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A courtroom sketch shows the district attorney pointing at Karmelo Anthony, center, at the defense table in opening arguments Thursday, June 4, 2026, in McKinney, Texas, during the trial of a teen accused of fatally stabbing another during a track meet in suburban Dallas last year.<\/p>\n
Paat Lopez\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Karmelo Anthony\u2019s defense attorneys struck a handshake deal intended to protect their client from his past.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Each side stood to gain from the idea floated by the lead prosecutor, wrote Mike Howard, Anthony\u2019s trial attorney, in a sworn affidavit appealing Anthony\u2019s conviction<\/a>. Jurors and reporters would never hear that the victim and his twin brother had been accused of bullying and racism. They\u2019d never see Anthony\u2019s cellphone records; his school disciplinary history would stay sealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cgentleman\u2019s agreement,\u201d detailed in Howard\u2019s affidavit, meant the jury would see the case through a narrow lens, zoomed in on the morning of April 2, 2025; the minutes before and after Anthony fatally stabbed Austin Metcalf. Anthony called it an act of self-defense. The state called it murder.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Howard\u2019s statement offers the clearest look yet at the defense team\u2019s strategy \u2014 and how it unraveled under the confines of an agreement designed to shield the histories of three teenagers at the center of the case.<\/p>\n In Howard\u2019s telling, prosecutors backed out of the deal on the cusp of the trial\u2019s most consequential moment, a betrayal that would cost Anthony his chance to take the stand. The timing was so unjust, his lawyers argued in the appeal filed last week, that Anthony deserves a new trial. The prosecution has denied the accusations of misconduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: How the case against Karmelo Anthony unfolded<\/a><\/p>\n Lawyers who spoke with The Dallas Morning News said the agreement \u2014 and the dispute over whether it was honored \u2014 illustrates the risks of relying on informal courtroom understandings and raises broader questions about how such agreements are handled in Collin County courts. What impact the deal could have at the appellate level remains to be seen, but experts said the new filings will force the court to take a hard look at what happened behind closed doors as they weigh whether justice was served.<\/p>\n The agreement does not appear anywhere in public record. Bill\u00a0Wirskye, the case\u2019s lead prosecutor, did not respond to questions about the deal, though he didn\u2019t deny its existence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI and the entire prosecution team conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the court’s rulings and any agreements with defense counsel,\u201d\u00a0Wirskye previously told The News in a text message. \u201cThe jury heard extensive evidence over the course of the trial and returned a unanimous verdict. We remain confident in that verdict and the fairness of the proceedings.”<\/p>\n Collin County Judge John Roach\u00a0Jr, who the defense now says is too biased to hear their appeals<\/a>, declined to comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten minutes to weigh testimony<\/p>\n When opening statements began June 4 on the second floor of the McKinney courthouse, the defense was orbiting around a central theme: Karmelo Anthony feared for his life<\/a> when Austin Metcalf demanded he move out from under his school\u2019s tent in the stands of David Kuykendall Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n As bystanders took the stand to testify, Howard and his co-counsel Toby Shook took turns asking a series of questions: Did anyone try to gang up on Karmelo, surround him, to get him out? Austin was much larger than Karmelo, wasn\u2019t he? He could look intimidating, just by his size, to someone who didn\u2019t really know him, right?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0Karmelo Anthony defense team seeks new trial in murder case<\/a><\/p>\n They got little in return.\u00a0Witness after witness said <\/a>Anthony was the aggressor, that there was no reason to justify bringing a weapon to a track meet, and that the stabbing did not fit their understanding of self defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 8, the fourth day of testimony, an early lunch break stretched three hours without explanation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The defense then announced it was resting its case after calling only six witnesses. Anthony wasn\u2019t among them<\/a>, even as his case relied on putting jurors inside his head, convincing them he feared for his life. Howard\u2019s affidavit is the first public explanation of why.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Howard\u2019s narrative, as both sides headed toward the chambers on break, Wirskye told Shook the defense had violated their agreement when Howard mentioned \u2014 back in opening arguments \u2014 Anthony\u2019s involvement in chess club.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Howard argues he adhered to the agreement. He said in the affidavit he actually told jurors Anthony played chess, during a broader description in which Howard also noted Anthony was an \u201cA\u201d student who worked two jobs.<\/p>\n Roach sided with the defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Wirskye also told Shook, according to the affidavit, that he did not see how their agreement covered a testifying defendant, something Howard disputed repeatedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAny competent criminal trial lawyer knows that for a self defense argument to have any chance of succeeding,\u201d he wrote, \u201cthe defendant must testify.\u201d<\/p>\n To Howard, the message was clear: Put Anthony on the stand and the deal is off.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When this came up with Roach, the affidavit said the exchange between the defense and prosecution \u201cdevolved into a shouting match.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: \u2018Efficient and consistent with justice\u2019: Judge offers inside look at Karmelo Anthony trial<\/a><\/p>\n They took 10 minutes to \u201ccool off,\u201d and afterward, Howard said he and Wirskye met to continue debating Anthony\u2019s potential testimony. Howard said he decided the only way to reach common ground was to go over his planned examination line by line with Wirskye. \u201cI have never taken such a drastic step of previewing my strategy and even my questions with a prosecutor,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Howard and Wirskye brought their compromise to Roach, Howard said the judge concluded there was no way for Anthony to testify without opening the door to evidence both sides had vowed for weeks to keep closed. Roach said he was not aware of any \u201cmechanism at his disposal\u201d to enforce the agreement if either side violated it. By then, it would be too late for the defense to counter<\/a> with all they\u2019d learned about the Metcalf twins.\u00a0<\/p>\n The judge gave Anthony 10 minutes to decide whether he would gamble his future with his own testimony. Ten minutes for Howard to explain the pros and cons of testifying. On the one hand, it might be the best path to a lesser sentence if convicted. On the other, dredging up his past could turn the jury against him.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Anthony decided the risk was too high. The \u201c180-degree change\u201d near the end of the trial, Howard argued, \u201caffected all aspects of the defense case.\u201d<\/p>\n An impossible task<\/p>\n Informal gentleman\u2019s agreements are woven into courtroom culture in Collin County, said Dallas defense attorney Paul Saputo, and serve as a way for lawyers to streamline proceedings without filing formal motions.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u2019re typically reserved for \u201crelatively minor issues,\u201d said McKinney defense attorney Alex Fuller, who was also not involved in Anthony\u2019s trial. But in this case, Howard says the botched agreement \u201ccoerced the Defendant\u2019s silence and gutted his self-defense presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n