Karmelo Anthony’s legal team filed a notice of appeal on Wednesday following his conviction in the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf.
“Dallas appellate attorney David Coale, who has handled appeals for decades, said Anthony’s team could have several strong arguments on appeal. But any appeal would not be about what the jury heard. It would center on whether this trial was handled correctly,” noted CBS News.
“The defense likely will argue that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict for murder, that the evidence simply doesn’t support that jury verdict,” it added.
Appellate attorney Chad Ruback said the Anthony legal team faces an uphill battle.
“It’s really, really tough to convince the Court of Appeals to overturn a jury verdict once the jury has sat through and heard all the evidence,” said Ruback. “It’s entirely possible that the attorneys for Mr. Anthony could argue that maybe the trial court judge didn’t let in some evidence that would have swayed the jury, that would have persuaded the jury to render a not guilty verdict, or a manslaughter verdict, for example.”
Karmelo Anthony was found guilty of the 2025 murder of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas; Anthony maintained that he stabbed Metcalf in self-defense following an altercation over a seating dispute. As Fox News reported in 2025:
An arrest report obtained by Fox News sheds new light on the pre-stabbing clash after Metcalf reportedly told Anthony that he needed to move out of the Memorial team’s tent, a witness told Frisco police. The report noted that Anthony “grabbed his bag, opened it and reached inside it” and said, “Touch me and see what happens.”
“Austin stood up and pushed the male to get him out of the tent,” the arrest report said.
In the next moment, the witness told police that Anthony “reached into his bag and the male took a knife out of the bag and stabbed Austin.”
Anthony immediately fled the scene after stabbing the 17-year-old Metcalf once in the chest. Metcalf died in his twin brother, Hunter’s, arms.
“I was protecting myself,” Anthony said. “He put his hands on me.”
Anthony immediately confessed to the stabbing when confronted by police – “I’m not alleged, I did it,” he reportedly said – and asked officers if Metcalf was “going to be OK.”
Throughout the trial, witnesses repeatedly said that Anthony had been asked to leave the tent up to 15 times, adding that he instigated the deadly conflict with Metcalf.
Anthony was sentenced to 35 years without the possibility of parole until half his sentence has been served.
