Jasmine Crockett

Democratic U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett and Cardi B are among those who have defended Karmelo Anthony in a closely watched case that has stirred racial divisions.

Anthony, 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of murder for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a track meet when both were 17.

The case in Collin County, Texas, drew national attention, partly because of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black, Metcalf was white and none of the jurors were Black, though some were people of color.

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Lawyers on both sides had told jurors that the case had nothing to do with race.

Anthony’s attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense after being confronted by Metcalf during the meet in Frisco last year.

Prosecutors said Anthony had provoked Metcalf, who was unarmed, before fatally stabbing him in a confrontation that quickly unfolded under a crowded stadium tent. It ended with a single stab wound to Metcalf’s chest that the county medical examiner testified was not survivable. The jurors rejected Anthony’s claims of self-defense.

Anthony’s attorneys have filed an appeal of the conviction and sentencing.

'Broken System'

Crockett, a Black Democrat who represents Texas' 30th congressional district, told TMZ on Wednesday that the verdict was "evidence of a broken system."

She said that race and the trial’s venue "absolutely" played a role and that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the races were reversed.

"Collin County is right north of Dallas County, and I can tell you that I have had cases that I felt like played out differently because of the counties that they were in, and unfortunately that was not the county for a Black boy," she said.

Crockett said that if Anthony was white and the victim was Black, she doesn’t believe he would have been handed such a lengthy sentence.

"I don't even know if he would have been convicted, because if a white boy would have said that they were afraid of a Black boy, something tells me that that jury that didn't have any Black people on it, they would have believed him and his fear," she said.

She said that given the facts of the case, jurors should have opted for a lesser charge of manslaughter.

"He ended up hitting Austin one time and it was about where he hit him…This wasn't someone who said, ‘Hey, let me stab you five, six, seven times’," Crockett said.

Sentencing for murder in Texas ranges from five to 99 years .

"You are looking at how intentional, like how bad was this," she said. "Thirty-five years for a kid who had decided to go under a tent that was not his team's tent, as it was raining, and simply didn't want to be put out in the rain by some random kid that he didn't know, who was larger than him.

"The fact that there was little to no mercy seen or humanity seen when this Black boy said that 'I was scared,' or the fact that, honestly, anybody else who did something with such a small object, all I know is that it wasn't considered unlawful carrying of a weapon, because the blade was not long enough, that they wouldn't even say, well, maybe this was more so something that looked like manslaughter."

Rapper Cardi B also condemned the verdict and sentence given to Anthony.

She wrote on X: "Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING…This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!"

Dallas-based civil rights activist Dominique Alexander, the founder of Next Generation Action Network, said the verdict showed that "Black lives do not matter in Collin County."

"After Trayvon Martin and so many countless names, it has shown us that Black life is not safe in Collin County," he said. "It showed very clearly that a Black boy was allowed not one Black soul on a jury. An all-white jury convicted him in two to three hours."

Racial Divisions

There had been clashes outside the courthouse during the trial.

Conservative influencer Elijah Schaffer posted video on X showing a Black woman yelling that Anthony was protecting himself.

"Random supporters are approaching white people like myself and screaming at us. Lots of anti-white racial slurs being thrown around," he wrote, though the 13-second clip he shared did not show any racial slurs being used.

Meanwhile, a white woman sparked outrage on social media after being captured on video saying that Anthony’s supporters were "chimping out" and used a racist slur.

Right-wing provocateur Jake Lang yelled that Anthony should be "lynched" soon after jurors began hearing the case, The Washington Post reported.

Lang, who was charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol but later pardoned by President Donald Trump, was arrested on Tuesday after getting off a flight in Dallas.

He was booked into Dallas County Jail on a third-degree felony count of making a terroristic threat, CBS News reported. Anthony’s family told the outlet that Lang had allegedly threatened to shoot Anthony in the head if he was not convicted of murder.

Lang formed a group called "Protect White Americans" after Anthony was released on bond and held a rally in Frisco 17 days after Metcalf’s death, even after Metcalf’s father Jeff Metcalf urged him to call it off, according to the Dallas Observer.

Comparisons With Kyle Rittenhouse

The case has drawn comparisons to that of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white man who was acquitted of all charges in the 2020 shootings of three men, two fatally, in Wisconsin when he was 17 after testifying that he acted in self-defense.

Some have argued that because of his race Anthony was not given the same grace as Rittenhouse. But there are significant differences in the two cases, including self-defense laws in Wisconsin and Texas and that incidents in Rittenhouse’s case were captured clearly in multiple videos, while the decisive seconds in the surveillance video in Anthony’s case were harder to interpret.

Rittenhouse has hit back at the comparisons.