Teen Convicted in Track Meet Murder Takes Issue With Judge

The Texas teen sentenced to 35 years for fatally stabbing another student at a 2025 high school track meet has found a new heavyweight legal team, now pushing for a new trial. Several high-profile appellate, civil rights and criminal defense attorneys, including Texas NAACP president Gary Bledsoe, have teamed up to represent 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony pro bono, launching an appeal that argues his first trial in the killing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf was fundamentally unfair, NBC News reports. They argue the judge improperly restricted public and media access, rushed the proceedings, and gave Anthony just 10 minutes to decide whether to testify.

They also accuse prosecutors of reneging on an informal agreement to exclude certain character evidence, which they say kept Anthony off the stand. In a separate filing, they seek to remove Judge John Roach, citing post-trial TV interviews and a public letter praising the trial as fair, despite a sealed case file and an all-white jury. Metcalf was white; Anthony is Black, and his legal team objected to the removal of three potential Black jurors who were educators, per Texas Public Radio. Anthony admitted to the stabbing as a 17-year-old, but his trial attorneys argued he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors argued Anthony was the aggressor, not the other way around.