Karmelo Anthony threatened to shoot the school up in shocking text kept from jury in Austin Metcalf murder trial
Karmelo Anthony talked about shooting up his school in a trove of disturbing texts that a backroom deal kept out of the courtroom during his June murder trial, prosecutors said on Friday.“”imma shoot the school up tmr,” Anthony wrote in a 2023 text that prosecutors revealed in Collin County, Texas, during a hearing to determine if Austin Metcalf’s convicted killer will be granted a new trial, according to WFAA.More threatening texts, reports of stalking by an ex-girlfriend, and Anthony’s violent tendencies were also apparently swept under the rug.But as part of what was described as a “gentleman’s agreement” between the defense and prosecution, skeletons in victim Austin Metcalf’s closet also weren’t brought up, including a juvenile criminal history involving racist graffiti, prosecutors said.The deal was “keep things clean,” prosecutor Bill Wirskye said from the stand as Anthony’s new attorney Russell Wilson grilled him about the alleged “shadow docket” Wilson claims corrupted the June proceedings.But that same agreement kept a mountain of shocking evidence from seeing the light of day, including texts from Anthony threatening violence and a photo of a knife sent to his ex-girlfriend — who told a vice principal that he was stalking her hours before the fatal stabbing, WFAA and other local outlets reported prosecutors saying.None of that was shown to the jury in the June trial in which he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentence to 35 years in prison.Anthony appealed the conviction and filed for a new trial.
On Friday, Wilson grilled prosecutor Bill Wirskye and Anthony’s former attorneys about their 30-year relationship and unofficial dealings meant to, in Wirskye’s words, “keep things clean.”Keeping things clean meant keeping the lid of Anthony’s long history of violent tendencies and threatening behavior, which apparently drove his parents to send him to a special program at LSU for kids with behavioral issues...