{"id":750347,"date":"2026-07-08T11:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/750347\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:06:14","slug":"karmelo-anthony-demands-new-judge-new-trial-in-appeal-of-conviction-for-murdering-austin-metcalf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/750347\/","title":{"rendered":"Karmelo Anthony demands new judge, new trial in appeal of conviction for murdering Austin Metcalf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karmelo Anthony should get a do-over trial with a different judge calling the shots this time, his new, high-powered defense team<\/a> argued in a pair of court motions filed Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s attorneys made the demands in the appeal of his murder conviction for fatally stabbing fellow high school athlete Austin Metcalf.<\/p>\n

The lawyers argued the conviction should be tossed altogether, claiming the now 19-year-old killer\u2019s constitutional rights were violated because his first trial wasn\u2019t fully accessible to the public.<\/p>\n

They also claimed that prosecutors prevented him from testifying in his own defense, according to court documents obtained by TMZ<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Anthony is granted a new trial, it should be overseen by a different judge, his lawyers insisted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Karmelo Anthony should get a do-over trial \u2013 with a different judge calling the shots this time, his new, high-powered defense team argued in a pair of desperate court motions filed Tuesday.\u00a0 Facebook\/Drew Anthony<\/p>\n

They also want Judge John Roach, who presided over the dramatic murder trial that ended last month, removed from all remaining post-trial proceedings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In their recusal motion, the attorneys claimed that Roach showed bias against their client during post-verdict interviews, the outlet reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In those interviews, Roach defended his handling of the trial and \u201cpublicly endorsed\u201d the guilty verdict, according to the defense \u2013 which argued those remarks made it \u201cimpossible\u201d for him to fairly rule on any future motions in the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked during an interview with WFAA<\/a> whether the jurors did the right thing, Roach replied, \u201cYes, they did, because they were picked based upon the law, they listened to the facts, it happened in this courtroom, and they got a verdict.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roach added that while he believed Anthony came off as a nice person in their brief interactions, the teen would have to live with the consequences of his actions.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s elite defense team wants Judge John Roach, who presided over the dramatic murder trial that ended last month, removed from all remaining post-trial proceedings.\u00a0 WFAA<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems like a nice young man who committed a crime and he understands today more than any day before the consequences of committing a crime like he did,\u201d Roach told the outlet.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s new defense team \u2013 which includes heavyweights including Texas NAACP president Gary Bledsoe, veteran appellate attorney Russell Wilson and civil rights lawyer Brooke Cluse from Ben Crump Law \u2013 joined forces last month with the goal of overturning his conviction and prison sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They are reportedly working the case pro bono.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anthony was convicted of first-degree murder<\/a> and sentenced to 35 years in prison for fatally knifing Metcalf, 17, at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, in April 2025.<\/p>\n

He filed a notice of appeal less than 24 hours after the verdict.<\/p>\n

Anthony claimed in the filing<\/a> written from lockup that he is a \u201cpenniless, destitute, and indigent person, too poor to employ counsel to represent me on the appeal\u201d \u2014 despite his family collecting $625,000<\/a> in crowdfunding for his legal defense and \u201cliving expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony and Metcalf clashed when Anthony was sitting in Metcalf\u2019s team\u2019s tent during a rain delay at a track meet. <\/p>\n

Metcalf repeatedly told him to leave, but Anthony refused, warning, \u201cTouch me and find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison for fatally knifing Austin Metcalf, 17, at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, in April 2025. Meghan Prall Metcalf\/Facebook<\/p>\n

Metcalf then pushed Anthony, who pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

Metcalf died in his twin brother\u2019s arms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s attorneys claimed the stabbing was self-defense, but the jury ultimately convicted him of murder after just over two hours of deliberation.<\/p>\n

As the case made national headlines, tensions escalated over race<\/a>, with some of Anthony\u2019s supporters trying to paint Metcalf, who was white, as a bully who targeted Anthony, who is black.<\/p>\n

An appeal does not necessarily mean he will face a new trial, and it could take several months for the appeal process to run its course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karmelo Anthony should get a do-over trial with a different judge calling the shots this time, his new,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2302,38340,278339,38137,99,2226,194],"class_list":["post-750347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-courts","tag-judges","tag-karmelo-anthony","tag-murders","tag-sports","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}