Karmelo Anthony had an argument worth hearing.
His lawyers claimed an unwritten agreement between prosecutors and his original defense team helped keep him off the witness stand during his murder trial.
From Fox News:
Retired District Judge Michael Chitty denied Anthony’s request after reviewing the motion, court record, evidence and arguments, briefs and relevant case law, according to his order. The order did not detail his reasoning for the decision.
The decision leaves Anthony’s murder conviction and 35-year prison sentence in place. His challenge will continue on direct appeal.
Chitty heard two days of testimony in McKinney, Texas, after Judge Sid Harle removed the judge who presided over Anthony’s murder trial, Judge John Roach, from the remaining trial-court proceedings earlier this week.
Harle found that a reasonable outside observer could question whether Roach appeared impartial after he publicly said the jury "got it right" and defended several of his trial decisions.
Anthony had planned to testify about the confrontation that ended with 17-year-old Austin Metcalf stabbed through the heart. His attorneys believed the agreement would keep damaging character evidence away from the jury as long as Anthony stayed focused on what happened under the track-meet tent.
Then everything became murky.
Former defense attorney Mike Howard testified that prosecutors said near the end of trial that the agreement wouldn't protect Anthony if he testified. Howard said the dispute contributed to Anthony's decision to remain silent. Under cross-examination, however, Howard acknowledged nobody had expressly agreed that Anthony's testimony was covered. He also couldn't say prosecutors acted in bad faith.
Senior District Judge Michael Chitty heard the arguments and denied Anthony's motion Saturday. He didn't provide detailed reasoning in the order. Anthony's murder conviction and 35-year sentence remain intact, although his direct appeal continues.
Fair enough. Anthony had every right to challenge his conviction. His attorneys raised questions worthy of judicial review.
A judge reviewed them, and he lost.
Austin Metcalf doesn't get another hearing.
Yet something remarkable happened as Anthony's new-trial fight unfolded. Information deliberately kept from the original jury suddenly spilled into public view. Both teenagers had histories their lawyers had agreed to leave outside the courtroom.
Anthony's included threatening texts, an alleged stalking episode, violent messages to a girlfriend, images involving firearms, and a message in which prosecutors said he fantasized about stabbing someone and licking blood from the blade.
Metcalf's record included fighting, graffiti, bullying allegations, and claims involving racist language.
Watch what happens to the language, though.
One story, written by CBS, closing out Saturday's ruling described documents involving Metcalf as including a graffiti incident, "his use of racial slurs," bullying, and assault allegations.
From CBS News:
Austin Metcalf and his brother Hunter Metcalf were once caught spray painting graffiti, including "KKK kill all blacks" and "Heil Hitler," along with the N-word, and were sentenced to 12 months of juvenile probation, court documents show.
Records reveal they reportedly told authorities, "we did some dumb stuff" and "we did some vandalism."
There are several documented instances of Austin Metcalf using racial slurs in school, and in 2023, Austin Metcalf was accused of bullying a Black student in class.
In 2018, according to court documents, while still in elementary school, Austin Metcalf and his brother were accused of bullying and assaulting a female, which led to Austin Metcalf's arrest.
During an argument in 2024 with another female student, Austin Metcalf allegedly "knocked her to the ground and punched her in the stomach," reports state, and he was also kicked out of a football game and later texted someone, "I was about to beat the (expletive) out of those kids."
At a previous track meet, when another student alerted Austin Metcalf that someone not on their team "behind our bench was talking wild," Austin Metcalf reportedly replied, "Kill that mf," court documents state.
In the very next paragraph, Anthony's history was described as threatening texts, stalking, and assault allegations.
Maybe Metcalf used racial slurs; evidence presented at the hearing supports claims that perhaps he had, but words still carry weight, and some conduct becomes a declarative fact while other damaging material receives the softer shelter of "allegations."
Anthony is alive; he received a trial, attorneys, a self-defense claim, a jury verdict, a 35-year sentence, a new legal team, a recusal victory, a two-day hearing on his new-trial motion, and another judge's review. His direct appeal remains ahead.
None of those rights should be taken from him.
Austin deserves something, too.
His past doesn't need to be sanitized, while Anthony's doesn't need to be exaggerated. Apply the same language, skepticism, standards, and humanity to both.
Either everybody matters or nobody matters.
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