Karmelo Anthony Hearing Becomes Brutal Showdown as Prosecutor Takes the Stand and Delivers Testimony That Could Change Everything
The second day of hearings on Karmelo Anthony’s motion for a new trial took an unusual turn on August 21, when prosecutor Bill Wirskye stepped up to the witness stand despite strong objections from Anthony’s legal team.
Defense attorney Russell Wilson argued that Wirskye couldn’t serve as “both advocate and witness” in the same proceedings. But Judge Michael Chitty allowed the testimony, and Wirskye, who had already made headlines for calling out media coverage of the case, faced a tough cross-examination.
Anthony fatally stabbed Austin Metcalf at a Frisco, Texas, high school track meet after an argument broke out between the two 17-year-olds on April 2. Anthony pleaded self-defense, but a jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to 35 years behind bars on June 9.
The original trial judge, John Roach, was removed from the case for making what the defense called biased comment, telling a reporter after the verdict, “Whatever they say, they got it right.” The defense had argued that Roach had shown he could not be impartial about whether there should be a retrial if he already was sure the one, he presided over “got it right.”
Allegations Lead to Agreement
During direct examination this week, prosecutors displayed texts from Anthony’s phone where he discussed guns and violence, along with photos that appeared to show him holding a handgun. An October 2024 text read, “when i stab sb im gonna lick there blood off the blade.”
Wirskye said, “There seemed to be an obsession with fighting when I looked at his phone.” Court documents showed that Anthony admitted he tried to bring a weapon into Texas’s State Fair. Prosecutors dug deep, going back to childhood, presenting school disciplinary records from when Anthony was 6 or 7 years old.
Wirskye said they had planned to use this evidence during the punishment phase of the trial but “gave up a bunch” of it because of an off-the-record “gentleman’s agreement” with Anthony’s trial attorneys, Toby Shook and Mike Howard.
Before the trial began, both the prosecution and the defense entered into a handshake agreement to keep damaging character evidence about Anthony and Austin Metcalf away from the jury and the public.
Howard, Anthony’s lead trial attorney, previously testified that after the prosecutors rested their case they declared they would consider the agreement nullified if Anthony testified, which was the reason the teenager ultimately didn’t take the stand, leaving their case derailed. Co-counsel Shook echoed those comments during cross-examination, saying that losing Anthony’s testimony “virtually gutted” the self-defense strategy.
On cross-examination, new defense attorney Russell Wilson peppered Wirskye with questions, pressing him on why the “gentleman’s agreement” was never put in writing. Wilson claimed Wirskye called the idea a “fool’s errand.”
Double Standard
Wilson also grilled Wirskye about the prosecution’s decision to strike Black prospective jurors during jury selection, asking if he was aware of Metcalf’s racist history and whether it had any bearing on which jurors were struck.
Previously sealed allegations of racist slurs and bullying against Metcalf came to light during the first day of hearings. According to court documents, Metcalf was sentenced to twelve months of juvenile probation for anti-Black and anti-Semitic graffiti. Wirskye denied that Metcalf’s alleged racism influenced the jury selection.
Wilson pointed to a double standard when he brought up Derrick Jackson, the county’s former public information officer, who is Black. Jackson was suspended and threatened with six months in jail for contempt after he accidentally shared trial schedule details with a reporter, violating Roach’s gag order.
Wilson pointed out that no one on the Metcalf family’s side faced anything close to that punishment despite their own alleged gag-order violations on social media. Wirskye pushed back again, saying the Metcalf family did not come close to being held in contempt over the posts.
Whether or not Anthony gets a retrial must be decided by Monday, August 24.