Prosecutors in the Karmelo Anthony murder case disclosed a cache of evidence the original jury never saw, including texts about knives and an ex-girlfriend's report that Anthony was stalking her hours before the fatal stabbing, as a new judge weighs whether to throw out his conviction.
The revelations surfaced Thursday during a new-trial hearing in Collin County, Texas, where Anthony's defense team argued that procedural failures and an unconstitutional courtroom closure denied the 19-year-old a fair trial. Lead prosecutor Bill Wirske countered with material that cut the other way: Anthony's former girlfriend went to his school on the morning of the stabbing and told officials she was afraid of him, and the state possessed text messages and other records showing what Wirske described as Anthony's interest in violence and knives.
None of that evidence reached the jury. A verbal agreement between prosecutors and Anthony's original defense team kept character evidence about Anthony, victim Austin Metcalf, and Metcalf's twin brother Hunter out of the trial entirely. The deal, which Wirske called a "gentleman's agreement," also shielded Austin Metcalf's juvenile record, which the defense alleged included racist graffiti, from the proceedings. Wirske told the court the rationale was simple: "Let's stay away from historical character and stick to the facts, what happened under the tent."
Anthony's former lead attorney, Mike Howard, testified Thursday that the agreement unraveled at the worst possible moment. Howard told the court that both sides understood the oral deal would allow Anthony to take the stand, so long as his testimony stayed focused on the confrontation itself. But on the final day of trial, prosecutors informed the defense that the agreement did not cover a testifying defendant, meaning cross-examination could open the door to the very character evidence both sides had agreed to suppress.
Howard said a heated break followed. The defense was forced to reconsider whether Anthony should testify at all. Anthony ultimately stayed off the stand. Howard testified that the uncertainty over what prosecutors could raise on cross-examination directly affected that decision.
The collapse of that agreement sits at the center of the defense's new-trial bid. Anthony's current lead attorney, Russell Wilson, argued that critical decisions in the case were made off the record, outside the formal court process. Howard backed that claim, testifying that lawyers and the original trial judge, John Roach, held more than a dozen off-the-record meetings before trial. Anthony was not present for any of them. Howard described the filing system as "old-school", parties submitted materials directly to Roach rather than through formal pretrial motions.
Wirske pushed back, telling the court that the parties relied on paper filings and off-the-record discussions because of threats, doxxing, and efforts to disrupt the high-profile case. He also said Anthony's original defense team consented to security and courtroom-access decisions that the new defense team now challenges.
The hearing Thursday unfolded before Retired District Judge Michael Chitty, not the judge who presided over the original trial. Judge Roach was removed from all remaining trial-court proceedings just one day earlier, on Wednesday, after Judge Sid Harle found that a reasonable outside observer could question Roach's impartiality. The basis: a post-trial television interview in which Roach told a Dallas station the jury "got it right" and defended several of his trial rulings, including his dismissal of three prospective Black jurors.
Anthony's lawyers called the ruling a vindication. "Today's ruling answers a fundamental question: whether a reasonable fully informed observer would see Judge Roach's conduct and believe that he could fairly and impartially consider a motion for new trial," they said in a statement.
Frederick Douglass Haynes III, a prominent activist involved in the case, put it more bluntly, saying Roach "jumped the gun" by publicly agreeing with the verdict. The Washington Examiner reported that the final jury that convicted Anthony included no Black jurors, a fact the defense has cited as additional grounds for a retrial.
Roach's removal followed a recusal motion Anthony's team filed on July 7, the same day they filed the motion for a new trial. Under Texas procedure, Roach referred the recusal request for assignment to another judge. Harle took it up and sided with the defense. Questions about racial bias in jury selection have surfaced in high-profile cases across the country, and Anthony's supporters have drawn parallels.
Wilson also argued that access restrictions during the original trial amounted to an unconstitutional closure of the courtroom. Cameras were barred. Only 27 seats were available for members of the public. The defense's new-trial motion contends those limits violated Anthony's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial.
Howard testified that the defense discussed waiving some public-trial access because of security concerns, but said no formal Sixth Amendment waiver was ever placed on the record. He added that the decision not to use an overflow room was tied to technology concerns, not a specific security threat. Wilson arrived at Thursday's hearing to find approximately 75 to 100 people gathered outside the courtroom, a crowd that underscored public interest in a case that has drawn national attention since a Collin County jury convicted Anthony in June and sentenced him to 35 years.
The defense planned to present more than 40 exhibits and at least 12 witnesses. Anthony attended Thursday's hearing in a navy suit and tie, his wrists shackled. Since his sentencing on June 9, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has held him at the Pack Unit, a state prison near Navasota.
The case has raised broader questions about how convictions can be thrown into limbo when judges or procedural failures undermine public confidence in the process.
Wirske's disclosures Thursday painted a picture of a defendant whose behavior in the hours before the stabbing went far beyond what the jury heard. Anthony's former girlfriend reported to his school that she was afraid of him on the morning of the attack. The state possessed text messages, including, Fox News reported, a photo of a knife with the message "I'm low key on the verge", that prosecutors said showed Anthony's fixation on knives and violence.
Wirske described Anthony's state of mind in stark terms: "He was spiraling." Yet none of this material reached the twelve people who decided Anthony's fate, because both sides agreed to keep it out.
The defense, for its part, had its own suppressed ammunition. Wilson's team cited school records, social-media posts, and videos that allegedly showed prior aggressive behavior by Austin Metcalf and his twin brother Hunter, including what the defense described as racist language and prior fights. Those details, too, stayed out of the trial under the gentleman's agreement. The aftermath of the conviction had already drawn activists who petitioned for Hunter Metcalf's arrest, citing similar allegations.
Anthony was convicted of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial High School in Frisco, during an altercation at a high school track meet. Jurors rejected Anthony's claim of "sudden passion", a legal argument that, if accepted, would have reduced his sentence. Anthony attended Frisco Centennial High School.
Judge Chitty faces a hard clock. Texas rules require a judge to rule on a motion for a new trial within 75 days of sentencing. That deadline falls Monday. If Chitty does not grant the motion by then, it is denied automatically, by operation of law.
Criminal appellate lawyer Brett Ordiway explained the stakes to Fox News Digital:
"Granting that motion wipes out the conviction and the sentence altogether and gives Karmelo Anthony a new trial. It is very, very difficult to win these motions in any case, and I would be surprised if they were successful here."
If the motion fails, Anthony's case moves to a direct appeal before a three-judge panel at the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, a process Ordiway said can take a year or longer. The defense's challenge to jury instructions on self-defense, the courtroom-closure argument, and the fallout from Roach's removal would all carry forward into that appeal.
Jeff Metcalf, Austin's father, greeted prosecutor Wirske before Thursday's hearing. He appeared on "The Will Cain Show" on Wednesday and offered a measured response to Roach's removal.
"It's just one step in a long journey. It doesn't really change the facts."
Metcalf has maintained that position throughout. His son is still dead. Anthony is still convicted. And the financial and legal dimensions of Anthony's defense have drawn their own scrutiny.
Fox News Digital reached out to Anthony's defense team for comment. Whether the evidence the jury never saw, the texts, the stalking report, the knife photo, ultimately helps or hurts Anthony may depend on which side of the gentleman's agreement a new judge finds more troubling. Both sides gambled. Both sides hid facts from the jury. And a 17-year-old is still in the ground.
When prosecutors and defense lawyers cut backroom deals to keep the truth off the record, the system does not deliver justice, it delivers a verdict. Those are not the same thing.