Attorneys for Karmelo Anthony filed an enchantment Tuesday and requested a brand new trial for the previous student-athlete convicted within the deadly stabbing of one other scholar at a Texas observe meet.
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A jury sentenced 17-year-old Anthony to 35 years in jail after convicting him final month of the homicide of Austin Metcalf, additionally 17, at a meet in Frisco, Texas, a Dallas bed room group.
Anthony’s new attorneys, who didn’t characterize him on the trial, mentioned of their filings that the courtroom erred when it restricted public entry to the trial, violating Anthony’s rights.
Additionally they appealed on the grounds that the state and protection had an unwritten settlement to exclude sure character and “extraneous-offense” proof from the trial, however that prosecutors repudiated the settlement, which denied Anthony the appropriate to testify on his personal behalf.
The attorneys criticized the velocity at which the decide performed the trial, together with a courtroom date on a Saturday when a number of protection witnesses had been unavailable.
“When the second got here for the Defendant to take advantage of consequential resolution of the trial, whether or not to waive his Fifth Modification privilege and testify, the Courtroom allotted the protection ten minutes to counsel a nineteen-year-old by way of it and denied counsel’s request for extra time,” the attorneys acknowledged.
In a separate submitting, the attorneys demanded that state District Courtroom Choose John Roach be faraway from the case as a result of he gave an interview after the trial to Dallas TV station WFAA and expressed private opinions in regards to the jury’s verdict, the equity of the trial and correctness of his personal rulings.
The attorneys acknowledged that, by collaborating within the interview, Roach violated the state’s judicial conduct and requirements code on look of objectivity.
In line with Anthony’s attorneys, a few of the decide’s “problematic” feedback embody agreeing to the correctness of the jury’s verdict, saying “no matter they are saying … they get it proper.” Roach additionally commented on Anthony being “a pleasant younger man” who “understands at present … the implications of committing against the law like … he did.”
The attorneys acknowledged within the recusal request that within the WFAA interview, the decide defended the collection of the jury, which didn’t embody a single Black individual, and that in a press release to Fox Information, Roach defended his ruling on media entry to the courtroom.
Roach additionally wrote a signed public letter revealed within the web site of Collin County, the place the courtroom and Frisco are positioned, that he addressed to the “Collin County Household.” Within the letter, Roach refers to his work on the trial as “one of many nice honors of my judicial profession” and thanked those that labored to make sure the method was performed pretty, Anthony’s attorneys acknowledged.
“A decide who publicly memorializes the trial as concluded, and publicly pronounces the method truthful, whereas nonetheless holding the authority to grant a brand new trial, alerts to the affordable observer that he regards the matter as closed,” the attorneys wrote within the submitting.
Roach’s feedback, coupled with the truth that he imposed a gag order in the course of the trial on any commentary by some other contributors, “sharpens quite than softens the looks that the Courtroom now not sits as a impartial arbiter of the post-trial proceedings that stay earlier than it,” the attorneys wrote.
However whereas the decide has granted interviews and written in regards to the trial, he has sealed the whole courtroom file of the trial and has solely allowed Anthony’s attorneys to view it on situation they not share what was noticed “leaving the file solely out there in chambers,” the attorneys acknowledged, including that they didn’t comply with the situation.
Metcalf was fatally stabbed on April 2, 2025, because the observe groups of Anthony’s Centennial Excessive College and Metcalf’s Memorial Excessive College participated in a districtwide meet in Frisco.
Anthony admitted to the stabbing, however his authorized staff argued he acted in self-defense beneath the strain of bodily intimidation, after he sat within the bleachers beneath the tent of rival highschool Memorial and was confronted by members of its observe staff and instructed to go away. Prosecutors rebutted that depiction of occasions, saying it was Anthony who threatened Metcalf.
A high-profile group of appellate, civil rights and felony protection attorneys teamed as much as characterize Anthony professional bono on his enchantment quickly after his conviction and sentencing. The case drew nationwide consideration as a result of Metcalf was white and Anthony is Black, which drew heated debate on social media.
The six attorneys of the authorized staff embody former Dallas County prosecutor Russell Wilson; felony protection lawyer Michael Ware; lawyer Gary Bledsoe, who additionally serves as Texas NAACP president; Brooke Cluse of Ben Crump legislation; Sean Daredia; and Justin A. Moore.
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