A Texas judge is set to weigh on Thursday whether teenager Karmelo Anthony should receive a new trial after his murder conviction this summer in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old athlete Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet.
Anthony’s defense scored a significant procedural win Wednesday when the judge who oversaw the original trial was taken off the case. Judge Michael Chitty has since been assigned to review the defense team’s request for a retrial in Metcalf’s killing.
Anthony, now 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He appeared at Wednesday’s hearing in a green prison jumpsuit, with both his parents and Metcalf’s parents present in the courtroom.
Defense attorneys had sought the removal of state District Judge John Roach, citing in part a television interview in which Roach said jurors “got it right” when they found Anthony guilty.
In their push for a new trial, Anthony’s lawyers contend the June proceedings were compromised by restrictive courtroom rules and flawed jury instructions. They have also argued that Anthony’s choice not to testify followed a disagreement with prosecutors over what they say was an agreement to keep the trial focused on the moments leading up to the stabbing.
At trial, jurors rejected Anthony’s claim that he acted in self-defense during a confrontation with Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year. Student witnesses described an escalating dispute on a rainy spring day after Anthony refused to leave a tent used by Metcalf’s team.
The case drew national scrutiny, fueled in part by a wave of social media commentary framing the killing through a racial lens. Anthony is Black, and Metcalf was white. Attorneys for both the prosecution and defense told jurors, however, that race was not a factor in the tragedy.
During Wednesday’s recusal hearing, Anthony’s attorneys centered their arguments on Roach’s post-trial remarks to a Dallas television station. The interview, played at the start of the hearing, included a question asking whether the jury had gotten “it right.”
“Yeah, they did,” Roach said, adding: “Whatever they say, they got it right.”
During the interview, Roach also defended his courtroom rules and spoke about the onslaught of online postings about the case.
As national attention on the killing intensified last year, the families of both Metcalf and Anthony said they had been targets of harassment.
Several schools were competing at the track event when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.
Prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor.
Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.
Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.
