A dramatic shakeup has hit the appeals process for Karmelo Anthony, the Texas teenager convicted of fatally stabbing a fellow student at a track meet, after the judge who presided over his trial was abruptly disqualified from the case.
Anthony, now 19, received a 35-year prison sentence in June following his conviction for the April 2024 killing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, a standout athlete stabbed during a high school track event in Frisco.
The removal of Judge Jason Roach came Wednesday, just one day before a scheduled hearing on Anthony’s request for a new trial.
Defense attorneys successfully argued that Roach crossed ethical lines by making public comments and granting a media interview after Anthony’s appeal had already been filed.
Court officials confirmed a different judge will now preside over Thursday’s proceedings, where the retrial motion will be formally addressed.
Wearing a green jail-issued jumpsuit, Anthony sat in the Collin County courtroom Wednesday as the ruling was handed down.
Family members from both sides of the case, Anthony’s parents and Metcalf’s parents, were present to witness the outcome.
Cheers broke out among Anthony’s backers both inside the courthouse corridors and outside the building immediately following news of Roach’s removal.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff, described the emotional toll of watching the legal process reopen.
He downplayed his personal stake in the ruling while acknowledging its painful effect.
“I don’t control any of this, so I really don’t give it a whole lot of weight, and I know that sounds a little crazy, but I don’t, because I don’t control it. I’ll just bring my popcorn and watch the show right now,” Jeff Metcalf said.
He compared the experience to reinjuring a wound that had only just begun to close.
“It was almost healed, but rip off the Band Aid and rip off the scab with it. And it opens open a new wound again. So, it starts the healing process again from zero,” he said.
Metcalf’s father also expressed frustration over the ongoing attention given to his son’s killer. “[Anthony’s] a murderer. My son’s dead. Why is he [Anthony] getting all this attention,” he said.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the appeal, Jeff Metcalf said his focus remains fixed on honoring his son’s memory through charitable work. “Regardless of what gets decided in court, that’s the Austin Metcalf Foundation that I have created. That’s my purpose for the rest of my life. Save lives, so no other parent has this happen. You go out and educate,” he said.
The killing stemmed from an argument that broke out between the two teens beneath a tent at a Frisco football stadium hosting the track meet, a dispute that quickly turned physical.
Lee Merritt, spokesman for Anthony, characterized the judge’s removal as a major win for his client’s legal strategy.
“It’s a great relief for Karmelo, because, obviously, the judge, who, we believe, put his thumb on the scale of justice, is out of the way, but the most important day for us now is tomorrow,” Merritt told the Daily Mail.
Merritt added that Anthony has leaned on loved ones for support throughout the ordeal.
“[Anthony] is glad to be here with the support of the community, his family. He was hoping for a positive outcome. He was trying to keep his spirits up,” he said.
At trial, prosecutors framed Anthony as the instigator of the fatal encounter, a characterization backed by witness testimony describing him as the aggressor.
Court records show Anthony reached into a bag and issued a warning captured in a police report: “Touch me and see what happens.”
Moments later, as Metcalf leaned in to push him, Anthony plunged a folding knife hidden in his backpack into Metcalf’s chest.
A medical examiner testified the blade fractured bone before puncturing the right side of Metcalf’s heart.
A Dallas jury needed less than three hours to convict Anthony of murder, turning down the option to instead find him guilty of manslaughter.
Following the verdict, Judge Roach sat down with WFAA and voiced confidence in the jury’s conclusion.
“Yes, they did, because they were picked based upon the law, they listened to the facts,” he said. “It happened in this courtroom, and they got a verdict.”
Roach additionally shared his impression of Anthony’s demeanor in court, noting the weight of the young man’s actions.
“He 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,” he told the outlet.
According to Roach, court personnel spent eight months readying for the high-profile trial, correctly forecasting intense public scrutiny.
He expressed no regrets about how the case was handled. “As long as I follow the law, I sleep well at night,” he said.
Facing a potential range of five to 99 years behind bars, Anthony caught a break when prosecutors agreed to let jurors weigh a “sudden passion” defense, a provision under Texas law permitting defendants to claim they acted during a fit of extreme emotion.
Success with that defense would have reclassified Anthony’s offense as a second-degree felony, opening the door to a sentence as brief as two years.
Jurors ultimately rejected the sudden passion claim.
After reaching their guilty verdict in under three hours, they spent an additional two and a half hours deliberating before settling on the 35-year sentence.
