Karmelo Anthony: New Legal Team Wants New Trial, New Judge

Last month, after Texas teen Karmelo Anthony was convicted of murder in the 2025 death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco track meet, and then sentenced to 35 years in prison before the ink on the verdict was dry, we reported that Anthony got himself a new team of appellate, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys, who are working pro bono to pursue every available option to see the verdict overturned. Well, on Tuesday, Anthony’s new team filed two legal motions: one for a new trial and one calling for the removal of the judge who presided over the last one.

From CBS News:

According to a news release from the advocacy group Stand With Karmelo Coalition, Anthony’s legal defense team filed a motion for Collin County District Judge John Roach to “be removed from presiding over all remaining post-trial proceedings.” 

They also filed a motion for a new trial, that raises “constitutional and legal challenges stemming from the trial, and is requesting that those issues be decided by an independent judge,” the release said.

Dallas appellate attorney David Coale, who has handled appeals for decades, told CBS News Texas after the trial that Anthony’s team could have several strong arguments over whether the trial was handled correctly.

Anthony’s supporters raised numerous concerns about the fairness of the trial, including that there were no Black members of the jury; Anthony is Black and Metcalf was White.

According to NBC News, Anthony’s new attorneys said in their filings that the court violated their client’s rights when it restricted public access to the trial, and that the state and defense had an unwritten agreement to exclude certain character and “extraneous-offense” evidence from the trial, but prosecutors later rejected the agreement, denying Anthony the right to testify on his own behalf.

As for the judge, Anthony’s legal team called foul on the speed at which the trial was conducted, and, specifically, the scheduling of a court date on a Saturday when several defense witnesses were unavailable.

“When the moment came for the Defendant to make the most consequential decision of the trial, whether to waive his Fifth Amendment privilege and testify, the Court allotted the defense ten minutes to counsel a nineteen-year-old through it and denied counsel’s request for additional time,” the attorneys stated.

It’s worth noting, again, that Anthony was sentenced on the same day of his conviction, which, according to legal experts, is common for minor misdemeanors, but extremely rare for felony cases. It’s unclear whether that’s also a point Anthony’s team will address, but it should certainly be a concern for anyone who advocates for fairness in the U.S. justice system.

But back to the judge.

From NBC:

According to Anthony’s attorneys, some of the judge’s “problematic” comments include agreeing to the correctness of the jury’s verdict, saying “whatever they say … they get it right.” Roach also commented on Anthony being “a nice young man” who “understands today … the consequences of committing a crime like … he did.”

The attorneys stated in the recusal request that in the WFAA interview, the judge defended the selection of the jury, which did not include a single Black person, and that in a statement to Fox News, Roach defended his ruling on media access to the courtroom.

Roach also wrote a signed public letter published in the website of Collin County, where the court and Frisco are located, that he addressed to the “Collin County Family.” In the letter, Roach refers to his work on the trial as “one of the great honors of my judicial career” and thanked those who worked to ensure the process was conducted fairly, Anthony’s attorneys stated.

“A judge who publicly memorializes the trial as concluded, and publicly pronounces the process fair, while still holding the authority to grant a new trial, signals to the reasonable observer that he regards the matter as closed,” the attorneys wrote in the filing.

Roach’s comments, coupled with the fact that he imposed a gag order during the trial on any commentary by any other participants, “sharpens rather than softens the appearance that the Court no longer sits as a neutral arbiter of the post-trial proceedings that remain before it,” the attorneys wrote.

Anthony’s new team includes six attorneys: former Dallas County prosecutor Russell Wilson, criminal defense attorney Michael Ware, attorney and Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe, attorneys Sean Daredia and Justin A. Moore, and Brooke Cluse, a lawyer who works in the office of famed civil attorney Ben Crump.

SEE ALSO:

Karmelo Anthony Gets New Legal Team As Appeal Process Begins

What Is A Batson Challenge? The Legal Tool That Failed Karmelo Anthony

Texas Reporter Makes ‘Gorilla’ Reference During Karmelo Anthony Trial

Karmelo Anthony Will Get His Diploma, But His Legal Battle Looms

Karmelo Anthony: New Legal Team Wants A New Trial And A New Judge was originally published on newsone.com