NEW DETAILS EMERGE: Troubling information about Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony’s backgrounds is revealed during the retrial hearing
The gloves have come off in the ongoing courtroom drama involving convicted murderer Karmelo Anthony.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys are using a motion for a new trial hearing to expose the violent backgrounds of both Karmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf.
There was a private off-record agreement to keep the sordid backgrounds of both Karmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf from the jury and the public so that the murder trial would focus solely on what happened under the tent at that Frisco high school track meet last year.
Now both sides are releasing those background reports, with the defense going first by going over 20 pages of Austin Metcalf’s behavioral history.
Karmelo Anthony was dressed in a suit and tie for Thursday’s hearing, which began with the defense arguing that efforts by the trial judge and prosecutors to combat threats and address disruptions actually prevented Karmelo Anthony from receiving an open and fair trial.
But bombshell testimony came from Karmelo Anthony’s trial attorney, Mike Howard, about Austin Metcalf’s background report that was never presented to the jury.
Austin Metcalf’s background revealed in court documents
CBS News Texas has also learned new details about Austin Metcalf’s background from court documents.
Graffiti incident, racial slurs
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.
Bullying and assault allegations
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.
During the 2023-2024 school year, he received in-school suspension twice.
School disciplinary records from April 2022 to May 2024 reveal that he reportedly called a teacher the B-word, or used profanity and that he told a school official that “He couldn’t control it and wasn’t aware that it was coming out of his mouth.”
In 2024, on at least five occasions, records show, Austin Metcalf saw a counselor regarding his anger and rage during a football game.
In 2021, he was banned from attending basketball games for a season after yelling profanity at a player.
Court documents state that Austin Metcalf was also suspended after he and another student were talking about bringing a gun to school the following day.
Prosecutors reveal details from Karmelo Anthony character dossier
But the never-before-released details of Karmelo Anthony’s teenage years in Louisiana up to the day of his arrest for murder are also disturbing.
On the day that Karmelo Anthony would fatally stab Austin Metcalf, prosecutors say he sent a text message at 1 a.m., which said, “I’m lowk on the verge” and then emphasized it.
Later in the morning on April 2, 2025, and hours before Karmelo Anthony would kill Austin Metcalf with a knife at a high school track meet, prosecutors said Karmelo Anthony’s girlfriend reported to a Centennial High School staff member that Karmelo Anthony was “engaging in stalking behavior, to include, but not limited to, driving by her home and refusing to allow her to end their relationship.”
Also in a 75-page filing, prosecutors say Karmelo Anthony had previously been accused of stealing his girlfriend’s phone and in October 2024, wrote a “to-do” list for his girlfriend about how to deal with quote “weirdos” which included the line “say sum slick like my bf kill people”.
Texts about fighting and threats
There are also text messages where he admits on at least two occasions to punching girls in the face.
Prosecutors also found text messages from 2021 between Karmelo Anthony and another student about robbing someone for $300.
There are other text messages where Karmelo Anthony talks about a fight and punching someone “so hard he had to stop fighting.”
In 2023, prosecutors say Karmelo Anthony told a friend he was going to vandalize someone’s house in Austin, Texas, saying, “I just feel like it, I gotta grudge”.
In 2021, Karmelo Anthony told a friend he had been suspended from school for three days for fighting, saying, “they said next time I do sum I get recommended for expulsion”, court documents show.
In a text conversation with a friend in 2023, prosecutors have messages from Karmelo Anthony in which he wrote “Imma shoot the school up tmr” “with my blick,” but later sent messages saying “I would never” “actually do that.”
In a 2024 text thread, prosecutors say Karmelo Anthony admitted to carrying a firearm telling friend before a party that he would have “the gun in my pocket”.
According to the documents, there are other message threads in which Anthony also mentions carrying a gun.
Teen years in Louisiana
After numerous suspensions for fighting while attending school in Louisiana, there are messages between Karmelo Anthony and his girlfriend after he moved to Frisco, court documents show.
In one message thread, she suggests he should just sit for awhile and he replied, “yea and punch ppl maybe run sometimes”, “I have to it’s like a priority for me”, “I like punching people”, “when get mad I see red”, “when I get mad I blackout”, “when I get mad I can’t control myself”.
Prosecutors also produced messages where Karmelo Anthony admitted to getting high and drinking alcohol and even talking about selling drugs to get guns.
Texts about guns and racial slurs found
In 2024, prosecutors say Karmelo Anthony attempted to assault a teacher saying “I put my hands in face and everything”.
Also in 2024, messages obtained by prosecutors suggest Karmelo Anthony tried to bring a weapon into the State Fair of Texas, asking a friend, “if the state fair got metal detectors”.
When he was told yes, his friend responded, “you got the poker”, “yea I might have to toss it” replied Karmelo Anthony.
Prosecutors said Karmelo Anthony admitted to stealing a watch and ear buds in separate burglaries in Collin County and also to bringing a weapon onto a Frisco school campus, and said about his girlfriend, “she went in my bag to get my computer and I said no and she still went in it and grabbed it and my gun and my knife and some other stuff fell out”.
There are numerous unreleased photos and videos of Karmelo Anthony holding firearms and making threats. Authorities found a note on Karmelo Anthony’s phone with a long list of disturbing racial tropes and slurs about Blacks, whites and Hispanics.
In one message thread, prosecutors say Karmelo Anthony wrote, “I hate gay ppl”.
Prosecutors say Karmelo Anthony repeatedly threatened to murder his girlfriend in text messages, some of them saying “how many bullets u want coming out of ur chest” and “I’m going to get you (expletive)”.
They also said that he threatened her with a knife in one message and told her in another, “when I stab somebody I’m gonna lick their blood off the blade”.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys got these character reports from a combination of police reports, school records and cell phone extractions.
The hearing is expected to end on Friday. The first witness for the defense will be the other trial defense attorney, Toby Shook.
