The Trial: USA

Karmelo Anthony’s lethal force against Austin Metcalf during a 2025 teenage track meet scuffle was not justified.

That was the finding of the Texas jury in Anthony’s case last week. The same panel sentenced the 19-year-old to 35 years in prison for murder.

Yet the conviction remains a topic of intense interest and controversy. It has been framed as a racial injustice by Anthony’s supporters despite testimony from a number of witnesses that he was not in danger.
Metcalf, 17, another local athlete, died for nothing and the verdict was deserved, others say.

In this episode, James Stainton, a district attorney from another county in the greater Dallas area, breaks down the law and how it applies.

Stainton explains to The Trial: USA’s Kayla Brantley that the jury followed the law.

Tune in for this in-depth analysis on Anthony’s case.
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Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producer: Lucy Robson
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

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Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial happened in Texas but the case has triggered strong reactions from observers around the country.

The 19-year-old’s legal team argued self-defense but witnesses told the jury that Anthony was never in danger. He was simply being asked to leave a private area belonging to a rival high school’s track squad.

Daily Mail’s Texas Bureau Chief MaryAnn Martinez joins us this week to break down the evidence and dispel misinformation that has been amplified on social media. Unsubstantiated theories have circulated since April 2025, when 17-year-old Austin Metcalf was killed. He died in the arms of his twin brother.

Anthony was found guilty of murder at his trial last week and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The verdict has renewed accusations of racism from his supporters even as the jury rejected his justification defense.

Tune into Martinez’s conversation with Kayla Brantley to learn what the evidence at trial revealed and what claims are not supported by fact.

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Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial

Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producer: Lucy Robson
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Click here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter.
It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cartisha Morgan came to CrimeCon in the hopes of bringing attention to the case of her missing daughter and young grandchild, a toddler when she vanished. Morgan believes her daughter Ma’Kayla Wickerson bought into the teachings of a group that police have called a cult before disappearing with the tot from their Missouri home.

Another family was at the event to ask to promote their campaign for answers. Christopher Abeyta, a 7-month-old, was stolen from his crib in Colorado Springs nearly 40 years ago. His family, including a niece he never met, wants police to focus on a woman who they believe may have gotten away with the crime. They hope that person can explain what happened to baby Christopher.

The episode this week brings you a roundup of these stories and others from the Crime Desk team at CrimeCon 2026 in Las Vegas.

Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial
Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producers: Shayna Jacobs and Lucy Robson
Editor: Chelsey Ranore
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Follow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrime
Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial

Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producer: Lucy Robson
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Click here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter.
It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We share in this episode an in-depth conversation with the parents of Kaylee Concalves at CrimeCon 2026 in Las Vegas where they promoted the “Murder Has a Name” foundation started in their daughter’s honor to help other families find answers with the help of advanced DNA technology.

Steve and Kristi Goncalves also discussed their family’s raw anger at killer Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing and the risk they decided to take to speak their minds unfiltered.
‘These guys need to be treated like the animals that they are,’ Steve Goncalves told the Mail. ‘If you're gonna behave like an animal, treat them like an animal.’

The couple also discusses threats they've faced from supporters of Kohberger and the twisted logic his fans have used to challenge investigative facts, even though his criminal case resulted in Kohberger’s guilty plea last year.

Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole for the 2022 slayings. Kaylee’s parents say he should have received nothing less than capital punishment.

Join us for Daily Mail US Crime Correspondent Rachel Sharp’s full interview with the Goncalves parents.

Murder Has a Name: https://www.murderhasaname.com/

Click here to sign up to The Crime Desk: thecrimedesk.com

Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producers: Shayna Jacobs and Lucy Robson
Editor: Chelsey Ranore
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Follow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrime
Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial

It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.

Follow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrime
Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial

Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producer: Lucy Robson
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Click here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter.
It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Stainton spent years working to bring Tanner Horner to justice for abusing and killing a beloved child before callously discarding her remains in rural Texas on November 30, 2022.

On this episode, Stainton shares with The Trial: USA’s Kayla Brantley what it was like to shoulder the task of seeking justice for Athena Strand and her devastated family. He also discusses capital punishment and why, as he argued at trial, Horner's actions are why the death penalty exists.

Horner was sentenced to execution by lethal injection on May 5 after a five-week jury trial held to determine his fate. He’d previously pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping the first-grader, who was abducted from her family’s sprawling property in Paradise, Texas.

Athena’s death devastated her family, friends and community. She inspired a law that enables law enforcement to employ quicker responses to missing children calls by issuing what has become known as an “Athena Alert.” Her family also started a charity in her honor in an effort to share the little girl’s legacy.
Athena’s Army: https://asarmy.com/

Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial
Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producers: Shayna Jacobs and Lucy Robson
Editor: Chelsey Ranore
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Follow us on TikTok: @DailyMailCrime
Email us: thetrial@dailymail.com
WhatsApp us: +44 7796 657512 Start your message with Trial

Presenter: Kayla Brantley
Producer: Lucy Robson
Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham
Executive Producer: Jamie East

Click here to sign up to The Crime Desk's weekly newsletter.
It's free and packed with exclusive interviews, expert insight, and gripping deep dive investigations from across the world.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.