Defense says prosecutors broke unwritten evidence agreement
Attorneys for Karmelo Anthony, 19, filed the motion in Collin County on Tuesday, asking a judge to overturn the murder conviction and 35-year prison sentence handed down last month for the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet in Frisco.
The defense team said in its court filing that prosecutors had agreed during off-the-record calls to build their case “based only on what happened under the tent that day” and to avoid any “extraneous-conduct evidence” regarding the characters or reputations of either teenager. According to the attorneys, the agreement was unwritten and not referenced in court filings to prevent media coverage of alleged prior misdeeds involving the two. Relying on that promise, the defense said it did not further question student witnesses about recorded statements to police concerning Metcalf’s alleged temperament.
On the final day of evidence, Anthony’s attorneys alleged, prosecutors declared that a detail in the defense’s opening statement — that Anthony played chess — “opened the door” to character-related evidence. The defense said it then received a court advisory that Anthony’s testimony would “almost certainly open” the door to the “extraneous-offence evidence,” leading him to waive his right to take the stand.
The motion also claimed that restrictions on cameras and streaming during the trial violated Anthony’s constitutional right to a public trial, and that the jury was improperly advised to disregard his self-defense claim. “On a record in which self-defense was the heart of the case, that error was not harmless, and it requires a new trial,” the lawyers wrote.
The Collin County district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening. After the jury returned the 35-year sentence, the county district attorney said at a news conference that “justice was served,” standing alongside the Metcalf family.
The deadly encounter at the track meet drew national attention and fueled online debate over the perceived racial dimensions — Anthony is Black, Metcalf was white — particularly among conservative media outlets. Jake Lang, whom outlets have labeled a “far-right influencer,” and his group Protect White Americans staged protests in Frisco, promoting racist narratives that characterized the episode as emblematic of a “violent Black culture.” Lang was banned from entering Texas last month after allegedly making a terroristic threat against Anthony.
During jury selection, three African-American individuals were struck from the panel. Prosecutors denied the moves were race-based, saying they were related to the individuals’ backgrounds as educators.