Civil rights and criminal defense attorneys have taken over Karmelo Anthony’s appeal after his conviction and 35-year sentence for the 2025 fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf at a Texas high school track meet. The new legal team says it will conduct a fresh revi
When Karmelo Anthony walked out of the trial verdict with a sentence of 35 years hanging over his future. the public debate didn’t end. Nearly two weeks later. a new group of high-profile civil rights and criminal defense attorneys has taken over his appeal—pro bono—and is already positioning the case for a second look.
The attorneys said they were retained after Anthony’s conviction for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf, a fellow teenager. A group statement said their job is to conduct “a fresh. independent review of the trial record. ” and to determine whether a “legal error occurred” while ensuring that “every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal.”.
The announcement marks the next phase after Anthony filed a notice of appeal less than 24 hours after the jury returned its verdict on June 9.
The appeal will be led by attorney Russell Wilson II. The team also includes Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP; Michael L. Ware, executive director of Innocence Project of Texas; Brooke Cluse of Ben Crump Law; Sean Daredia; and Justin A. Moore. Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said he helped assemble the legal team.
The case centers on what happened at a rainy regional track meet at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco—north of Dallas—on April 2, 2025. Anthony, then a student at Centennial High School, was convicted of killing Austin Metcalf, then-17, during the confrontation.
Prosecutors argued the stabbing stemmed from a dispute after Metcalf asked Anthony to leave a Memorial High School team tent. Anthony’s defense, by contrast, maintained that Anthony believed he was threatened and acted in self-defense after physical contact.
Since the conviction. body camera footage released from Anthony’s arrest shows the teen in handcuffs telling officers through tears. “He put his hands on me. I told him not to but he put his hands on me.” Investigators said Anthony repeatedly told them he acted in self-defense immediately after the stabbing.
Anthony has since been transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Pack Unit near Navasota.
The timing of the appeal announcement adds another layer to the fight over the trial record. Days earlier. Judge John Roach—who presided over the case—released evidence shown to jurors. including photos and videos that had not previously been made public because cameras were barred from the courtroom. In an interview with WFAA-TV. Roach defended the decision. saying his primary responsibility was ensuring a fair trial for both sides.
“It was an easy decision,” Roach said. “My primary goal in every case is to make sure the defendant and the prosecution get a fair trial.” He also said he believed jurors reached the correct verdict. described Anthony as “a nice young man who committed a crime. ” and said Anthony now understands the consequences of his actions.
Legal experts told FOX 4 Dallas that one issue likely to be examined is jury selection. Anthony’s original defense team objected after prosecutors struck the remaining Black prospective jurors, a move that preserved the issue for appellate review.
Alongside the courtroom developments, the family divide has remained stark. Following the conviction. Austin Metcalf’s father. Jeff Metcalf. criticized Anthony’s parents—Kala Hayes and Andrew Anthony—saying they left the courthouse after the guilty verdict and did not return for victim impact statements or sentencing. Metcalf said in an interview on June 22 that he “never received an apology” from Anthony’s family and had hoped to see accountability and remorse.
“They weren’t there for the sentencing and they were not there for victim impact statements,” Metcalf told Fox News. “They left that poor child up there by himself.”
Anthony’s family previously urged the public to allow the legal process to play out and argued he had not received fair treatment amid intense public scrutiny surrounding the case.
Taken together. the new appeal team’s promise of “all available avenues of appeal” and the dispute over what jurors saw—along with objections tied to jury selection—sets the stage for a high-stakes review that will again test the boundaries of self-defense claims. courtroom procedure. and the role of race in a process watched closely far beyond Frisco.
For Anthony, the case now moves into a different arena: not the facts as jurors weighed them, but whether the record shows legal errors that could still change the outcome.
Karmelo Anthony appeal Austin Metcalf Frisco track meet Texas NAACP Innocence Project of Texas Ben Crump Law jury selection self-defense Pack Unit John Roach