{"id":413110,"date":"2026-08-21T18:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/413110\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T18:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:42:08","slug":"karmelo-anthony-bid-for-retrial-in-texas-track-meet-killing-resumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/413110\/","title":{"rendered":"Karmelo Anthony bid for retrial in Texas track meet killing resumes"},"content":{"rendered":"

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Karmelo Anthony<\/a> had planned to testify during his Texas murder trial over a track meet stabbing but backed out amid sudden concerns that prosecutors would raise potentially damaging evidence<\/a> about the teenager\u2019s past, one of his lawyers said Friday.<\/p>\n

Anthony, 19, is asking for a new trial after a jury in June sentenced him to 35 years in prison for killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, who attended a rival school and was stabbed during a confrontation<\/a> at a track competition last year. Since then, the case has stirred tensions over race and led to both families becoming targets of harassment. <\/p>\n

During the second day of a hearing near Dallas, defense attorney Toby Shook said the teenager\u2019s plans to testify<\/a> unraveled over worries that prosecutors would renege on agreements to not present evidence that might further inflame an already highly charged case. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was essential that the jury hear Karmelo and hear his explanation,\u201d Shook said. <\/p>\n

It was not clear when state District Judge Michael Chitty would issue a ruling on whether to grant a new trial. <\/p>\n

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye has defended the trial as fair and said the possibility of Anthony testifying wasn\u2019t part of the original agreement with the defense. Anthony\u2019s attorneys say it should have been obvious the teenager would want to explain to jurors himself how he acted in self-defense. <\/p>\n

Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Among the details that jurors never heard because of the agreement, according to attorneys on both sides, were that Anthony once sent a text message fantasizing about stabbing someone and Metcalf had a history of fighting and using racist language.<\/p>\n

During the trial, lawyers on both sides told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race, but social media posts amplified the killing nationwide in racial terms.<\/p>\n

In an interview with NewsNation<\/a>, Metcalf\u2019s father, Jeff Metcalf, said he supported the original agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys. He said information about his son\u2019s juvenile history does not change what happened the day his son was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want our children to be the best they can be, and obviously, we all fall short,\u201d Jeff Metcalf told NewsNation. \u201cIt still doesn\u2019t change the facts of the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metcalf\u2019s parents and Anthony\u2019s parents have attended both days of the hearing. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Anthony\u2019s attorneys have also told the judge he should get a new trial because of errors that limited access to the proceedings. They have argued that the case\u2019s original judge allowed a \u201cshadow docket\u201d that shielded character information about both sides. <\/p>\n

The trial in June took place amid heightened court security. Wirskye said there had been threats against a judge who granted Anthony bond, fake autopsy reports circulating online and attempts to intimidate witnesses. Parents of some witnesses also filed protective orders for their children because of threats, according to Wirskye. <\/p>\n

Anthony secured one legal victory this week when the judge who presided over his trial was removed from the case<\/a>. Chitty was then assigned to consider the motion for a retrial. <\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s attorneys had asked for state District Judge John Roach to be removed in part because of a TV interview in which Roach said jurors \u201cgot it right\u201d when they delivered a guilty verdict. <\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Karmelo Anthony had planned to testify during his Texas murder trial over a track…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[132,144124,490,2461,115270,114713,2894,143671,25209,27,29,28,144125,9929,1760,1499,6878],"class_list":["post-413110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-austin","tag-bill-wirskye","tag-general-news","tag-homicide","tag-jeff-metcalf","tag-john-roach","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-michael-chitty","tag-teens","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-toby-shook","tag-trials","tag-tx-state-wire","tag-u-s-news","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}