Karmelo Anthony files appeal against 35 year Texas track meet murder sentence
Phoebe Tonks
Featured Image Credit: Family Handout
Karmelo Anthony, the teenager convicted of murdering Austin Metcalf after stabbing him to death at a track meet in Texas, has officially filed an appeal against his sentence.
Less than 24 hours after the 19 year old was sentenced by a jury to 35 years in prison for the murder, court records revealed that his attorneys have filed a notice of appeal.
Anthony’s lawyer, Mike Howard, told TMZ, "After the conclusion of the trial yesterday, we gave the court our official notice that Karmelo Anthony is filing an appeal. We believe there are several important issues for the appellate courts to consider. An appeal is the next part of the legal process and a right afforded every American.”
After a trial that lasted for several emotional days, jurors deliberated on the case for just three hours before returning to the court with a guilty verdict on Tuesday evening.
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Within hours of this verdict, a sentence was also passed, with Anthony’s defence arguing that the stabbing had been an act of self-defence in the hopes of getting the sentence reduced to that of second-degree murder and a ‘crime of passion’ rather than the first-degree murder charge which carried a potential sentence of up to 99 years behind bars.
Ultimately the jury rejected the mitigation defence and sentenced him based on first degree murder. As a consequence, he must now serve a minimum of 17.5 years before being considered for parole.
This is roughly the same amount of time that his victim, Austin Metcalf had lived, before his life was cut short in the tragic altercation.
According to various accounts from witnesses at the scene, the stabbing took place on April 2, 2025, when Metcalf asked Anthony to leave a tent he had been siting under at a Texas track meet.
Anthony refused, and after allegedly being shoved by Metcalf, pulled a knife from his backpack and stabbed his sporting rival in the chest.
Karmelo has never denied stabbing Metcalf, and even surrendered himself to police who arrived on scene following the killing, all while claiming it had been an act of self defense as he felt ‘threatened’.
At the time of his arrest, he told the officer attending “I was protecting myself”.
Anthony's legal team backed the teenager's self-defense claim and argued that he had acted out of 'fear'.
His lawyer Mike Howard told the court: "In that split second, Melo has a decision to make: how and when to act. Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to defend yourself. He reacts in a split second of fear, chaos.
"After Karmelo defended himself with that knife, he ran. He didn’t stab again. He dropped the knife. He didn’t stab anyone else.”
Following his conviction, support has continued to roll in for the teenager, with some questioning the fairness of the trial after it featured no black jurors, in a case in which the perpetrator was black and the victim, white. Musician Cardi B, even weighed in on the situation following Tuesday’s verdict as she argued: "This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!”
Now, Anthony's lawyers will try to convince a higher court that something went wrong during the proceedings in a bid to either overturn his conviction outright or to amend his sentence.