What Did Karmelo Anthony's Racist Texts Reveal? The Court Documents Explained

Getty Images Court documents kept from the jury have surfaced as the convicted teen fights his conviction. Here's what they show. The case that gripped the country is back in the headlines. Newly released court documents tied to Karmelo Anthony, the Texas teen convicted of murdering Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet, include text messages and photos that never reached the jury. The material, first reported by TMZ, surfaced as Anthony's new legal team appeals his conviction. Here's what we know about the documents and where the case stands now. What Do Karmelo Anthony's Newly Released Texts Reveal? According to TMZ, which reviewed the filing, the documents contain racist and homophobic messages Anthony sent in the years before the killing. The docs were first obtained by The Daily Mail. In one exchange, he allegedly wrote, 'I f**king despise black b**ches.' He goes on to say, 'all tht wig glue getting to they f***ing brain.' And allegedly adds they, 'need to go die. In messages from 2021, when Anthony was around 13, he wrote, 'These f**king gay people are f**king everything up.' The filing also reportedly includes photos of Anthony posing with firearms, among them an AK-47-style rifle. Karmelo Anthony seen holding guns, spewing hateful rants in newly revealed documents https://t.co/GfczLZHQwE pic.twitter.com/4RMiVvGWze — New York Post (@nypost) September 8, 2026 Why Weren't the Texts Shown at Trial? The messages never came up during Anthony's murder trial because of an agreement between prosecutors and his original defense team to keep damaging personal history about both teenagers out of the case and focus on the stabbing itself, per TMZ. Also known as a 'gentlemen's agreement,' both the prosecution and the defense evidently chose to keep damaging information from the teenagers' lives out of the case. Where Does Karmelo Anthony's Case Stand Now? A Collin County jury found Anthony guilty of first-degree murder on June 9, 2026, and he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was 17 at the time of the April 2025 stabbing in Frisco, Texas, but was tried as an adult under state law. The newly surfaced documents are tied to his push for a new trial, and his appeal remains ongoing.