Judge denies Karmelo Anthony's new trial bid in Austin Metcalf murder case

Judge Michael Chitty sat in his Collin County courtroom on Saturday and delivered a decision that will shape the next phase of a case that has already upended a Texas community. He denied Karmelo Anthony's request for a new trial in the murder of Austin Metcalf, a seventeen-year-old who was stabbed to death during a Frisco ISD track meet in April 2025. Anthony had been convicted earlier that summer, and his newly assembled defense team had mounted an aggressive challenge to the verdict, arguing that the trial itself had been so procedurally compromised that the guilty verdict and thirty-five-year sentence should be thrown out entirely.

The case has become a window into how the Texas justice system handles high-profile crimes when public pressure and safety concerns collide with the defendant's right to a fair trial. What emerged during a tense two-day hearing was a fundamental disagreement about whether the measures taken to protect the trial actually protected it—or whether they had instead tilted the scales so far that Anthony never had a real chance to mount a defense.

At the heart of the dispute was a private agreement between prosecutors and Anthony's original trial attorneys. The deal stipulated that neither side would introduce evidence about the violent histories of either Anthony or Metcalf. Both young men had troubled pasts. Metcalf's background included a graffiti incident, documented use of racial slurs, bullying, and assault allegations. Anthony's history, which had remained largely hidden until the new trial hearing, was darker still: threatening texts, stalking, and assault allegations stretching back through his teen years in Louisiana. The agreement was meant to keep the trial focused narrowly on what happened under the tent at the track meet. But when prosecutors presented their case, they introduced details from Anthony's background anyway, according to testimony from Toby Shook, one of Anthony's trial attorneys. Shook told the judge that this breach of the agreement had poisoned the well. Anthony had planned to testify in his own defense, Shook said, but the prosecutors' move—and the heated argument that followed—caused Anthony to lose faith in the process. He chose not to take the stand.

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye, who had led the original prosecution and was now the state's only witness in the new trial hearing, disputed this account entirely. He testified that no binding agreement had ever existed preventing Anthony from testifying. The restrictions, he argued, had been necessary. He outlined a history of high-profile trials compromised by threats, public agitation, and misinformation. The sealed hearings, the controlled courtroom, the gentleman's agreement about evidence—these were not tools of injustice, Wirskye contended, but shields protecting the integrity of the trial itself.

The defense pushed back hard. They argued that the lack of public access to the trial violated federal law and that the private agreements had made it impossible for Anthony to mount a genuine defense. During the hearing, the two sides exposed the very evidence they had agreed to keep hidden, laying bare the violent histories of both young men in open court for the first time. The exchange between Shook and Wirskye grew heated at moments, two attorneys who are friends in life but now locked in a fundamental disagreement about what a fair trial looks like.

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis issued a statement after Chitty's ruling, saying the jury's guilty verdict stood and expressing confidence in the process. He noted that Anthony retained the right to appeal. Russell Wilson, one of Anthony's current attorneys, said the team remained committed to fighting for their client. They plan to take the case to the Fifth Court of Appeals, arguing that the issues raised in the motion for a new trial are substantial enough to warrant meaningful appellate review. The case is far from over, but for now, the conviction holds, and the question of whether Anthony received a fair trial will move to a higher court.