Karmelo Anthony Presses New Trial Bid Over 1 Disputed Pretrial Agreement

Q: What hidden evidence in the victim's past was kept from the jury by a secret courtroom deal?

It was not a single confirmed “hidden” item, but a category of evidence the defense says the jury never saw because of an unwritten “gentleman’s agreement” on character evidence. According to testimony at the post-trial hearing, Anthony’s current lawyers argue the deal kept out material they say could have supported self-defense, including school records, social-media posts, and videos involving Austin Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter. The reporting available does not describe those records in detail or establish any specific past act by Austin Metcalf that was definitively excluded. Prosecutors, meanwhile, said the same agreement was intended to keep the jury from hearing damaging allegations about Anthony’s own history with knives and violence. Former defense lawyer Mike Howard testified that the dispute over how that agreement applied if Anthony testified helped lead to Anthony not taking the stand. So the most accurate answer is that the alleged excluded evidence concerned school records, posts, and videos involving Austin and Hunter Metcalf that the defense claims were relevant to self-defense, but no detailed, verified “secret past” of the victim has been publicly established in the hearing record described so far.

3 articles · Updated · NBC DFW · Aug 21

Retired Judge Michael Chitty resumed Friday’s hearing on Karmelo Anthony’s request for a new trial and has until Monday to decide whether to grant it.
Hours of testimony centered on an unwritten pretrial “gentleman’s agreement” that kept character evidence about both Anthony and Austin Metcalf from jurors during the June murder trial.
Defense lawyer Mike Howard said the biggest clash came when Anthony considered testifying, with prosecutors arguing the agreement no longer applied; Anthony then chose not to take the stand because he felt he would not get a fair trial.
Toby Shook, Howard’s former co-counsel, and other witnesses were expected to testify as Anthony’s new legal team argues his rights were compromised in the case that ended with a 35-year sentence.
The hearing follows Judge John Roach’s recusal from post-trial proceedings after the defense challenged his handling of public access and comments praising the jury’s verdict.