McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Karmelo Anthony had planned to testify during his Texas murder trial over a track meet stabbing but backed out amid sudden concerns that prosecutors would raise potentially damaging evidence about the teenager's past, one of his lawyers said Friday.
Anthony, 19, is asking for a new trial after a jury in June sentenced him to 35 years in prison for killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, who attended a rival school and was stabbed during a confrontation at a track competition last year. Since then, the case has stirred tensions over race and led to both families becoming targets of harassment.
During the second day of a hearing near Dallas, defense attorney Toby Shook said the teenager's plans to testify unraveled over worries that prosecutors would renege on agreements to not present evidence that might further inflame an already highly charged case.
“It was essential that the jury hear Karmelo and hear his explanation,” Shook said.
It was not clear when state District Judge Michael Chitty would issue a ruling on whether to grant a new trial.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye has defended the trial as fair and said the possibility of Anthony testifying wasn't part of the original agreement with the defense. Anthony's attorneys say it should have been obvious the teenager would want to explain to jurors himself how he acted in self-defense.
Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Among the details that jurors never heard because of the agreement, according to attorneys on both sides, were that Anthony once sent a text message fantasizing about stabbing someone and Metcalf had a history of fighting and using racist language.
During the trial, lawyers on both sides told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race, but social media posts amplified the killing nationwide in racial terms.
In an interview with NewsNation, Metcalf's father, Jeff Metcalf, said he supported the original agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys. He said information about his son's juvenile history does not change what happened the day his son was killed.
“We all want our children to be the best they can be, and obviously, we all fall short,” Jeff Metcalf told NewsNation. “It still doesn’t change the facts of the case.”
Metcalf's parents and Anthony's parents have attended both days of the hearing.
Anthony's attorneys have also told the judge he should get a new trial because of errors that limited access to the proceedings. They have argued that the case’s original judge allowed a “shadow docket” that shielded character information about both sides.
The trial in June took place amid heightened court security. Wirskye said there had been threats against a judge who granted Anthony bond, fake autopsy reports circulating online and attempts to intimidate witnesses. Parents of some witnesses also filed protective orders for their children because of threats, according to Wirskye.
Anthony secured one legal victory this week when the judge who presided over his trial was removed from the case. Chitty was then assigned to consider the motion for a retrial.
Anthony’s attorneys had asked for state District Judge John Roach to be removed in part because of a TV interview in which Roach said jurors “got it right” when they delivered a guilty verdict.
Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed
This booking photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, shows Karmelo Anthony. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Friday and trimming their losses from what’s been a shaky week. The bond market, which has been the center of Wall Street’s action, remains jumpy, but the moves in yields are not as hectic as earlier in the week and that is helping to keep financial markets relatively calm.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and was on track for just its second gain in the six days since setting its all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 469 points, or 0.9%, as of 2:26 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Ross Stores helped lead the way and climbed 5.4% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Jim Conroy said it saw both an increase in new customers and more interest from existing customers, while the off-price retailer at the same time benefited from refunds on tariffs.
Most U.S. companies have reported bigger profits for the spring than analysts expected, which has helped drive the stock market’s run to records recently. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.
The other big lever that helps set stock prices is interest rates, which have been much shakier.
After soaring through the summer and then hesitating earlier this week following a surprise announcement that the U.S. Treasury Department will repurchase more longer-term bonds, yields remained unsettled in the bond market on Friday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.74% from 4.69% late Thursday. The moves, though, were less sharp than earlier in the week, like when the 10-year yield lost 0.06 percentage points and the 30-year yield dropped nearly 0.10 percentage points on Wednesday.
Contributing to Friday's moves was continued uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. That caused oil prices to flip between gains and losses, which directly affected Treasury yields because higher prices raise worries about inflation.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil was most recently up 0.7% at $94.46.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s move to increase the planned repurchases of Treasurys is bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies often rise when interest rates are lower and more money is flowing through the financial system.
Bitcoin has climbed above $77,000 from less than $63,000 a week ago. That helped stocks in the crypto industry lead Wall Street. Robinhood Markets jumped 11.9%, and Coinbase Global gained 9.2%.
The price of gold also climbed and topped $4,680 per ounce from less than $4,440 a week earlier. When Treasurys are no longer paying much more in yield, they get less of an advantage in investors’ eyes over gold, which pays its holders nothing.
That helped drive stocks of miners higher. Newmont climbed 3%, and Freeport-McMoRan jumped 7.7%.
They helped offset drop of 8.7% for OSI Systems, which sells security screening equipment to airports and other specialized electronic systems. It reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, and CEO Ajay Mehra said it was hurt by “the Middle East conflicts which shifted the timing of certain planned deliveries.”
Boston Beer sank 3.1% after the seller of Samuel Adams and Dogfish Head said its chief financial officer is leaving the company and announced an interim replacement.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in much of Asia and Europe. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.2%, and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% for two of the world’s bigger moves.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.
Options traders Chris Dattolo, Scott Frinzi, Justin Kanda, and Ravi Bhandari, left to right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Options trader Anthony Spina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
