Shocking Knife Testimony Rocks Track Meet Murder Trial

[00:00:00] Chris Stewart: Shocking and emotional testimony today in the Carmelo Anthony murder trial. We are one of the only media outlets in the courtroom for one of the biggest trials of the year. A teen track star, Carmelo Anthony, is charged with first-degree murder. He is accused of stabbing and killing fellow track athlete Austin Metcalf at a track meet. A haunting body cam video captured the chaotic aftermath of Austin Metcalf's final moments, but it was one statement Carmelo Anthony allegedly made to police after the stabbing that could become the most powerful and potentially devastating evidence in this case. We're on the case presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. Hey guys, real quick before we get into what happened in court today, I need to talk about our partner and sponsor Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm for more than 35 years. They have been fighting for the people and have recovered more than $30 billion for their clients. Now the proof, it's in their track record. They have more than a thousand lawyers across 100 offices nationwide. Hiring Morgan & Morgan is like hiring an army to go into battle for you. It's a team that will fight hard to get their clients the compensation they deserve. Not all law firms are the same. If you hire the wrong one, you may be beat before you even start. So if you're ever injured, you can check out Morgan & Morgan and their fee is free unless you win. For more information, you can go to forthepeople.com slash OTC. You can click the link below or scan the QR code on your screen. There is no question that Carmelo Anthony stabbed Austin Metcalfe. In fact, today we heard from the police officer who arrested Carmelo Anthony and he says that he heard the teen say, quote, I'm not alleged, I did it, when talking about what he had just done to Austin Metcalfe. Now, these are sketches from today inside the courtroom. Again, no cameras allowed, no audio recording allowed. So we have artist Pat Lopez putting these together for us. Now, the issue that jurors are deciding in this case is whether the stabbing was a murder. Today, a member of Austin Metcalfe's track team told the court that Carmelo Anthony provoked Austin Metcalfe. And today was the first time that we heard from multiple teens who witnessed the brutal stabbing. And today it was an emotional day in court. Court just let out. Cody Thomas from Court TV, one of the few members of the media actually witnessing all of this. So truly our eyes and ears inside a courtroom where we can't record, can't use audio, can't use video. So, Cody, thanks for being here once again. There's a lot I want to get to. But let's start with the body camera video that was shown in court today. What did you see? [00:02:52] Cody Thomas: Yeah, Chris, so they came out of the gate with that. There were two different officers that testified. So we had two different angles of the body cam. But the first officer is actually the officer that made the arrest. He was an SRO. He's in his office and he gets the call. There's been a stabbing at the stadium. So he's running out there, seeing what's going on. Of course, he's seeing the frenzy of students running in every which way. And then he's asking, you know, where's the action at? What's, you know, where am I going here? And he sees the north side of the stadium. So he gets over there and everyone's telling him, it's that kid. It's that kid. Because these kids at Memorial High School did not have any idea who Carmelo Anthony was. But, you know, he's in the gray hoodie. He's in the dark blue or the black sweatpants. And they're pointing him out because one of the kids that testified, and we'll get to them, was following him while on 911. So they obviously saw this kid and he wasn't running outside the stadium. So anyway, the officer ends up approaching him. And we start, the body cam comes on during the apprehension. So it wasn't on during, you know, most of it. But when it comes on, we start seeing it there. And the thing about it, Carmelo, actually, Chris, was cooperating. He was compliant. He was following orders. He was, you know, respectful. You know, what's your name? He's spelling his name out without the officer even prompting him. And he goes over and he sits him down and then the officer cuffs him just to detain him, you know, before this is before they even, you know, take him off campus in the squad car down to the jail or any of that. But one of the most important things about one of these body cams, Chris, is the audio. Because you hear they're walking along and the officer's kind of just doing some back and forth with them. And then you hear Carmelo say, he put his hands on me. I told him not to. And that's the part that the prosecution's harping on, the I told him not to part, because they're pretty much saying that part's a lie. You know, every account that we've heard so far in the reporting over the last year and some of the students today was just the whole touch me and see what happens. You know, it wasn't don't touch me. It wasn't, you know, if you keep your hands off me, we're cool. It was touch me and see what happens. You know, making it sound more on the offensive. But when he said that statement, though, Chris, the whole I told him not to put his hands on me and all that, he was sobbing. The emotion was you heard it. You didn't see his face, but you heard it instantaneously. And so then a few minutes goes by and then he seems a little bit calmer, like you were just, you know, high energy here, high, you know, sad energy. And then now you're calm and just, yeah, my name's Carmelo Anthony and I'm a senior or what have you. But anyway, that was the important part of that statement. Now, another statement made that that camera didn't pick up. But from the other officer who was there who had, I don't know, a better audio on her camera, they, you know, they radioed in. We have the alleged suspect. Carmelo then goes, it's not alleged. I did it. So there was an immediate admission, you know, within six minutes of this stabbing happening. But the thing about it, Chris, and one of those body cam videos, the one, the second one, you actually saw, you know, they're going up there, you know, scoping the scene and figuring everything out, talking to some of the students. You actually see, graphic in nature, the chest compressions being done on what we now know to be Austin Metcalfe's lifeless body. You saw a little blood around. You just see him just kind of, you know, splayed out and you hear a bunch of, you know, the kids yelling out, that was my brother. They stabbed my brother. That's my best friend. And, you know, all this different stuff. And we heard a 911 call made by the students. So we heard a lot of audio visuals today, Chris. Very graphic in nature, real emotional. And, you know, I'm sitting two rows behind the Metcalfe family every single day. I could reach out and touch this father. That's how close he is to me. And, you know, for the majority of the day, he's just holding his head in his hands, you know, just taking in all the facts. I mean, he's been dealing with this for a year. But when you see, you know, your son laying there lifeless, you hear 911 calls. You know, you're seeing all the love and support that he was getting, you know, from the friends and the coaches. So, like, you know, he was supported. But, you know, to what avail? Because he's not here anymore. [00:06:41] Chris Stewart: And to just think, because I know yesterday we were talking about the 911 calls and just how emotional that was. But then you have to actually see the chaos that was taking place. As the body cam was playing, what was Carmelo doing in the courtroom? [00:06:54] Cody Thomas: That's interesting, Chris, because I was, you know, I'm right here in the Metcalfe camp. But I try to, you know, keep my head on a swivel, not only to the jury, but over on that side of the courtroom as well. And it's just very stoic. It's just very, I don't know if the word emotionless is correct, because I'm sure they're feeling a lot of things. But maybe emotionless, not in a negative sense, but just very, you know, stale-faced. I imagine, you know, Carmelo's sitting there. He's just looking. He's not moving around. He's not looking around the courtroom. He's not rocking his chair. He's just looking right at it, because I'm sure he's reliving, you know, his version of what went down that day and probably, you know, regretting the biggest mistake of his life. And you're looking across at his family, and they're just, you know, just taking that in. And I have to think about it from that point of view as well, Chris, because could you imagine your son, your brother, your nephew, you know, this kid that you've seen grow up, and now he's being accused of these, you know, the maximum crime you could be accused of, you know, killing someone. So they're over there just a little more stale, not in a negative sense, but just, you know, just real cemented and, you know, hearing what's going on. But, of course, there's visceral, audible emotion on the Metcalf side. [00:08:02] Chris Stewart: Yeah, and I just, I mean, again, like you've seen this video, you know, you wonder if the Metcalf family had seen that video before it being played in court and just having to relive all of this. I know today, too, that there were pictures up on the screen where we saw the alleged murder weapon. We saw this knife that was used to stab Austin Metcalf. Just what was your reaction seeing that and then how it worked into what prosecutors are alleging? [00:08:30] Cody Thomas: So the big takeaway from the knife, Chris, is that it has a three and a half inch blade. It was, it looked like a heavy duty knife. It's not what I expected it to look like. You know, I've seen, I'm sure you have, too, plenty of different styles of pocket knives. This one just looks like just one of the ones that won't break when you try to cut something. You know, the blade is not going to bend on this one. And it just left me wondering why did you have, if you had any sort of blade, I don't know what it would have been for, maybe to cut some rope or what have you. But this one seems a little bit excessive, but neither here nor there, but then they had, when they brought the knife up there, they had one of the officers come down and they did a little demonstration with it because it's one of those folding pocket knives with a blade folds down into the handle. And before they did the demonstration, the prosecutor asked the officer, you carry something similar like this at work. And the officer was like, yeah, as a tool for cutting seat belts, you know, and people getting car crashes and things like that. So it's a pretty heavy-duty, sharp knife. But then they did the demonstration and they pulled it out, you know, normally like you would two-handed. But it has this thing on it, Chris, called a thumb stopper. And it's like a little thing that sticks off the side of the blade where you can just pick it out with one hand. Not to be confused with the switchblade, nothing like that, but just showing how fast you could, you know, just whip it out if you wanted to. And, you know, that's where the prosecution was alluding, like he already had his hand in the bag. You know, maybe he already realized what he wanted to do and pick a fight. So if and when Austin Metcalf shoved him in the shoulder, he just, you know, took it out really quickly. But, yeah, the reaction to the knife, it definitely fits the prosecution's narrative. It definitely looks like one of those knives that could penetrate deeply if, you know, stabbed with enough force. But, again, three and a half inches, Chris, you got to realize, oh, that's another part of it. On one of the body cams, we saw, you know, he threw the knife in the bleachers before he ran off. That's what we were hearing about. And, you know, hit up in the bleachers, metal on metal, made a big clanking sound. One of the students told the officers where it was. And you see one of the officers walk up because he was kind of in charge of scene safety, scene security, you know, making sure the evidence wasn't compromised. He looks down. He's like, I found it. I found it. And then he says on his body cam, oh, that still has blood evidence and bone evidence on it. It's one thing. We expected the blood naturally, but bone evidence, you couldn't really see it because it was raining that day. But, I mean, you know, in person, he clearly saw for him to make that statement. So definitely a sizable knife there, Chris, when they showed that on the screen. [00:10:50] Chris Stewart: You know, Cody, I think one thing that is also important to know is just how quickly all of this went down. You know, it is, you know, from what's been told by witnesses and some of the EMTs, I mean, Austin Metcalfe may not have even realized that he had been stabbed in those moments. And it just kind of speaks to the chaos of everything. And I keep going back to that word chaos because that's truly what it was. And today, for the first time, we heard from some of the students, some of the teammates of Austin Metcalfe who were there under this tent. There was like five or six of them who spoke. And there were some common themes to what they said. These are state witnesses brought by the prosecution. What were some of the things that stood out to you just on their account of what they saw that day? [00:11:32] Cody Thomas: Well, Chris, one of the main commonalities, the common denominators between them all is what you just pointed out, the speed at which it happened. All of them said that they didn't even realize what had happened because it had happened so fast. I mean, including Austin Metcalfe himself. They said when he, when the stabbing happened, they said they looked to Austin and he was just stumbling back. And he just, you know, was doing, you know, a motion like this. And then he pulled his shirt up and that's when they saw the gaping wound. But no one, not one of them said they even saw a knife. So that was one thing, Chris. The biggest commonality between them all is that they all said Carmelo was the aggressor. They all said they were sitting under the tent and he walks up and just sits under there. Didn't say anything really to anybody. One person said that he shook hands with another teenager there. But even when he did that, he just sat down and wasn't, you know, wasn't talking to anyone. Didn't ask, hey, can I sit here? Hey, what's going on? And of course they kept diving into the tent culture, you know, at, at track meets where each tent is pretty much alluded to as a locker room for each team. And you wouldn't hang out in the opposing team's locker room. And they also said their coaches didn't really allow it. If the coaches saw somebody from an opposing team, like Carmelo was from Centennial High School sitting under the Memorial High School tent, that just would not have been allowed. So all of them say, you know, who was this kid? One described him as a random kid who just came down from the top of the bleachers, sat down, questions started circulating, like, who are you? What's your name? What are you doing here? And that's eventually when they say, you know, Austin Metcalf stood up because he was looked at as a leader of the team, looked at as a team captain. He was the captain on the football team as a linebacker. And a lot of, you know, there's a lot of translation between football and track athletes. So they're all kind of one big family. And they say he stood up and all of them said that Austin started off calmly, you know, hey, man, what's going on? You shouldn't really be here. You know, just get off from under the tent. Not in any aggressive way. Everything was calm. And they said Carmelo was just like not responding, just saying no. Or if you want me to move, you're going to have to make me move. Just, you know, being real adamant about not leaving the tent. And so eventually they said Austin started getting a little frustrated. People, you know, other people under the tent started getting frustrated. You know, others were chiming in. Some of the people on the witness stand, some of the students testified to that, that they were chiming in also. Like, what are you doing here, man? Like, none of them said any cussing was going on. They asked specifically, were there any profanity, any cussing? They're like, not that I remember. So maybe it wasn't a nasty altercation, but just a frustrating one. And so the students did admit that Austin started getting a little heated. Carmelo started getting a little heated. But then they started talking about Carmelo's hand in the bag. And then that, all of them said that same thing that we've heard, Chris, the phrase, touch me and find out. You know, touch me and see what happens. And, you know, they started talking about how here in Frisco, Texas, here in Collin County, this is, you know, suburban, you know, fantasy land. Like, none of this happens out here. You know, all of them were saying the same things, that they would not have expected someone to bring a knife to a track meet on school grounds. They have never heard of anything like that. They weren't expecting anything like that. I mean, imagine being 14, 15, 16, and you're not thinking about somebody having a knife in a book bag to the point where they said, Austin looked at him and said, oh, you don't have anything in that bag. Like, calling his bluff, pretty much. He had his hand in the bag and said, oh, you don't have anything in there. We live in Frisco. You aren't going to do anything. And they say that's when Austin walked up. And, you know, that's where the inconsistency comes in. Was it a hard push? Was it a one-handed push? Whatever it happened, they say that's when the stabbing happened so fast. And another thing they all said, Chris, was that it was, you know, it was a little bit of a commotion. But they all said they did not even expect a fight to happen. One girl testified, and she was at the tent next to it at Liberty High School, maybe 20, 30 feet away. She heard the argument going on, but she thought it was just boys being boys. And she went to go watch the 3200 race. And by the time she walked down to the fence, Austin was stabbed. And, you know, the prosecutor asked her, you know, if you're a teenager, if you expected a fight, you know, teenagers are going to pull their phones out. You know, we've seen fights before in high school. It's like watching a wrestling match. You know, you're not going to turn away from that. But everyone seemed to turn away. People were on their phones, scrolling TikTok, scrolling Instagram, not really concerned with what was happening. They heard it happening, but it wasn't to the point where they thought this would be the result here. [00:15:40] Chris Stewart: Yeah, and it's just, you think, too, for all these kids who are testifying today, these teenagers, I mean, they've probably lived and thought about this moment going into this courtroom facing Carmelo Anthony and saying this. Ever since this happened more than a year ago, the tent culture stuff, I noticed that that keeps coming up. That seems to be like a constant theme. And the other part, too, that stood out to me, just looking at some of the notes from today, is how many of them bluntly said in court that they did not believe that this was self-defense. And it just seems like that is something, if you're a juror, I mean, that, you know, from the defense standpoint, that that's got to be something that gets, you know, at least I would assume his defense attorney frustrated where you're having these witnesses, the people who are there looking at jurors and saying, I do not believe that this was self-defense. How did the defense today handle these witnesses that the state put on the stand? [00:16:35] Cody Thomas: Yeah, Chris, that was one thing that stood out to me when I was sitting in there. I was actively thinking about it as the proceedings were going on, was that under cross-examination, the defense was not really attacking these students aggressively. I don't know if that's a strategy move, given, you know, some of them were minor. Some of them have graduated, going off to college here in the fall. But they weren't, they weren't really going at them as hard as I expected them to. You know, I would imagine you're, you know, you have a couple of teenagers, you're trying to slice and dice their stories, find every inconsistency that you can find. But the thing about it is they were essentially asking the same questions that the prosecution was asking. And the kids were just reiterating what they'd already said under direct. So it's a very interesting strategy to me, Chris, because, you know, I always looked at cross-examination as you're trying to essentially cross somebody up to go in the favor of your client on the defensive side. So real lack of aggression here. But, of course, we're only on day two. We don't know what they're, they're playing for their case once that comes around, what that's going to be like. Of course, maybe it'll be more intense than we think. But right now, Chris, it just seems, seems a little pulled back. But we'll have to see as the, as the trial continues. [00:17:40] Chris Stewart: Yeah, it seems like they're just trying to, to maybe weather the storm, you know, a little bit with these witnesses, because these are witnesses that were under Austin Metcalf's tent. These were Austin Metcalf's friends. You know, and I don't know if the defense has brought that part up. I did notice that they've brought up Carmelo Anthony's size multiple times, that he is smaller than Austin Metcalf. I think Austin Metcalf was like 6'1", 6'2", 215. Carmelo Anthony, maybe like 185, right? I mean, I know he played defensive back. I think Austin Metcalf was like a linebacker, a defensive end. So there's like a little size difference, but I don't know. When I hear them talking about Carmelo Anthony's size, like he was a football player. He was an athlete. I know he was looking to play college football. I just don't know how strong of a, well, he was given some weight up to Austin Metcalf when he had a knife, whether that's something that might really resonate with a jerk. [00:18:29] Cody Thomas: Yeah, Chris, and I hear that too. And actually, they say he's smaller than 185. They say he's around 145.8. So what they're trying to do, yeah, I mean, I look at him and, you know, he looks like an average-sized kid when I walk past him. Clearly, you know, a little thinner, but he's still essentially a grown man. He's still 18 at this point. He doesn't look like a child, but neither here nor there as far as that, Chris. I think where they're going, they're trying to show some kind of stark disparity, okay? We got the two twins over here that, again, 6'1", 6'2", 215, burly boys, linebackers, all of this. But they're trying to make him out to seem like these big bullies, I feel. Like they were asking one of the students on the stand today, well, you know, if you were to walk up on Austin Metcalf, would you feel threatened or intimidated? And he just responded. He was like, I don't know about intimidated. He was like, I probably wouldn't pick a fight with him, but it wasn't like he was, you know, walking up like a giant and being, you know, abrasive about things. But I think that's just what they're trying to, anything they're trying to throw the wall here, Chris, to show aggression on Austin Metcalf's side, trying to aid in that self-defense claim that they're having or presenting for Carmelo Anthony. [00:19:40] Chris Stewart: Because one other thing that I kind of noticed as well, because I remember when this case first happened and the police kind of laid out this fact that like the, the track meet had been delayed because of rain and maybe Carmelo Anthony went into the tent because it was raining, but it also doesn't seem like from the testimony that it was some like monsoon that was in the area where everybody was taking cover because it was coming through. [00:20:02] Cody Thomas: And actually, one of the things they pointed out is that it wasn't even an actual rain delay. There was confusion. They were, there were athletes warming up. They had put rain delay on the billboard, on the scoreboard, but that wasn't true. It wasn't even official. So every officer's account, every trainer who was out there, every coach, every athlete, they all admitted, yeah, it was drizzling. The drizzle picked up, you know, a little as the day went on. But as far as the morning goes, it was just a really wet morning. It rained overnight. They say the rain didn't really start until after the stabbing happened because one of the former coaches who actually testified yesterday said he kneeled down. He was the head track coach. Actually, he kneeled down with Hunter Metcalf, the twin brother of Austin to pray, you know, after this happened. Of course, there's a lot of emotion in this moment, a couple of minutes after your brother's been stabbed. And he said, as soon as he kneeled down to pray, that's when rain really started to come. But all before that, by all accounts that we've heard so far on the witness stand, there was not really raining at all. It was just wet and misty, just really a yucky day. So, you know, there are people out there with umbrellas. There are people without umbrellas. So, and the defense keeps asking the witnesses, are you aware that Centennial is the only team that didn't have a tent that day? Alluding to the fact that, you know, maybe somebody doesn't want to stand outside and get drenched, you know, just get drained in rainwater. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. [00:21:21] Chris Stewart: And as you're kind of watching and taking in what's happening in the courtroom, I mean, these are long days. I mean, I think it's like nine hours. You know, I think today was like eight hours. You know, the judges really kind of have his foot on the gas and getting this, you know, getting this done to the point where they're going to be having court on Saturday as well. What has stood out to you about the jury as all of this has been going on? [00:21:42] Cody Thomas: There are responses to some of this stuff that's obviously being presented. I mean, you're watching a child die on body cam. You're looking at another 17-year-old across the way who's accused of that killing. You're seeing this bloody knife. You know, you're seeing the bloody clothes. You're hearing 911 calls, the testaments of all these people who saw a child die in these stands. And so I'm looking at them. And, you know, it's a mixture of grown men and women, obviously. And, you know, shamelessly enough, I expected, you know, the women to cry when they heard some things. But, Chris, I've seen two or three of the grown men with Kleenex in their hand listening to some of this testimony, watching some of this video. So there and that was some yesterday. That was on day one of testimony and a little bit today as well. So the prosecution already, you know, pulling at the heartstrings of this jury, you know, as, you know, the defense still has their time to come present their case. But I just wonder, I fear, if some of those jurors have already made up their mind, given the, you know, the extreme nature of what went down, the gravity of this situation here. [00:22:39] Chris Stewart: Yeah. And you also just have to wonder, is there, you know, what the defense will present when it's their turn to present the case? We know in the opening statements, they talked about Carmelo Anthony as, you know, this good student. He worked multiple jobs, but then it just comes down to that day in that moment, like his side of the story. How are they going to present it? To your point, the body camera video seems like that would be, you know, a damning piece of evidence that the prosecution presented today. So we'll see. Lastly, Cody, because, you know, tomorrow we're going to be in court again, you know, on Saturday as this is going forward. What do you make of just the pace at which the judge seems to be moving things along? Because I know today there were not a lot of breaks as you went for eight hours. [00:23:19] Cody Thomas: Absolutely. Hey, he's foot pedal to the metal, foot on the gas for sure. Chris, we got through maybe eight or nine witnesses today. Six, six students, two officers just going through them. Of course, we're going in court tomorrow. Today, we only had one 45 minute lunch break, not even an hour. And then a 10 minute break after that. And that was it. You know, that the lunch break was at 1130 this morning, central time. And the afternoon break came maybe an hour after that. So we sat in there for a good chunk of the day leading up to the end here. So it seems like, again, you know, we're expecting this trial to be over the end of next week, maybe a verdict by next Thursday, Friday, or if they do a Saturday session. You know, if they get the case on a Friday, I'd imagine the jury might not want to come in on a Saturday. You're naturally speaking. But it's expected to be two weeks long. And it seems like they are staying on pace, if not ahead of schedule. [00:24:08] Chris Stewart: And we'll see what happens next. We'll be in court tomorrow, continuing to follow the case of Carmelo Anthony. Cody Thomas from Court TV. Great work, as always. Thanks for being with us. [00:24:17] Cody Thomas: Thanks for having me, Chris. Always happy to be here. [00:24:19] Chris Stewart: Court will be in session on Saturday as well. And we're going to keep a close eye on things. We will bring you an update on what happened as this high profile trial continues. That will do it for this episode of On the Case, presented by Law & Crime. Subscribe to us on YouTube and Spotify. And we're also now streaming on Peacock. I'm Chris Stewart. See you next time.