The Texas judge who presided over convicted murderer Karmelo Anthony’s trial has released surveillance and police bodycam footage from the day Anthony murdered Austin Metcalf last year.
Collin County District Judge John Roach told Fox News’ Brooke Taylor that while it had been important to “protect the process, witnesses, and jury” by keeping cameras out of the courtroom during the trial, now is the time for transparency.
“I understood the public’s desire to know what happened in the courtroom,” he said, according to Taylor. “The overwhelming focus on my ruling regarding the media in courtroom was to protect the process, witnesses, and jury. Now that the trial is over, it is important to me to provide transparency.”
Part one of his release included surveillance footage from the David Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas, that shows Anthony going to a tent over bleachers that was occupied by students from Metcalf’s school. The dispute is visible about the 2:30 mark, and Anthony is seen fleeing the area.
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The video began by showing Metcalf and Anthony separately entering the stadium for a track meet. Later, Anthony, a student at the meet to compete for Frisco Centennial High School, could be seen entering the tent for Metcalf’s Memorial High School.
After Anthony entered the tent, a barely observable confrontation occurred, after which the now-19-year-old abruptly jumped out of the tent and fled to another part of the stadium, where he lingered until police arrived.
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The second part of the release contained police bodycam footage showing Anthony admitting upfront to responding officer Eduardo Cortez that he killed Metcalf.
“He put his hands on me,” Anthony told Cortez through tears. “I told him not to. He put his hands on me.”
When Cortez later described him to another office as the “alleged suspect,” Anthony piped up to admit that he was the killer.
“I’m not ‘alleged,’ sir, I did it,” he said.
#BREAKING: The judge in the Karmelo Anthony trial just released evidence including body camera footage showing the moments an officer took him into custody after the stabbing. Anthony is heard saying, “He put his hands on me. I told him not to. He put his hands on me.” pic.twitter.com/d97lI433bB
— Brooke Taylor (@Brooketaylortv) June 19, 2026
After seeing the footage, legal analyst Randy Zelin, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, told NewsNation that Anthony’s guilty verdict and 35-year sentence seemed more than fair.
“Putting your hands on me doesn’t give me the right to stab you,” he said. “That is meeting undeadly force with deadly force. When you see the video of this man running away, this young man running away, that is consciousness of guilt.”
Zelin added that it’s clear that Anthony’s attorneys should have had their client plead in the case rather than take it to trial.
“At the risk of sounding like a Monday morning quarterback … what the hell were you thinking when you chose to take this case to trial?” he asked rhetorically. “This case should have never gone to trial.”
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Judge Roach also released images of the murder weapon, a gray-handled utility knife with a 3.5-inch blade.
Pictures of the murder weapon, the aftermath, and Anthony’s backpack pic.twitter.com/4i97iYYHpw
— Brooke Taylor (@Brooketaylortv) June 19, 2026
Metcalf’s father, Jeff, previously told Fox News that the surveillance footage (which he’d already seen in court) contradicted Anthony’s claim that he was acting in self-defense.
“He wasn’t jumped,” Jeff said. “There was no four-on-one. He wasn’t surrounded. Look at the video. There’s a shove and there’s a stab, and it’s over and he runs away. That’s it.”
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