Karmelo Anthony appeals Frisco track meet murder conviction, seeks lawyer

Karmelo Anthony is already pushing his case into a new phase. A day after a Collin County jury convicted him of murdering Austin Metcalf and sentenced him to 35 years in prison, Anthony filed a notice of appeal and asked the court to appoint a lawyer because he says he cannot afford one.

The filing, made as a pauper oath appointment of attorney on appeal, is the paperwork used to declare indigency, waive fees and request appointed counsel. If the court accepts that request, Anthony would be represented through the public indigent-defense system rather than paying privately for an appellate lawyer himself.

The appeal also keeps Anthony within the normal Texas criminal deadlines. A notice of appeal is generally due within 30 days after sentence is imposed in open court, or within 90 days if a timely motion for new trial is filed, and Anthony’s filing came just one day after the June 9 verdict and punishment. That means the case moves from the trial court to the appellate courts without waiting for the full post-trial clock to run.

An appeal does not mean a new trial is coming automatically. Appellate judges review the record for legal errors that could have affected the outcome, and one issue that could resurface is the Batson challenge raised during jury selection, when defense lawyers objected to prosecutors striking three jurors they said were removed because of race. The trial judge sided with the prosecution at the time, but that ruling can still be examined on review.

The conviction ended a trial that began with jury selection on June 1 and closed nine days later, after jurors rejected both the defense’s self-defense theory and its punishment-phase sudden-passion argument. The case stems from the April 2, 2025 stabbing death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a Frisco Independent School District track meet at David Kuykendall Stadium.

For Austin Metcalf’s family, the appeal means the legal fight is not over even after a sentence many expected would end the case. After the verdict, Meghan Metcalf and David Metcalf delivered emotional victim-impact statements, and prosecutors Bill Wirskye and Greg Willis said the trial remained about the stabbing and the evidence, not race.

The case drew national attention, heavy security at the Collin County Courthouse and public protests outside the building. Anthony was taken into custody after the verdict and transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Pack Unit near Navasota, where he underwent intake and received a new booking photo. What had looked like the end of the case in Collin County is now entering a longer appellate phase that could take months or longer.