And then the defense attorne and he asks, is there anything you want to tell the jury. She responds, please have mercy on my son.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: And maybe they feel like they did. I mean, maybe they were people in that arguing for a much harsher sentence than the thirty five years. Who knows. She was questioned you can imagine. I think this might have been the only question Rhodes. But with the cross examination, the prosecution was allowed to ask the mother of Carmelo Anthony questions as well. They didn't take a whole lot of time here with her, but they wanted to take this opportunity. And this makes me uncomfortable and understand maybe what they're trying to do. I just I didn't like it.
00:08:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, the prosecution wanted the perspective to land on the jury, and so he asked, you love your son, and you realize you're still going to be part of his life. She responded, yes, I do. Meaning this mother, although she will lose her son, logistically, you still can visit him, she still can speak with him. And obviously the point being made was that the mother of Austin Metcalf can no longer have a relationship with their son because he's dead.
00:09:12
Speaker 1: I hate it. I hated I hated it. I hated it. I just hated it. I maybe understand.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: It was just it seemed cruel to his mother at that moment.
00:09:22
Speaker 1: Thank you for the word. The word is cruel and I hate comparative suffering. Right, Yes, everybody can acknowledge what Austin Metcalf's family is going through independent of what this mother also is going through, and to hit her with that, it was I thought that was shitty.
00:09:42
Speaker 2: Because it's yes, because it was directed towards his mother.
00:09:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, call him a monster, do whatever. He's the one convicted now, fine, But anyway, that was just one moment. Then they did have several victim impact statement. Yes, and we heard from four members of Austin Metcalf's family. And these are folks we haven't heard a whole lot from, so it was interesting to have them come up and speak.
00:10:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't know how they felt, what kind of justice, what justice looked like for them, but look, they were emotional as you might imagine. So, yes, we heard from Austin's aunt who basically asked the question that we heard often throughout this trial about Carmelo Anthony, why could you not just have left?
00:10:24
Speaker 1: We have that, we all have that question.
00:10:26
Speaker 2: Why could he not have just left that tent? Austin's mom, you may have just been given a sentence of thirty five years. You should feel lucky because I've been sentenced to a life without my son.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: That's that's hard man, that's true. And that's it.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: It's true, but it is tough to hear.
00:10:45
Speaker 2: And then the father this one was this one was tough just I you know, we had talked about that, we had seen him and heard him make the rounds leading up to this trial, really trying to bring down the temperature on this racial tension that was building between the black community and the white community.
00:11:03
Speaker 3: And then sadly he got up on the stand.
00:11:06
Speaker 2: I think, I don't mean to pass judgment on him, but I just felt like, of all the things he could have said, he said, you don't belong in this community. Seemed unnecessary, but he lost his son to the feelings is justifiable.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: He has every now I feel about him differently and saying what he wants to say versus the prosecutor, that's true, but I give the data pass on anything he wants to say that language in the way, I just know how that's going to.
00:11:32
Speaker 3: Be received exactly.
00:11:34
Speaker 2: So I'm just saying it in the terms of the racial tension that he was very well aware that he actually took I said, a moment to actually try and bring down the ti that is just going to increase the temperature with that kind of.
00:11:45
Speaker 3: Language that he gets to choose, and I get to say.
00:11:48
Speaker 1: What he wants. And I don't know if that was a prepared statement, he might have gotten up there and just started riffing, getting nervous or whatever. I give him a total pass, even if I don't like that sentence. But yes, he can say what he wants.
00:11:57
Speaker 2: And then Austin's twin brother, Hunter Austin literally died in his arms during that track meet. He said, you let the devil take over in that moment. Eventually your name will be forgotten, but my brother's memory will live on.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: This is su this is it's tough. This is an awful story, baby, It's just it was unnecessary. It didn't have to happen. And just so you see how he split second decision has changed the course of lives of two from from Robes. Really by all accounts, two good kids, by all accounts, you didn't have people Carmelo. Anthony was a terrible kid, had a bad history.
00:12:34
Speaker 3: And history, my GPA issues.
00:12:38
Speaker 1: So this is just an awful, awful story. Now what you just said there, his brother got up and said, you let the devil take over in that moment, in that moment, a split second, a moment, but the jury didn't buy any argument. Robes that it was a split second that he didn't let himself cool off because there was an argument they could consider, a sudden passion argument that they could have considered and it would have gotten Carmelo Anthony a lighter sentence. Stay here will explain exactly what that is and how all sides were agreeing that the jury should be able to consider it, but the jury said no. Stay here.
00:13:32
Speaker 2: Well, welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are going over the quick verdict and the fairly shocking sentencing that followed. Immediately after the Carmelo Anthony jury came back and they made swift and harsh decisions. They were, as we said right before the break, told that they should and could consider the sudden passion argument, and this was something that the prosecution had degrees to agree on as well, that they were okay with the jury taking in this into consideration. And here is the sudden passion argument. The defense can argue murder was committed in an intense emotional state that was brought up or brought on by provocation from the victim. So when the defendant didn't take time to cool off, that's when the murder ensued.
00:14:23
Speaker 3: That is what a sudden passion argument would be.
00:14:26
Speaker 2: And if they found that to be the case, then the sentencing guidelines would be just two to twenty years versus five to ninety nine years or opes.
00:14:37
Speaker 1: They got they had two options. The judge said, you can consider manslaughter. The judge said, you can consider sudden passion. They had two options not to give him a harsh penalty. I mean, well, they had an option. We don't just have to say guilty or not guilty. We don't have to just say guilty of first degree murder or not. We actually have options that might be a compromise somewhere in the middle that could lessen this thing. Said nope, faces out, uh nope, and went with the harsher penalty. This one surprised me, Roes.
00:15:09
Speaker 2: I thought for sure they were going to give him and maybe even give him twenty years, you know, maybe give him the highest end of the sudden passion argument. So you know, I was thinking, I bet they're going to go with twenty fifteen to twenty something like. That is where my head was. And look, thirty five isn't as bad as seventy five. They could have gone to ninety nine. But still that was harsher than I was expecting, and it seemed as though it was harsher than Carmelo Anthony was expecting.
00:15:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you you're still a teen and to hear that, I mean, look five.
00:15:46
Speaker 2: Years anyone who was a teenager, and look, I understand what he did was criminal. What he did took away the life of another person. And it was intentional. It wasn't like it was a car accident or something was intentional. Did he murder him? It was an intentional act of violence that led to murder.
00:16:07
Speaker 1: And that has consequences of ropes. It's nothing to be taken away. I again, have nothing to be taken away from what this crime was and the impact it had a robesy a something about it even made it worse that Austin Metcalf had a twin brother, Like there are so many little details, yes.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: Like his his image is still what he looked like, is still walking around, is in that courtroom. It's haunting in a way because he does have an identical twin brother who survives.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: And he's going to There are going to be kids later that look like Austin Metcalf. Because of his brother. Wow, Like this kind of all this stuff adds and you think about twin boys born together and one of them died in the other's arms. Like you keep adding these things. This is an awful tragedy for this family, for the Metcalf family. There's nobody taking anything away from that. This dude should be going to jail for what he did. Robes, And I think a lot of people outside I know there was a lot of I think there were arrests yesterday, the clashes outside the courthouse and whatnot. But you heard people on both sides. I think reasonable people saying what we're saying, this is an awful tragedy. Nobody wins. It sucks for the Metcalf family. It sucks for the Anthony.
00:17:18
Speaker 3: It really does.
00:17:18
Speaker 2: I think anyone, any parent listening right now, can put yourself in the Metcalf family position, and I think you can put yourself in the Anthony family situation as well, that maybe your kids just did something stupid in the heat of a moment, and it's it's I think this is something that's relatable to everyone.
00:17:39
Speaker 1: Robes. We will wrap up here. There was one quote in particular that kind of brought it home, and I will give the prosecution credit for this line. This is a difficult balance, right, how do you give honor to the victim and the victim's family, but trying to consider the other which includes a seventeen year old kid that did something really stupid that ended in the death. And I thought the prosecutor, I can't argue with this line.
00:18:11
Speaker 2: This is what he said to the jury before they made their decisions. Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.
00:18:21
Speaker 1: I don't know if that line is something common among prosecutors. I'd never heard it used before, but Robes that one's going to stay with me.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: It's something that juries have to consider. And it's a tough position to be. And I've never served on a jury, and frankly, I wouldn't want.
00:18:39
Speaker 1: To, depends on what kind of crime.
00:18:42
Speaker 3: See you've often said, oh, I'd be on that jury.
00:18:46
Speaker 2: But yes, this is another tragedy that we witnessed actually take place very quickly in terms of just outcome. This isn't usually what you see victims' families to have such us just so quickly.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: Think about this, This murder just happened a year ago.
00:19:03
Speaker 2: Some families wait decades to even get to trial, let alone to see a sentence. This is pretty remarkable how they did things down there near Dallas.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: Well, look, if you can take something from it, I mean, swift justice is something that the defendant and the victim should both have. I don't have. Everyone should do this. We always talk about how the family's in death row cases. Was never that, But they have to show up for this appeal, and there's another appeal, and there's this thing, and it keeps showing up to court. They don't have to come back to court. They don't have to wait a few months. They don't have to keep seeing headlines boom all in life? Are we There's something to this that I agree.
00:19:46
Speaker 2: It was incredible to witness and we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone, Thank you as always. I'm Amy Roback alongside TJ.
00:19:54
Speaker 3: Holmes. We will talk to you very soon.
00:20:00
Speaker 2: Eight ten