A Texas judge is weighing whether convicted killer Karmelo Anthony should be granted a new trial, as the teenager’s future remains uncertain following his conviction in the widely followed fatal stabbing at a high school track meet.
During a Friday hearing in Collin County, north of Dallas, the court was presented with striking evidence that jurors never heard during Anthony’s June trial over the killing of Austin Metcalf.
Anthony’s legal team is pushing to have the murder conviction thrown out, arguing that violations of his rights during the trial process warrant a fresh proceeding.
But testimony before the judge suggested that prosecutors and the defense had previously agreed to what was described as a “gentleman’s agreement” — a decision that could weaken claims that Anthony’s rights were improperly restricted.
Under that arrangement, highly prejudicial information involving both Anthony and Metcalf was kept away from the jury, narrowing the trial’s focus to “what happened under the tent,” a reference to the track team tent where the stabbing occurred.
Those previously excluded details surfaced in court Friday, including allegations that Anthony once threatened, at age 16, to carry out a school shooting and had also made threats to shoot and stab his girlfriend.
“Imma shoot the school up tmr,” Anthony, now 19, allegedly wrote in a 2023 text message while he was a student at Centennial High School in Frisco, according to testimony presented in court.
Anthony has acknowledged that he stabbed Metcalf to death at a Frisco football stadium during an April 2025 track meet, but he has consistently claimed he acted in self-defense.
Left: Karmelo Anthony pictured in June 2026. Right: Austin Metcalf pictured in a suit in a photo that was featured on his funeral tribute page
After Anthony’s murder trial, the judge who presided over the case released a trove of evidence, like this image of the Memorial High School tent where the stabbing happened on April 2, 2025
Almost immediately after his arrest at the track meet, the case became a national flashpoint over race, politics and privilege.
However, a diverse jury – which included Hispanics, Asians and Indians – did not buy the self-defense excuse, rejecting the option to sentence Anthony to manslaughter.
In just three hours, the jury found him guilty of murder on June 9 and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for the crime.
Within days of his trial ending, Anthony’s parents claimed their son had not had a fair trial and promised to fight for a new one.
In the two months since his murder conviction, Anthony now has a new, high-powered team of six lawyers who have alleged that the teenager’s rights were violated during the trial.
In sharing what was kept out of court under the ‘gentleman’s agreement’, prosecutors said on Friday that Anthony threatened his girlfriend Valeria Perez, who he is still dating and who has attended the hearings, with violence multiple times.
‘How many bullets you want coming out of your chest,’ he threatened her in 2024.
That same year, he threatened to stab her, according to lawyers for the state.
A few weeks later, he sent her a text revealing a violent fantasy.
‘When I stab someone, I’m gonna lick the blood off the blade,’ the text said.
Karmelo Anthony pictured with his girlfriend, Valeria Perez. During an explosive hearing on Thursday, lawyers revealed she had broken up with him and felt that he was stalking her, she told high school officials on the day Anthony stabbed Austin Metcalf
No cameras were allowed inside the courtroom for Anthony’s June murder trial or for the hearing related to his request to get a new trial this week
A photo of the folding knife Karmelo Anthony used to stab Austin Metcalf was released after his June murder trial
Austin Metcalf is pictured being honored for his role on his high school football team
He also admitted to attempting to take a weapon to the State Fair of Texas, which takes place in Dallas every fall.
Prosecutors unveiled this information in a bid to disprove the defense’s argument that Anthony’s rights were violated.
Metcalf’s history of arrests, problems at school and racist behavior was also revealed for the first time in the explosive hearing on Friday.
Anthony’s lawyers claimed Metcalf and his twin brother, Austin, were allegedly caught spray-painting racist graffiti, including ‘kill all black people’ and the N-word, defense attorneys revealed.
The twins ultimately received 12 months of probation for the incident, according to Anthony’s lawyer, who also revealed that Austin had previously faced charges for assault causing bodily injury and had been arrested.
In the May 2018 incident, while he was still in elementary school, he allegedly shoved a girl to the ground and injured her shoulder badly enough to require hospitalization.
As testimony stretched past business hours on Friday, Anthony’s attorney Russell Wilson asked Judge Michael Chitty how much longer he’d willing to hear from witnesses.
‘We’re bumping up against a deadline, and I need time to review all of the evidence submitted in this case over the weekend,’ Chitty said.
Austin Metcalf pictured with his father and twin brother, Hunter
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye pictured above, revealed damning evidence about Karmelo Anthony and his violent past
The murder trial for Karmelo Anthony was held at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas
The retired magistrate who presided over cases for 17 years in Kaufman County has until Monday to make a decision.
Legal experts predicted Anthony was facing un uphill battle to get a new trial.
‘In America, you have your right to your day in court. You don’t have your right to your day in court until you win,’ defense attorney Jeremy Rosenthal told WFAA.
‘It is a highly subjective standard, and it’s almost like a mini-appeal. They have to show that there’s a certain degree of unfair, not just that you didn’t get your day in court.
