💥 Violent Threats, A Stabbing Fantasy, Racist Graf...

Explosive revelations about a convicted teen killer’s violent history and the victim’s own troubled past dominated a Texas courtroom Friday as a judge weighed whether Karmelo Anthony deserves a new trial for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf.

Anthony, now 19, was found guilty of murder in June and sentenced to 35 years for killing Metcalf at a high school track meet in Frisco in April 2025. He admitted plunging a folding knife into the other teenager under a team tent but insisted the act was self-defense. A diverse jury rejected that claim after just three hours of deliberation, declining even the option of a lesser manslaughter conviction. Within days of the verdict, Anthony’s parents declared the trial unfair and vowed to fight for a retrial. He has since assembled a high-powered team of six lawyers who argue his rights were systematically violated.

On Friday, those claims collided with previously sealed details that both sides had agreed to keep from the original jury under what prosecutors called a “gentleman’s agreement.” The deal limited testimony to events “under the tent,” shielding the panel from broader character evidence about either young man. That arrangement is now under intense scrutiny as Judge Michael Chitty reviews whether the exclusion of certain information, or the manner in which the trial unfolded, crossed constitutional lines. The retired magistrate has until Monday to rule.

Prosecutors used the hearing to introduce a string of Anthony’s prior threats and statements that never reached the June jury. When he was 16 and attending Centennial High School in Frisco in 2023, he texted: “Imma shoot the school up tmr.” In 2024 he threatened his then-girlfriend, Valeria Perez — who remains in a relationship with him and has attended the recent hearings — with gunfire: “How many bullets you want coming out of your chest.” He also threatened to stab her. Weeks later he sent a text describing a violent fantasy: “When I stab someone, I’m gonna lick the blood off the blade.” Anthony further admitted attempting to bring a weapon into the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. Prosecutors presented the material to undercut the defense argument that Anthony’s rights had been compromised, painting a picture of a young man with a documented pattern of violent ideation long before the track-meet confrontation.

Defense attorneys countered with their own previously excluded information about Metcalf. They told the court that Metcalf and his twin brother Hunter had been caught spray-painting racist graffiti that included the phrases “kill all black people” and the N-word. The twins received 12 months of probation for the incident. Lawyers also disclosed that Austin Metcalf faced earlier charges for assault causing bodily injury. In a May 2018 episode while still in elementary school, he allegedly shoved a girl to the ground, injuring her shoulder severely enough to require hospitalization. He had been arrested in connection with that matter. The defense presented these details to argue that a fuller picture of both teenagers’ backgrounds should have been available to the jury evaluating self-defense claims.

Additional context about the day of the stabbing emerged as well. On April 2, 2025, Perez had broken up with Anthony and told high school officials she felt he was stalking her. The confrontation that left Metcalf dead occurred later that day beneath a Memorial High School track tent at a football stadium in Frisco. Photographs of the tent and the folding knife used in the attack were among materials released after the original trial.

The case ignited national debate from the moment of Anthony’s arrest. Questions of race, privilege, and self-defense dominated coverage and social media. Yet the jury that convicted him reflected demographic diversity, including Hispanic, Asian, and Indian members. Their swift rejection of the self-defense narrative and the 35-year sentence stood in contrast to the intense public polarization surrounding the proceedings.

Legal observers following the retrial motion describe Anthony’s path as steep. One defense attorney outside the case noted that the standard for granting a new trial is highly subjective and functions almost like a mini-appeal. Defendants are entitled to a fair day in court, not a second chance simply because they lost. Judge Chitty, who spent 17 years as a magistrate in Kaufman County, signaled the weight of the material before him. As testimony stretched past normal business hours Friday, he told lawyers he needed the weekend to review all submitted evidence before issuing a decision by Monday.

Anthony’s new legal team has framed the original trial as one in which critical context was artificially constrained by the pretrial agreement. Prosecutors maintain the agreement was mutual and that the jury still received sufficient evidence to assess the central question of whether the stabbing was justified. The hearing has now placed both young men’s prior conduct squarely before the judge, even if that material never reached the original panel.

Metcalf’s family has largely remained focused on the loss of their son, who was remembered in funeral tributes and honored for his role on his high school football team. Anthony continues to maintain the stabbing was defensive. His parents’ early insistence that the process was unfair has evolved into a formal legal challenge backed by expanded counsel.

The Collin County Courthouse in McKinney has become the stage for these latest arguments. No cameras were permitted during the June trial or the current hearing, limiting public visual access to the proceedings. Still, the release of post-trial evidence — including images of the tent and the knife — has kept the case in the public eye. The gentleman’s agreement that once narrowed the evidentiary scope is now itself on trial, as both sides litigate what the original jury was and was not allowed to hear.

Judge Chitty’s Monday deadline looms over every claim. A ruling granting a new trial would reopen a case that already divided communities and dominated national conversation. A denial would leave the 35-year sentence in place and force Anthony’s team to consider further appellate options. Either outcome will be measured against the newly aired details of school-shooting threats, violent texts, prior assaults, and racist graffiti that both sides once agreed to keep from the jury’s view.

The fatal encounter under a track tent in April 2025 claimed one teenager’s life and sent another to prison. The courtroom battle now centers on whether the process that produced that result was fair enough to stand, or whether the suppressed histories of both young men demand a second examination by a new panel of jurors. The judge holds the next decision.