Karmelo Anthony fights for new trial as lawyers clash over unwritten deal that shaped case

Karmelo Anthony’s bid to overturn his murder conviction returns to court in McKinney, Texas , Friday after his former lawyer testified that a dispute over an unwritten agreement helped keep Anthony from taking the stand.

Retired District Judge Michael Chitty is hearing Anthony’s request for a new trial.

Judge Sid Harle removed Judge John Roach, who presided over Anthony’s murder trial, from the remaining trial-court proceedings earlier this week.

Harle found that a reasonable outside observer could question whether Roach appeared impartial after the judge publicly said the jury "got it right" and defended several of his trial decisions.

TEXAS JUDGE WHO PRESIDED OVER KARMELO ANTHONY MURDER TRIAL REMOVED FROM CASE OVER 'GOT IT RIGHT' COMMENT Anthony, 19, was convicted in June of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf , whom prosecutors said Anthony fatally stabbed during an altercation at a Frisco track meet.

A Collin County jury sentenced Anthony to 35 years in prison.

At the center of the new-trial hearing is an oral agreement between Anthony’s original defense team and prosecutors to keep potentially damaging character evidence about both sides from the jury.

UNTAPPED KARMELO ANTHONY EVIDENCE CACHE SHOWED HE STALKED EX-GIRLFRIEND, HAD 'KNIVES' OBSESSION: PROSECUTORS Former lead defense attorney Mike Howard testified Thursday that he understood the agreement to allow Anthony to testify if his testimony remained focused on the confrontation under the tent at the track meet.

Howard said that changed on the final day of trial, when prosecutors told the defense the agreement would not apply if Anthony took the stand and that the defense had already opened the door to character evidence.

KARMELO ANTHONY STAYS SILENT AS ANALYSTS WARN DEFENSE FACES UPHILL BATTLE IN TRACK MEET STABBING TRIAL He said the dispute led to a heated break in the proceedings and made Anthony unwilling to take the stand.

Under cross-examination, Howard acknowledged the lawyers never expressly agreed on whether a testifying defendant was covered by the arrangement.

He said he could not say whether prosecutors acted in bad faith.

KARMELO ANTHONY DEFENSE RESTS, ATTORNEYS PREP FOR CLOSING ARGUMENTS BEFORE JURY DELIBERATES IN MURDER TRIAL Lead prosecutor Bill Wirske said the agreement was mutual and that the parties were aligned on the need to keep character evidence out of the trial.

Wirske said the state did not believe the agreement applied to Anthony’s testimony.