MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A trial in Texas that started this week has become a national story, in part because of the racial dynamics. A Black teenager is facing first-degree murder charges for the killing of a white teenager last year. Caroline Love from member station KERA has been covering the case.
CAROLINE LOVE, BYLINE: Karmelo Anthony is accused of stabbing Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet last year in Frisco near Dallas, Texas. Both were 17. Anthony's defense attorney is arguing he acted in self-defense, but the prosecution calls it a senseless murder. Witnesses told the jury on Thursday Anthony said the day of the attack that Metcalf put his hands on him. Metcalf was white and Anthony is Black, and that's led to polarizing conversations online and attracted attention from far-right activists. The day after the attack, Metcalf's father, Jeff Metcalf, told Fox News his son's death had nothing to do with race.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEFF METCALF: This was not a race thing. This is a human being thing. This person made a bad choice, and it affected both his family and my family forever.
LOVE: Metcalf hasn't spoken to the media since the judge issued a gag order last July, banning people involved in the case from talking to the media or posting about it online. The panel of 12 jurors and six alternates is mostly white. There are no Black jurors.
The trial is in Collin County. It's one of the fastest-growing counties in the country and is fueled by a booming minority population. Anna Offit, a criminal law professor at Southern Methodist University, said having a white jury in a diverse county is often not an accident.
ANNA OFFIT: It is a choice. It is not inevitable.
LOVE: And she says the racial makeup of the jury and what they think about race is especially important in this trial.
OFFIT: Racial misinformation, racial stereotypes are particularly problematic in this murder trial because this is a trial that's going to come down to what ordinary people make of the alleged altercation between the defendant and victim here.
LOVE: Anthony is being tried as an adult and faces up to life in prison if convicted. He was 17 at the time of the killing, so the death penalty is not on the table. The Anthony trial is set to continue for at least another week.
For NPR News, I'm Caroline Love.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE VERNON SPRING'S "MOTHER'S LOVE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.