A stunned Court TV panelist was left shell-shocked after hearing Texas teenager Karmelo Anthony had been found guilty of murder. 

Sunny Slaughter, a legal analyst, appeared slack-jawed as she gave her reaction to the verdict, saying she was 'not expecting' that the 19-year-old would face a murder conviction over the death of Austin Metcalf last year. 

The case sharply divided the nation as Anthony claimed he stabbed Metcalf, 17, in the heart in self-defense, with debates over race and Texas's Stand Your Ground laws fueling controversy ahead of the trial. 

After a jury found Anthony guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday, Slaughter said she was shocked that he did not face reduced charges of manslaughter instead. 

'I did not expect the top charge,' she said. 'I really was thinking they'd see manslaughter, still guilty, but manslaughter.'

'But, wow, guilty of murder... that's heavy,' Slaughter continued. 

'It seems like we're going to have a problem there.' 

As the camera cut away to footage of supporters of Anthony and the Metcalf family clashing outside the courthouse, another person chimed in on the Court TV broadcast: 'This is dumb. This is dumb.' 

It comes as Anthony's case drew controversy across the nation throughout his week-long trial, with supporters of the teenager, who is black, accusing prosecutors of racism in their decision to charge him with murder. 

But prosecutors and Metcalf's family insisted the case was not about race, and argued that Anthony needlessly stabbed Metcalf in the heart at a Texas track meet after being pushed by the victim when they had a brief argument. 

After finding Anthony guilty on Tuesday, a jury sentenced him to 35 years behind bars. 

At his sentencing, Anthony broke down in tears and wept in front of the courtroom as he learned his fate, before Metcalf's father, Jeff, tore into the teenage killer in his victim impact statement.

The father demanded the convicted killer look him in the eyes as he described his son's untimely death in heart-wrenching detail, saying the tragedy 'destroyed' his family's lives.

'You're going to prison,' Jeff Metcalf told Anthony. 'You can't even look me in the eyes right now, but you can stab my f***ing son in the heart.'

The dad described the 'unfiltered rage' he feels over his son's untimely death.

'If you ask me what my son's death did to me, I would tell you it destroyed the person I used to be. Not changed me, destroyed me,' Jeff told the court.

The grieving father said he forgave Anthony 'the day it happened' but did not forgive 'what you did.'

He said the Metcalf family was 'robbed' of seeing Austin grow up and regretted he wasn't there to defend his son at the sporting event in April 2025.

'People think that grief is sadness but it's not. It's rage. Pure unfiltered rage,' Jeff shouted as he slammed his fist down.

'My son's death didn't just break my heart,' he continued, adding that it also destroyed 'my sense of safety, my faith in people.'

Jeff also addressed attempts to make the trial about race, saying it had nothing to do with his son's death and the trial was only about 'right and wrong.'

'We're all humans. We all bleed the same color,' Jeff noted, before addressing Anthony himself.

'You're free to make choices all you want, but you're not free from those consequences. You will face those consequences starting today,' he said.

'You failed your parents, you failed yourself and you failed society. You don't belong in this community,' the heartbroken father concluded.