Prosecutors disclosed at a new-trial hearing that Karmelo Anthony allegedly stalked an ex-girlfriend and had an obsession with knives, evidence a verbal deal kept from the jury that convicted him of murder.
Lead prosecutor Bill Wirske told a Collin County courtroom Thursday that the state possessed text messages and other materials showing Anthony's alleged fixation on violence and knives, none of which the jury that sentenced the 19-year-old to 35 years in prison ever saw. Wirske said Anthony's former girlfriend went to his school on the morning of the fatal stabbing and reported she was afraid of him, Fox News Digital reported.
The reason none of it reached the jury: a verbal agreement between Anthony's original defense team and the prosecution to exclude character evidence about Anthony, victim Austin Metcalf, and Metcalf's brother Hunter. Wirske said both sides honored the deal, but Anthony's new defense team now disputes it, arguing the prosecution failed to turn over the material.
Retired District Judge Michael Chitty, who was assigned to hear the motion after the original trial judge was removed from the case, faces a Monday deadline to decide whether Anthony gets a new trial. Under Texas rules, a judge must rule on a new-trial motion within 75 days of sentencing. If Chitty does not grant it by Monday, the motion dies automatically.
Judge John Roach, who presided over Anthony's murder trial, was pulled from the case just one day before Thursday's hearing. Judge Sid Harle ordered Roach's removal Wednesday, finding that a reasonable outside observer could question whether Roach appeared impartial. The basis: a post-trial television interview in which Roach said the jury "got it right" and defended several of his own trial decisions.
Anthony's defense team had demanded Roach's removal alongside its new-trial request. Both motions were filed July 7. Roach referred the recusal request for assignment to another judge under standard Texas procedure, and Harle took it from there.
A judge publicly praising a verdict he oversaw, then being asked to evaluate whether that same trial was fair, is the kind of procedural failure that hands a convicted defendant a foothold. Roach created the opening himself.
Lead defense attorney Russell Wilson told the court his team would present more than 40 exhibits and at least 12 witnesses. His central arguments: that cameras were barred from the courtroom during the trial, only 27 public seats were available, and those restrictions amounted to an unconstitutional closure. Wilson also argued that Roach made critical decisions outside the formal court record.
Wirske pushed back. He said Anthony's original defense lawyers consented to the security and courtroom-access arrangements now being challenged by the new legal team. The prosecutor added that both sides relied on paper filings and off-the-record discussions because of threats, doxxing, and organized efforts to disrupt the high-profile case.
The case drew intense public attention from the start. An estimated 75 to 100 people gathered outside the courtroom before Thursday's hearing. Only nine media spots were available inside, and the room filled before proceedings began. One man outside wore a Black Panther uniform. Some attendees raised fists as Wilson arrived.
That atmosphere, and the arrests outside the courthouse after Anthony's sentencing, helps explain why the trial operated under tight security. It also makes the defense team's complaint about limited public access harder to take at face value when the restrictions existed in part because of conduct by Anthony's own supporters.
Criminal appellate attorney Brett Ordiway, speaking to Fox News Digital, laid out just how steep the climb is for Anthony's defense. He explained that granting the motion would erase the conviction and sentence entirely, giving Anthony a fresh trial.
"It is very, very difficult to win these motions in any case, and I would be surprised if they were successful here."
Ordiway also outlined the deadline pressure. If Chitty does not act by Monday, the motion is denied by operation of law, no ruling required. Anthony's next option would be a direct appeal to the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, decided by a three-judge panel. That process can take a year or longer.
Anthony was convicted of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco. Prosecutors said Anthony stabbed Metcalf during an altercation at a Frisco track meet. A Collin County jury handed down the conviction and the 35-year sentence on June 9. Anthony was transferred to Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody and assigned to the Pack Unit near Navasota.
The case became a flashpoint far beyond the courtroom. House Democrats publicly challenged the verdict, citing race and jury composition, a political intervention that did nothing to address the evidence presented at trial.
Jeff Metcalf, Austin's father, appeared on "The Will Cain Show" Wednesday and kept his focus where it belongs, on the evidence and the outcome.
"It's just one step in a long journey. It doesn't really change the facts."
At Thursday's hearing, Jeff Metcalf greeted prosecutor Wirske before proceedings began and sat on the opposite side of the courtroom from Anthony's family. Fox News Digital reached out to Anthony's defense team for comment.
The broader spectacle around this case, from the AI-generated images desecrating Austin Metcalf's grave to the pulled $625,000 fundraiser, has consistently elevated the defendant while the victim's family endures one procedural challenge after another.
The jury heard the case. The jury reached a verdict. The prosecution now says it had even more evidence of Anthony's violent tendencies than the jury ever saw. If that is the defense team's best argument for a new trial, Jeff Metcalf has it right: the facts have not changed.
