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- [00:00]
A
Hey, everyone, I'm Ann Emerson, and this is Crimly Obsessed. There were no cameras in the courtroom for the Carmelo Anthony trial. We didn't get to hear the witnesses speak. We didn't get to see the families on either side react to the testimony. And we couldn't watch when Carmelo Anthony broke down as the verdict was read. But Court TV's Cody Thomas was at that courthouse every day, and he takes us inside that courtroom.
- [00:23]
B
I mean, it's just emotion all around. I described it yesterday as kind of like this emotional tornado.
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A
The track meet murder trial was tense and full of drama.
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B
Wins. You know, it's a loss on both
- [00:34]
A
sides, and it's a case that many of us outside of Texas were obsessed with. Justice was served. Two teens from rival track teams got in an argument during a meet while it was raining. Carmelo Anthony was asked to leave, but wouldn't. Austin Metcalfe pushed him. Then Anthony pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed him in the heart. Austin died in the arms of his twin brother, who said he watched his soul leave.
- [01:00]
B
Austin, where I was sitting with the media was two rows behind the Metcalf family. So, I mean, you're looking at a grown man here hanging his head in his hands every five minutes, just sobbing.
- [01:11]
A
We're getting insider details from Cody Thomas, who has covered this case extensively since Anthony was charged last April. He gives us the gut punches you won't hear anywhere else. Be sure to like and subscribe so you don't miss any of our episodes.
- [01:25]
B
That was the. That was the, you know, where you looked around, the emotional. That's when the jury started crying.
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A
You may want to grab your tissues now. Let's get into it.
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C
I want to start off with. With the sentencing, too.
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A
I mean, you just went through that yesterday.
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C
Right.
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B
This whole process has been the most pedal to the metal, full throttle experience that I've. I've been a part of as far as a trial goes. Yeah.
- [01:52]
C
And as far as the amount of time that he got, 35 years. How does that. How did that settle?
- [01:58]
B
Yeah, so you know that. That was the. You had a wide range. Right. That murder charge had a range of 5 years to 99 years. In fact, during one of the. The prosecution's closing arguments before the sentencing, you know, he. They were really pushing. He was pushing for, you know, send a message with your decision. And so when he was saying, you know, when you're considering a life sentence, know, he had a real boisterous, bellowing voice. Right. One of the things he said was, you Know, when you, if, if you're considering a life sentence, think about this. And he points at the Metcalf family. He's Jeff Metcalf, Megan Metcalf, Hunter Metcalf have all been convicted of life sentences. Right now, a life sentence of avoiding their hearts in their home because their son and brother are never coming back. You know, his mother asked the jury for leniency and you know, it's hard to stare down 35 years and 19 years old in the face, but when you think about what really could have happened, I guess this is a form of leniency.
- [02:48]
C
Well, in 35 years, when is he up for parole? Do you know?
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B
After 17 and a half ish. I think he'll be 36 by the time he's up for parole.
- [02:56]
C
I'm so glad you could be in the courtroom because unfortunately the judge decided to not let cameras in.
- [03:02]
B
I mean, it was quite, it's one of the most emotional cases that I've ever covered in my three and a half years here at Court tv. I mean, you're dealing with families who have lost heavily in different, you know, sides of the coin on opposite end of the spectrum. But you have one family that has, you know, a 17 year old child that's never coming back. And now after yesterday, one child that will not be getting out of prison for a very long time. 35 years was that sentence for Carmelo Anthony. You know, he'll be hugging his mom per se, through plexiglass. You know, I mean, it's just emotion all around. I described it yesterday as kind of like this emotional tornado because, you know, things are this, they're going this way with Anthony family, then the emotions are going this way with the Metcalf family, then it's going this way and it's just, you know, this, this whirlwind of emotion. Right.
- [03:48]
C
Was there anything else that stuck out to you that was really, was either unnerving or just something that you, you weren't expecting to see?
- [03:58]
B
Just the, the amount of emotion which was should have been expected on my behalf. Right. You know, I mean, look at, look at the situation we're sitting in. But I guess because where I was sitting with the media was two rows behind the Metcalf family. So, I mean, you're looking at a grown man here hanging his head in his hands every five minutes, just sobbing. You know, you're looking up at body cam video of your son getting chest compressions, you know, and I imagine that's, that's, that's definitely not a Not an easy thing to, to take in, right? And then for me, again, the moment when Carmelo walked back in before that penalty phase after being convicted, you're going to jail or going to prison for murder. His face just, you know, the 19 year old hearing that you got 35 years and you're not going to be eligible for parole until 17 and a half. 17 and a half years. Pretty much his whole life. That's 18 months away from his entire life that he's lived. So everything that he's done up until his life at this point, he has that almost equal time to spend behind bars if he gets parole. Throughout. A lot of it, you know, early on, he was a little stoic, a little, you know, I don't want to say expressionless, you know, just looking very serious because you're dealing with the gravity of what's going on. But I can tell you, yesterday, once that sentence came down, the way he was sitting, he was across the courtroom. So when he would leave, when, you know, you've been remanded by the state, like you're in the possession of the state now, all this. He left for a few minutes before the punishment phase started. So I saw his back walking out of the courtroom. But when he walked back in, you could tell he'd been crying, obviously. And he had this, this bewildered face, right? His, his eyes were really wide, his jaw was just hanging open. And it was kind of like to me, what I took away from it was that this is real now, because you got to remember, he's been out on bond. So it's like it was real. The charges were coming, you knew the trial was coming, but you've been at home hanging out with your family, whoever wanted to come visit you, you know, watching television, doing all the normal things you do, just, you know, at home. But now it's like you're never going to step foot in that house or you won't step foot in that house again for maybe 35 years. Could be sooner, but. 35, you know, that's a long time. This was an uphill battle for the defense to begin with. I mean, the, the two attorneys that Carmelo had, you know, I'm not from the Dallas area, but, you know, people who have lived here in the community, they say these two attorneys were, you know, supposed to be big shots down here. But of course, when you get with, when you get a case like this, the facts are the facts. I mean, it just seemed like the foot was on the neck the whole time for the four days of testimony, no matter what the defense did. But on cross examination, no matter what they did for their six witnesses during their case, the prosecutor was like that,
- [06:25]
C
Cody, take me back now to these young people.
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A
You know, who were they?
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C
Who, who. Who was Austin Metcalfe and. And Carmelo Anthony?
- [06:34]
B
Yeah, these were two students at, you know, opposing high schools, but no indication that they knew each other at all. None of that came. These were total strangers. Right. Austin Metcalfe going to Memorial High School, Carmelo Anthony going to Centennial High School, just happened to be at this track meet. And if you know anything about track meets, I mean, you can have 12 to 15 schools, and this was a district meet, so there probably were more at this track meet that morning. I was a track athlete in high school, so I was familiar with how the setup is. Right. And so, you know, one of the things the defense was harping on and everybody's harping on was a thing called tent culture, which pretty much is like, you know, each tent is like each team's locker room. And what, you know, the prosecution was saying was that you wouldn't be, like, say, for the NFL, you wouldn't go in the opposing team's locker room and just hang out.
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C
Well, and, Cody, I mean, to just point out this tent culture, too, what I heard was that Carmelo didn't have a tent.
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B
That. That's, that's. That's a fact that did come out. So very varying testimony about the rain that played a big role as to, you know, why he was under the tent and everything. And so the defense was, you know, harping on the fact that, well, wouldn't you want to get out of the rain? That's why he was looking for a tent. And so, you know, Carmelo arrives under the tent, the Metcalf arrived a couple minutes later, and then obviously, the altercation ensues within, like, a four and a half minute period. So it was just, it was. It was a very quick instance.
- [07:54]
C
I want you to put it into perspective, of, like, you're hearing this in the courtroom, really, for its full effect with these jurors, and just tell me what that. What that four and a half minutes was like.
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B
Yeah, so what you see, I'm trying to set the scene, like, of the surveillance video, because the public hasn't seen this video. It's, you know, it's in the stadium. It's on the opposite side of what's going on. So they had a forensic video analyst zoom in and, you know, sharpen things up and spot highlight everyone. But anyway, you See, to put in a nutshell, you see Carmelo come out of like the tunnel of the bleachers and kind of just look around, you know, just like he's wandering. You know, track meets are somewhat social. He walks towards memorial tent and you see him go under the, under the memorial tent. And he's there for 90 seconds to two minutes before Austin Metcalfe and his friends come up from a different direction. Now, in the video, you can't really make anything out. So what I'm telling you now is based on witness testimony on the eyewitnesses who, you know, gave their stories. And the way I described how their stories are, they all pretty much corroborated. It's like a tree. They all had the same trunk but different branches. And what I mean by that is the foundation of the story were correct. But some of the things differed, as in, you know, when they say Austin Metcalf pushed Carmelo, they say one, some people say it was a two handed push, some people say it was a one handed push, some people say it was kind of aggressive, some people say it was, they were standing, some say somebody was sitting. So those details like that kind of differed among them. But the foundations of it were Carmelo was the aggressor. And the main thing about it is that, you know, under this tent they said Austin walked up. Hey, man, you know, well, everybody, not just Austin, they said all of them were, who's this guy? Like, who's this guy under the tent? You know, what are you doing here? This and that. And some said Carmelo started talking trash about their football team because you know how boys get, you know, the, you get boisterous or competitive. I've been a 17 year old boy. You talk smack at each other. Especially at a sporting event. Austin pretty much assumes the leadership role they had. Austin's coach testifies, you know, he texted him that morning because, you know, coaches are all over the place at track meet. So you need some of your older upperclassmen to kind of take over and help out, you know, and wrangle the underclassmen where needed. So Austin eventually steps up and was like, hey man, all right, you got to leave now. To which, you know, they say Carmelo got really stubborn. You're going to have to make me leave, you know, getting all tough guy about it. And they did admit that, you know, Austin was getting frustrated too, and, you know, going back at him a little bit. And then at some point, one or another, Carmelo had his book bag and he had his hand in his book bag. This is according to witness testimony and saying that, you know, touch me and see what happens. But then all these kids are sitting there saying, like, ah, we're calling this bluff. We live in Frisco, we live out here in McKinney. Like nothing's going to happen. No one's doing anything like that. They're just talking trash, just talking, trying to be tough guy. And then this. That's when they say that, you know, Austin went up and judged, touched, whatever. And then all of them, 100% of them say it happened so fast they didn't even realize what had happened until Austin, you know, kind of stepped back and they said when he pulled his shirt up and they said, oh, they saw the hole, which they didn't describe it as like a stab. They said a hole. And then the medical examiner on Saturday described the wound as gaping. She used that word, gaping compared to a slit pattern, pretty much me meaning that, you know, for lack of a better term, the wound was kind of like filleted open, not just like a little like a cut, you know, it was kind of open. And then we learned that the stab wound hit the cartilage of his sternum and literally stabbed the kid in his heart. Pierced one of the ventricles in his heart.
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C
So it just had a direct head into the heart?
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B
Yeah. You know, and she said that that was a non survivable wound. She said even if he was on an operating table with a doctor or surgeon ready to suture everything up, the chances of him living were still probably zero. So it was just one of those things. No matter what life saving measures were being done, it just wouldn't have worked.
- [11:38]
C
Well, Cody, what was he doing with the knife in his bag? Did you ever get there that.
- [11:44]
B
I've been bringing that up on air. I've been bringing it up on things like this. The defense never touched on it, never even gave any sort of reasoning. They could have said, you know, he wanted to go camping. They did not address it at all. And that's what I felt like. That's what the jurors wanted to hear. Right. You know, you have this three and a half inch blade that showed a picture of the knife. I mean, it's, you know, it's your, your standard pocket knife, of course, but it's still a heavy duty knife nonetheless on, you know, on school grounds, it's not illegal to carry a blade under five and a half inches even into a stadium. Of course, it's against some school policy, but it's not illegal for a 17 year old to have it. But we still need to know why at 10 o' clock in the morning, a 17 year old has a knife in his book bag and then not only that, but ready to use it, you know?
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C
Yeah, just stick his hand in there and be like, I got a knife. I could, I could. Is this just a 17 year old with too much testosterone or is this a, a premeditated act? Did he actually go in there to do it?
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A
Do you think in the end that
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C
it made any difference whether or not it was that premeditated or if it was, you know, that premeditated?
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B
Well, it didn't make a difference because premeditation was needed for that, that murder charge. So clearly they thought that he murdered him. You know, I mean, I understood where they were going, like premeditation, like I thought about this when I woke up this morning, or I know I'll go over here and get them. But I mean, if it's, I guess even in two minutes, if you're sitting there, hand on the blade, touch me and see what happens. Hand on the blade, that means you're, you're having forethought. It might be 90 seconds of forethought, but you're thinking about it. He says that is a warning, not provocation, and say that's how they ended. Prosecution comes back and they say initially reading off my notes here, do not let them turn a threat into a warning. He said you don't get to provoke the altercation and when someone touches you, you use deadly force. Then he goes down to the second, the second reason called it forced disparity. Saying, you know, here in Texas you can meet force with force, you know, shove and shove. You can meet deadly force with deadly force. You cannot meet normal force with lethal force. That there, there's, there's a disparity there.
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C
One thing that has just stuck with me in this story as well is that it was, you know, Austin Metcalf, this 17 year old, who, who died in the stabbing.
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A
He was a twin.
- [14:00]
B
Yeah, he died, he died in his brother's arms. When Austin got stabbed, he, you know, he fell back and then his brother ran to him. And some of the coaches said they pulled Hunter off of him, trying to just get him away. Let, you know, people do their attempted life saving measures and I can only imagine you're sitting there looking at your twin. You know, there's, there's allegedly a deeper connection between twins than other brothers. You know, there's like a little, a little ounce of we've heard about that. You know what I mean?
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A
Absolutely. What did Hunter say? He said he said something to the
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C
effect of when his, when I was. Thought his soul was leaving, I. I felt like mine was too.
- [14:34]
B
I have, I have a. This is my moment of the trial. If you, if you don't mind indulging me here real quick. It was a very, it was a very emotional moment for me listening to. They had a coach on there under the prosecution's case who was a 14 year Iraq combat veteran who had seen death in carnage in all different forms. Right. And you know, he was the one that walked up, he took his jacket off, you can kind of see him in that grainy video. And he's the one putting pressure on and doing chest compressions. Right, right. And so he talked about hearing, you know, we've heard in television shows and true crime documentaries, when people die, there's this thing they call like the death rattle, which is pretty much your last breath stick your brain trying to force any last bit of oxygen to keep the body alive before it eventually dies. Like, once it gets to that point, you're pretty much dead. Right. So he talked about that, that sound. Okay, so there's this coach that's testifying. Follow me real quick. There's this coach that's testifying, then there's a coach who didn't testify, but he's the one on a 911 call. And the coach testifying, talked about, you know, moments where Austin's eyes are rolling back and he was not breathing. Like now he's unconscious. And on this 911 call, you hear the coach that's calling, he's like, oh, he's not breathing. He's not breathing. And then all of a sudden you hear him go, wait, he's breathing again. He's breathing again. To the, to the operator and the coach testifying, the Iraq veteran was like, yeah, we heard that. But when I heard it, it was that death rattle sound. So I knew he was gone, but I didn't say. But listen, here's the kicker. He said, I didn't say anything because I didn't want to ruin the hope of the coaches and the people around. So he kept on doing the chest compressions knowing that this kid is dead, but he'd already known what that was. You know, people around like, oh, he's breathing again. You know, he's, he's coming back or whatever. But that coach knew, you know, based on his combat experience and experience with, with death, you know, unfortunately, that that was the end. But he kept on going because he didn't want to ruin the hope. That was. That was the. That was the. You know, where you looked around, the emotion. That's when the jury started to cry, Cody.
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C
It was. It literally felt it, really. Not to say it again, but to say it again. It was literally like Shakespearean. I mean, it was. It was literally like something that you would have read in a. In a high school lit.
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B
Just a profound tragedy. Shakespearean tragedy. Yeah.
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C
But, Cody, thank you so much. I know you've got a busy day ahead of you, too, and I appreciate your time and thank you for covering this for all of us.
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A
It was great to speak to Core TV's Cody Thomas. You know, with no cameras in the courtroom, he was able to give us details that no one else can. The judge in the Carmelo Anthony case imposed a gag order early on, so it'll be interesting to see how much of the evidence is later released. Be sure to like and subscribe to Criminally Obsessed so we can update you with the latest on this story and all of the stories that you're obsessed with.