Karmelo Anthony’s ex-girlfriend reported that he was stalking her hours before he stabbed Austin Metcalf — and he had threatening and violent texts on his phone, the prosecutor revealed at Anthony’s appeal hearing Thursday.
The jury never heard about Anthony’s disturbing history, or about Metcalf’s juvenile criminal record because of a “gentleman’s agreement” with the 19-year-old’s defense ahead of his murder trial,
Collin County Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye revealed.
He told the court Anthony’s high school girlfriend confided to an assistant principal at their school that Anthony was stalking after a breakup, and that he was obsessed with fights, guns and knives, according to local outlets at the hearing.
Anthony also sent a picture of the knife and told his ex-girlfriend, “I’m low key on the verge,” Wirskye said.
“He was spiraling,” the prosecutor added.
A few hours later, Anthony stabbed Metcalf to death under a tent at a track meet at a high school.
In exchange for prosecutors not using that evidence in court, the defense lawyers agreed not to bring up victim Austin Metcalf’s juvenile criminal history, which included graffiti that included “vile racist stuff.”
Here’s the latest on Karmelo Anthony’s appeal of his murder conviction:
“I offered the agreement,” Wirskye said, according to WFAA-TV. “Let’s stay away from historical character and stick to the facts — what happened under the tent.”
The agreement was meant to keep the publicly fraught trial from becoming an even more volatile racial tinderbox, he said. Anthony was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison — but he is appealing the conviction.
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