Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records withheld from trial
Prosecutors disclosed violent messages and a 'gentleman’s agreement' that kept evidence from jurors in the 2025 Texas murder case
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Karmelo Anthony Prosecutor Reveals Evidence Jury Never Saw
Photograph: Internewscast (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Karmelo Anthony was convicted in 2025 of murdering Austin Metcalf at a Frisco, Texas high school track meet and sentenced to 35 years.
- During an August 2026 appeal hearing, prosecutors disclosed text messages in which Anthony fantasised about stabbing someone and licking blood off a knife, and a photo of a knife with the note “I’m lowkey on the verge.”
- The evidence was withheld from the original trial under a “gentleman’s agreement” between prosecutors and defence to avoid introducing juvenile records for Anthony and Metcalf.
- District Judge John Roach was removed from further proceedings after comments praising the jury’s conviction.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 7 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
70/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
50/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Karmelo Anthony was convicted in June 2026 of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas in April 2025. Anthony, then 18, stabbed Metcalf beneath a tent during the event. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison and is appealing the conviction.
During an appeal hearing on 20 August 2026, prosecutors disclosed evidence that had been withheld from the original trial. Collin County Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye testified that Anthony had sent text messages in which he fantasised about stabbing someone and “licking the blood off the blade,” as reported by WJAR. Wirskye also said Anthony had sent a photo of a knife with the note “I’m lowkey on the verge,” according to Internewscast.
The evidence was omitted from the trial under what Wirskye described as a “gentleman’s agreement” with Anthony’s defence team. The agreement kept out character evidence about Anthony and Metcalf, including Anthony’s alleged stalking of his ex-girlfriend and Metcalf’s juvenile record. Wirskye testified that Metcalf’s record included graffiti containing racist slogans, as reported by WJAR and Internewscast.
District Judge John Roach, who presided over the original trial, was removed from further proceedings after comments praising the jury’s conviction. Anthony’s attorneys had sought his recusal, according to reports carried by WJAR.
What the coverage left out
No left-rated outlet ran this story. None of the right-rated digests mentioned that Anthony’s ex-girlfriend had told school officials he was stalking her, a detail carried by both centre-rated reports. None of the right-rated digests reported that District Judge John Roach had been removed from further proceedings.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 21 Aug 2026, 00:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The two centre-rated reports, Internewscast and WJAR, led on the newly disclosed text messages and the “gentleman’s agreement” that kept them from the jury. Both quoted Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye’s testimony about Anthony’s messages and the photo of the knife. Internewscast reported Wirskye’s statement that Anthony’s ex-girlfriend had told school officials he was stalking her. WJAR quoted Wirskye’s description of the text message in which Anthony fantasised about stabbing someone and “licking the blood off the blade.”
- Both reports carried Wirskye’s testimony about Metcalf’s juvenile record, including graffiti containing racist slogans. Internewscast quoted Wirskye’s explanation that the agreement was meant to avoid turning the trial into a “racial tinderbox.” WJAR reported that Anthony’s lawyers had evidence about Metcalf’s twin brother, Hunter, including photos of graffiti with racist slogans.
Right
4 rated outlets
- The four right-rated digests led on the violent content of Anthony’s text messages. TrendingPolitics and Twitchy both carried the phrase “licking the blood off the blade,” quoting Wirskye’s testimony. TrendingPolitics described Anthony as “the black Texas teen who was convicted earlier this year of fatally stabbing white teen Austin Metcalf.” TMZ’s digest reported that Anthony had allegedly sent his then-girlfriend a photo of a knife and talked about stabbing someone.
- Three of the four digests mentioned the “gentleman’s agreement” that kept evidence from the jury. TrendingPolitics and TMZ reported that the agreement had withheld evidence about Metcalf’s juvenile record, including racist graffiti. None of the right-rated digests mentioned Judge John Roach’s removal from the case.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records…?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 67% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 7. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records… biased?
- Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records withheld from trial is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Karmelo Anthony appeal hearing reveals texts and juvenile records…?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What evidence was withheld from Karmelo Anthony’s original trial?
- Prosecutors disclosed text messages in which Anthony fantasised about stabbing someone and licking blood off a knife, and a photo of a knife with the note “I’m lowkey on the verge.” The evidence was omitted under a “gentleman’s agreement” to avoid introducing juvenile records for Anthony and the victim, Austin Metcalf.
- Why was District Judge John Roach removed from the case?
- Judge John Roach was removed from further proceedings after comments praising the jury’s conviction of Karmelo Anthony. Anthony’s attorneys had sought his recusal, as reported by WJAR. The removal was not mentioned in any of the right-rated digests.
- What did Austin Metcalf’s juvenile record contain?
- Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye testified that Metcalf’s juvenile record included graffiti containing racist slogans, including phrases like “KKK kill all black people” and a racial slur. The evidence was withheld from the original trial under an agreement between prosecutors and defence.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
2Right
4- Bombshell News About Karmelo Anthony’s Texts and Threats (opens ussanews.com in a new tab)
ussanews.com — is ussanews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Karmelo Anthony's Shocking Murder Fantasies Revealed In Appeal Hearing: 'Licking Blood Off The Blade' (opens TrendingPolitics in a new tab)
TrendingPolitics — is TrendingPolitics biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Prosecutor Reveals Karmelo Anthony Fantasized About Stabbing Someone and Licking Blood Off the Blade (opens Twitchy in a new tab)
- Karmelo Anthony Alleged Knife Threats, Austin Metcalf Racist Writing Revealed In Court (opens TMZ in a new tab)
Not rated
1How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
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