Austin Metcalf's father speaks out after Karmelo Anthony verdict

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: As Anthony now begins paying the price for his conviction, Austin Metcalf's father tonight is talking only with our J.D. Miles about the price that his family is paying. [00:00:13] Speaker 2: Because a lie is temporary, but the truth lasts forever. [00:00:22] Speaker 1: Jeff Metcalf finally had a chance to read the words he's been writing in a notebook to address his son's killer. You said people think that grief is sadness, but it's not. It's rage. Pure, unfiltered rage. You failed yourself. You failed your parents. You failed society. You don't belong in this community. That's correct. Metcalf's victim impact statement came at the end of Carmelo Anthony's murder trial. For months, the father of Austin Metcalf has been silenced by a gag order imposed by the judge. Now he's free to speak publicly and says he's also free of something else. [00:01:00] Speaker 2: When I woke up this morning, it was a very different feeling. When I woke up, I felt like a million pounds had been lifted off my shoulders. Because I used to wake up every morning with this anxiety, with this feeling of dread. And this morning was the first day I woke up with a feeling of peace, comfort, tranquility that I haven't experienced in 14 months. And I felt Austin. [00:01:44] Speaker 1: Metcalf was in court every day of Anthony's trial. The 19-year-old now convicted murderer not only took his son Austin's life, he did it right in front of Austin's twin brother, Hunter. [00:01:55] Speaker 2: What killed me was the body cam footage when I could hear Hunter screaming. Oh God, oh God, my brother, my twin. You know, as a parent, you always want to protect your kids. And to hear my son and the fear in his voice, and I'm not there to fix it. [00:02:25] Speaker 1: What was it like sitting in that courtroom with Carmelo Anthony for five or six days? [00:02:31] Speaker 2: Challenging is the first word that comes to my mind. And I'll even say this, I had a little bit of sorrow because I'm human. And that poor boy is fixing to experience a life that I would not wish upon anyone. [00:02:52] Speaker 1: Metcalf says even today he's received death threats and has previously endured doxing of his personal information and multiple swatting calls to his house from people who he says have tried to villainize Austin and the family. [00:03:07] Speaker 2: I would hope they take a look in the mirror. And if you have children, and if it was your child who was murdered, would you like people dragging his name through the mud, making memes, making jokes, and just really vile comments? [00:03:27] Speaker 1: Where do you and the Metcalf family go from here? Well, I mean, this is day one of a long healing process. [00:03:41] Speaker 2: Because, honestly, it's been impossible to start healing until this trial was complete. [00:03:49] Speaker 1: The trial may be over, but the racial polarization among Americans on display outside the Collin County Courthouse continues. [00:03:59] Speaker 2: Look at the effect, not just the effect here between the Metcalf family and the Anthony family. Look what it did, one, to those kids they have to live with, two, it took on this huge, wider, let's have a race war throughout the nation. [00:04:24] Speaker 1: Metcalf insists that his son had no racist motives when he approached Anthony about leaving a track team tent. This case was never about race. There's going to be those people now that just, you know, try to throw shade on the whole trial with the jury makeup and the speed of it and that sort of thing. [00:04:41] Speaker 2: I mean, those are the same people that said he was jumped by four people, his phone was broken. You're going to spend whatever story to try to keep yourself afloat. [00:04:51] Speaker 1: Metcalf believes Anthony should have received a life sentence. He says if Anthony is up for parole in 17 years, he will be there in some form to argue against it. [00:05:02] Speaker 2: If I'm still alive, yes, I will be there in person. If not, I am going to make a video, if I'm passed on, that can be played. [00:05:11] Speaker 1: There are no walls in Metcalf's home without photos or paintings of Austin and his twin. These images and a scholarship in his son's name are what remain for this father, who says he's ready to finally forgive, but not forget. [00:05:26] Speaker 2: But people need to understand about forgiveness. Forgiveness was not for him. Forgiveness was for me, so I don't carry the rage, the hate and that around. It will eat me up like cancer. [00:05:36] Speaker 1: J.D. Miles, CBS News, Texas.