Prosecutors In Karmelo Anthony Case Hid The Most Damning Evidence
. . .We are now learning that the trial of Karmelo Anthony — the black high school student who stabbed a white teenager named Austin Metcalf to death at a track meet last year — did not even come close to following this well-established, fundamental, all-important adversarial process. Instead, critical evidence against Karmelo Anthony was withheld from the jury by the prosecutors — the very people who, under our adversarial system, should have presented that evidence.
This evidence was not withheld because of a judge’s ruling, but because of a “gentleman’s agreement” between the district attorney and the defense lawyers. And, as you’re about to find out, the hidden evidence would have been overwhelmingly beneficial to the prosecution’s case against Karmelo Anthony. We’re talking about what was, in effect, a confession by Anthony to premeditated murder. And it was hidden by the prosecutors for reasons that simply do not add up.
In other words, the prosecution gave Anthony’s defense team a huge leg up, while also burying critical information so that the jury and the public at large couldn’t see it. There’s no other way to say it: The fact that Anthony was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison occurred despite the prosecution giving his defense team a major legal advantage in a case that just so happens to involve the brutal slaughter of a white teenager by a black criminal.
We’re learning about this new evidence because Anthony’s lawyers are now seeking a new trial. And as part of that process, a judge is now hearing arguments about all of the evidence in the case, including evidence that wasn’t presented to the jury.
First, we need to discuss the hidden evidence itself. In court Thursday, the prosecutor — Collin County Assistant District Attorney Bill Wirskye — admitted that the state possessed several violent text messages that Anthony sent to an ex-girlfriend. In one of those text messages, on the morning he stabbed Austin Metcalf, Anthony sent his ex-girlfriend a picture of his knife, along with the caption, “I’m low key on the verge” — as in, on the verge of snapping. (Read more from “Prosecutors In Karmelo Anthony Case Hid The Most Damning Evidence” HERE)
