BREAKING: Jury reached a verdict in the Karmelo Anthony murder trial

Anthony is now facing life in prison.

A Collin County, Texas jury on Tuesday found 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony guilty of murdering 17-year-old high school athlete Austin Metcalf, bringing an end to one of the most closely watched murder trials in the country.

Anthony, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was tried as an adult. He now faces anywhere from five years to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Just before the verdict was read, CBS reporter J.D. Miles noted that more than two dozen deputies had been stationed outside the courtroom as tensions mounted. A crowd gathered outside the courthouse chanting, “Free Karmelo.”

The case exploded into the national spotlight after Anthony, who is black, fatally stabbed Metcalf, who was white, during a track event in Frisco, Texas in April 2025. The story gained traction not only because of the circumstances surrounding the killing, but because much of the corporate press seemed strangely uninterested in covering it. Had the racial dynamics been reversed, everyone knows the media cycle would have looked very different.

The trial itself moved quickly. Jury selection began June 1 and the proceedings wrapped in just nine days. Throughout the trial, prosecutors presented video footage and witness testimony showing Anthony initiated the confrontation with Metcalf and that deadly force was not justified. Even testimony from defense witnesses undercut the self-defense narrative pushed by Anthony’s legal team.

Anthony notably declined to testify in his own defense.

The racial narrative promoted by Anthony’s family also fell apart once witnesses took the stand. Several black teenage witnesses called by the prosecution testified that Anthony was in the wrong and described Metcalf as a respected friend and leader.

One of the most emotional moments came when a young male witness who knew both teens broke down in tears while describing the killing.

“That was my brother, that was my brother that got stabbed,” he said.

Investigative journalist Sarah Fields, who attended the trial, reported that the witness was directly asked whether the case was about race.

“No,” the teen responded. “Austin was a leader and he protected us.”

Video evidence further dismantled claims that Anthony had been cornered or threatened by a mob. Footage showed Metcalf confronting Anthony alone. According to witness testimony, Metcalf explicitly told Anthony he was not going to fight him.

Meanwhile, supporters of Anthony have maintained a presence outside the courthouse since the start of the trial, with some making inflammatory racial remarks and publicly attacking the victim. Authorities increased security around the courthouse early Tuesday morning amid concerns about possible unrest following the verdict.

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BREAKING: R. Kelly guilty of sex-trafficking

I believe he can cry. 

R. Kelly was found guilty Monday of sexually abusing multiple women, boys and girls for decades. This is the superstar's stunning fall from grace, as a jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about nine hours over two days before reaching their unanimous verdict on racketeering charges.

The trial lasted about a month in the federal courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn, just a stone's throw from the Brooklyn Bridge.

From the beginning of the month-long trial, prosecutors depicted Kelly, 54, as a “predator” who used his fame and a cadre of employees to prey on young victims. Others paint him as a POS [google it].

“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,” Assistant US Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement last month. “This case is about a predator.” 

Prosecutors were able to prove the racketeering charges by showing the jury how Kelly used a network of his friends and people who worked for him in his "inner circle" to transport his targets across state lines, control their actions, and facilitate the sexual abuse.

Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York then called a bunch of witnesses who testified about the abuse the singer of "I Believe I Can Fly," subjected them to. 

His wings have been clipped.

The first witness to take the stand was Jerhonda Pace, who said Kelly repeatedly had sex with her over the course of several months after they had exchanged numbers at a party at Kelly's Chicago mansion when she was under 18 years old. 

In their last encounter, Kelly became pissed off at Pace because she was texting on her phone and paid him no attention when he walked into the room, she explained.

Kelly smacked her in the face and forced her to perform oral sex on him after berating her, she said in court. 

During her testimony, she read from a journal, at times pausing to wipe away tears. 

“I went to Rob’s house and he called me a bitch,” she read aloud. “He said I was a silly bitch. He slapped me three times and said if I lied to him again it’s not going to be an open hand next time.

“He spit in my face and mouth,” she said. “He choked me during an argument. I had sex with him. I had oral sex with him. I went home and confessed.”

Other than that, he was a perfect gentleman.

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Kelly’s attorneys tried to cast Pace — and his other accusers — as hysterical fans who were obsessed with Kelly and concocted stories about him because he refused their advances.

One of his victims was R&B singer Aaliyah, who Kelly illegally wed in a Chicago hotel room in 1994, when she was 15 years old. Kelly had to rely on his entourage in order for the nuptials to move forward.

A former tour manager for the disgraced singer testified in August that he bribed a Chicago-area welfare office employee to make a fake ID for Aaliyah, which listed her age as 18. Kelly was 27 years old at the time. Prosecutors alleged Kelly married Aaliyah in order to dodge criminal charges for having sex with a minor and to block her from testifying against him about abuse. Unfortunately, Aaliyah died in a plane crash when she was 22.

A witness at trial, a former backup dancer known as "Angela," testified that she witnessed Kelly performing oral sex on Aaliyah when she was 13 or 14 years old on a tour bus they were traveling on. 

The defense called on several witnesses whose careers were closely tied to Kelly as they tried to cast him as less of a scumbag as he apparently is. 

One defense witness, music consultant Julius Darrington, testified that he did not see Kelly abuse women while working with him in his Chicago studio and when they traveled across country for shows. 

He said on cross-examination that he had no knowledge of what Kelly did when he wasn't with him, so his testimony was as useful as ice skates on a beaver.

Kelly did not take the stand in his own defense, meaning he had a good lawyer. But the singer faces more criminal charges outside of New York as he was also charged by state prosecutors in Minnesota with engaging in prostitution with a minor and by federal prosecutors in Illinois for child pornography and obstruction.

I believe he wishes he can fly.

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BREAKING: Fed. prosecutors recommend 'substantial term of imprisonment' for Michael Cohen

Federal prosecutors moments ago said in a court document that Michael Cohen "repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends" and are recommending substantial prison time.

He will also be fined $500,000.

For those readers who may have just been told the Viet Nam War is over, Mr. Cohen was President Trump's personal lawyer and claimed that he would "take a bullet" for him. [President Trump is currently our president and beat a horrible woman named Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.]

But seriously, the U.S. Attorney General's Office for the Southern District of New York filed the memo that described "a pattern of deception" that Cohen perpetuated and led him to commit four federal crimes over several years.

The memo reads:

He was motivated to do so by personal greed, and repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends. The crimes committed by Cohen were more serious than his submission allows and were marked by a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life (and was evidently hidden from the friends and family members who wrote on his behalf).”

He was motivated to do so by personal greed, and repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends.

— The U.S. Attorney General’s Office for the Southern District of New York

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to making false statements to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017 about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He pleaded guilty in August in a separate case that Mueller referred to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York because it fell outside the scope of his congressional mandate to probe possible Russia collusion.

Michael Cohen is in deep trouble.

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DOJ exploring possible follow-up on Steinle case

The Department of Justice is exploring an option of bringing federal charges against Jose Garcia Zarate after the San Francisco court reached a not guilty verdict in the Kate Steinle murder trial, according to Fox News who spoke with department officials of the DOJ.

A brain-dead California jury acquitted Zarate of the more serious charges in the case, which includes murder, involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon.

The 5-time felon was only convicted of possession of a firearm.

U.S. immigration officials said they'd deport Garcia Zarate (aka Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez) who was wanted for deportation. 

Steinle family

Zarate was previously deported only 5 times and kept worming his way back into the country, specifically, San Francisco because it's a sanctuary city for felons and other illegal aliens and he knew they'd protect him from the law.

Kate Steinle, 32, was with her father on a San Francisco pier in 2015 when Zarate, about 90 feet away, found a Sig Sauer handgun, picked it up, and it allegedly went off all by itself as handguns are all known to do, and shot her in the back.

Zarate could be sentenced 3 years in prison for the firearm charge, but he's already been locked up for over 2 years awaiting trial. 

President Trump, who simply cannot not comment on legal matters called the verdict "disgraceful" and has used the case to rally support for a border wall.

"The Kate Steinle killer came back and back over the weakly protected Obama border, always committing crimes and being violent, and yet this info was not used in court. His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!" he tweeted Friday.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions also disagreed with the verdict in a written statement using zero exclamation marks, unlike the president.

"When jurisdictions choose to return criminal aliens to the streets rather than turning them over to federal authorities, they put the public's safety at risk. San Francisco's decision to protect criminal aliens led to the preventable and heartbreaking death of Kate Steinle," Sessions said. "While the State of California sought a murder charge for the man who caused Ms. Steinle' death--a man who would not have been on the streets of San Francisco if the city simply honored an ICE detainer--the people ultimately convicted him of felon in possession of a firearm."

Sessions said the DOJ "will continue to ensure that all jurisdictions place safety and security of their communities above the convenience of criminal aliens." 

He did not mention any additional charges that may be brought forward if the DOJ pursues the case.

The jury was never told that Zarate was a 7-time convicted felon and had been deported 5 times. Had they known this, the verdict may have been different. But in San Francisco, you never know.

Zarate didn't deny shooting Steinle, but he said it was an accident. He had several different explanations as to how the "accident" occurred, but that didn't seem to matter to the jury.

Kate Steinle was a white privilege woman.


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