A Texas judge has been removed from the case of Karmelo Anthony, a teenager convicted of fatally stabbing another athlete during a track meet, as the defense pushes for a new trial.
State District Judge John Roach was ordered off the case ahead of a Thursday hearing to consider Anthony’s request for a retrial. Anthony’s defense attorneys argued on Wednesday that Roach should be disqualified, citing overly strict courtroom rules enforced during the proceedings and a public interview Roach gave after the trial concluded. A new judge will take over the retrial motion in Collin County.
Anthony, now 19, was convicted of murder in June and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the death of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf. A suburban Dallas jury rejected Anthony’s self-defense claims following the confrontation, which occurred in a stadium’s bleachers during a multi-school track meet on a rainy spring day last year.
According to trial testimony, the dispute began when Anthony sat under a tent set up by Metcalf’s team at Memorial High School. The two teenagers attended different high schools. Witnesses testified that Metcalf and other students repeatedly asked Anthony to leave the tent.
A police report noted that Anthony reached into his bag during the altercation and said, “Touch me and see what happens.”
Witnesses stated that Metcalf then pushed Anthony, who pulled out a knife and stabbed Metcalf in the chest. Prosecutors argued that Anthony acted as the aggressor and provoked the fight. Anthony did not testify during the trial.
Anthony appeared at Wednesday’s hearing in a green jail jumpsuit. Both his parents and Metcalf’s parents sat in the courtroom. Following the announcement of Roach’s removal, supporters of Anthony cheered in the hallways and outside the courthouse.
The fatal stabbing drew widespread attention online, where social media posts framed the killing in racial terms; Anthony is Black and Metcalf was white.
During the trial, however, attorneys for both the defense and the prosecution told the jury that race played no role in the incident.
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