Karmelo Anthony’s New Legal Team Outlines Next Steps After His Conviction — Here’s What They’re Now Targeting

Karmelo Anthony was convicted of murdering Austin Metcalf, a 17-year-old student-athlete, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison earlier this month. The case has remained at the center of heated discussions, with competing narratives continuing to circulate online even after the trial concluded.

According to TMZ, Karmelo has now assembled a new legal team to lead his appeal.

Karmelo’s Surprising Next Move After Sentencing

The group includes Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe, veteran appellate lawyer Russell Wilson II, and civil rights attorney Brooke Cluse. The attorneys announced that they will conduct an independent review of the trial record while pursuing all available avenues of appeal.

The newly assembled legal team says its focus will be on determining whether any errors occurred during the proceedings — and on raising any issues it believes could support an appeal to overturn the conviction.

The attorneys also acknowledged the impact the case has had on both families, saying the tragedy forever changed multiple lives.

While preparations for the appeal continue, hundreds of exhibits released by a Collin County court are giving the public a closer look at what happened during and after the deadly encounter at a Texas track meet.

A 30-Second Encounter and a Desperate Plea to Stay Alive

According to The National Desk, newly released 911 recordings captured the frantic efforts of friends, coaches, and first responders who tried to save Austin after he was stabbed during the high school track meet.

Investigators previously said the confrontation itself lasted less than 30 seconds. The recordings, however, reveal the desperate minutes that followed as witnesses fought to keep Austin alive.

One distraught caller told a dispatcher, “I’m at David Kuykendall Stadium. My friend just got stabbed.” The caller explained that Austin had been stabbed in the chest and was “bleeding everywhere” while bystanders restrained the suspect. “People got him,” the caller said.

Other recordings captured coaches urgently seeking help. “I need paramedics at David Kuykendall Stadium right away,” one caller said. “I have an athlete that was stabbed.”

The caller later informed dispatchers that Austin was unconscious and not breathing. Witnesses were also performing CPR and giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while trying to stop the bleeding. Throughout the call, someone could be heard encouraging Austin to keep fighting:

“Fight through, Austin. Come on. You’re doing good.”

Moments later, another voice desperately pleaded, “Stay with us! Stay with me, Austin! Austin, stay with me! Come on! Come on!”

The Newly Released Video That Sparked Fresh Discussion

The court’s release also included surveillance footage from the stadium and police body-camera video recorded shortly after the stabbing. According to The National Desk, Karmelo can be heard telling officers that Austin had put his hands on him.

Then came a statement that quickly caught the attention of many people following the case. After an officer referred to him as the alleged suspect, Karmelo said:

“I’m not alleged. I did it.“

Another video reportedly shows Karmelo running away from the scene following the stabbing.

Jeff Metcalf Says He Still Cannot Bear to Hear the Recordings

During a recent interview on “The Will Cain Show,” Austin’s father, Jeff Metcalf, admitted that revisiting the newly released recordings and videos remains deeply painful. When asked whether he didn’t want to hear the 911 call again, Jeff responded, “Correct.”

He then revealed that there is another body-camera recording that has not been released publicly. “And there was, and there’s another body cam footage that hasn’t been released, and uh, it has some pretty graphic details, and I can hear my son screaming, and it’s something I don’t really want to care to listen to again,” Jeff said.

Jeff added that he hopes the release of the videos and recordings helps clear up misinformation surrounding the case.

“I hope this video can clear up a lot of the misinformation that was provided throughout the entire year before the trial came to light. There were multiple lies and mistruths that were put on social media that were spoken by even individuals that have some fame. People had their own opinions without even seeing the facts, and that’s the part I have trouble with.”

Jeff also said he believes many of the students who witnessed the stabbing are still coping with trauma. “Some, I believe, are in counseling. PTSD could be a thing. I mean this is a trauma that you carry the rest of your life possibly. Hopefully they can get the help they need and move forward and not be scarred from it.”

The grieving father explained that he has been trying to move forward himself, but still hoped to see accountability from Karmelo’s family after the conviction.

“All I wanted, yeah, I was actually hoping to show them, ‘hey, look, man, I know what happened was terrible, and your son made a horrible mistake.’ I was hoping for some accountability, maybe, and some remorse. Neither one was shown.”

Asked whether he had ever spoken to Karmelo’s family, Jeff replied, “No.” When asked if there had ever been an apology or any sign of remorse, Jeff answered with a single word, “Nothing.” Jeff also revealed that Karmelo’s family was absent for the sentencing phase and victim impact statements. The grieving father said:

“That is correct. They weren’t there for the sentencing, and they were not there for victim impact statements. They left that poor child up there by himself. As soon as the verdict was read, he was guilty, his family and some other advocates left the courtroom and turned in their badges.”

As Karmelo’s new attorneys begin combing through the trial record in search of issues that could help overturn his conviction, Jeff says he is focused on moving forward and helping others understand the lasting impact of what happened that day.

But despite the release of new recordings, videos, and court exhibits, the grieving father believes one thing remains unchanged more than a year later: he has yet to receive the accountability, remorse, or apology he hoped would come after his son’s death.

The newly released recordings and videos have renewed attention on the fatal encounter between Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony. As we previously reported, during a routine district track and field event involving multiple Frisco high schools, tragedy struck shortly after 10 a.m. A high school student was fatally stabbed, an incident that has since been pieced together through eyewitness accounts, official reports, and family testimonies.

The shocking altercation, witnesses say, lasted less than 30 seconds. As investigators continue to gather statements, unanswered questions persist: What could have triggered such abrupt violence, and could it have been prevented? The details that follow paint a chilling picture of what transpired that morning.

The Fatal Altercation

On Wednesday, April 2, 2025, the bleachers at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco, Texas, were filled with students competing in the 11-5A district track meet. The event brought together more than a hundred student-athletes from eight Frisco Independent School District high schools, including Memorial High School and Centennial High School.

Under the tent reserved for Memorial High athletes, an interaction began between Austin Metcalf, a junior at Memorial, and Karmelo, a 17-year-old student from Centennial. Witnesses told police that Karmelo, dressed in a Centennial tracksuit, sat in the wrong tent, and Austin told him to leave.

According to the police report, Karmelo opened his bag and said, “Touch me and see what happens.” Statements from multiple students indicated that Austin either touched or attempted to move Karmelo. In the next moment, Karmelo allegedly pulled a knife from his bag and stabbed Austin once in the chest.

Witnesses said he then fled from the tent area. A black knife with blood on it was later recovered by officers in the bleachers. Coaches and certified athletic trainers responded immediately, performing CPR and administering blood while waiting for emergency services.

Austin was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m. According to the official arrest report, the entire altercation, from the verbal exchange to the stabbing, lasted less than 30 seconds.

Police noted that more than 30 students and half a dozen coaches from five schools were listed as witnesses, many of whom provided statements on-site.

The Family’s Immediate Response

Austin’s mother, Meagan Metcalf, was at work in Grapevine when she received a phone call from her son Hunter. “He was screaming that Austin had been stabbed,” she said in a televised interview. She drove straight to the hospital and arrived before the ambulance.

“I saw them have him come out,” she recalled. “He was on a lot of machines, and it didn’t take long for them to come in to say that he had passed.” Jeff Metcalf, Austin’s father, said Hunter had witnessed the stabbing and tried to save his brother’s life.

“[Hunter] was holding his hands on the hole trying to save his life,” Jeff told CBS News Texas. “He told me, ‘I looked at him, his eyes — he was gone, he wasn’t breathing.'” According to Meagan, CPR was performed after Austin was unresponsive for about five minutes.