Karmelo Anthony has been convicted of murder for the deadly stabbing of Austin Metcalf, 17, which happened at a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, in 2025. The case drew national attention because Anthony is black and Metcalf is white. Some of the reactions were extreme, though not everyone shared that view, as we often see from liberals regarding anything Trump does. Several black commentators rightfully pointed out that Anthony murdered the kid and received what he deserved in court. He was sentenced to 35 years, with the possibility of parole after 17. He has filed an appeal, but there’s a problem: he has no money for a lawyer (via NY Post):
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Convicted killer Karmelo Anthony has claimed he’s “penniless” and can’t afford a lawyer for his appeal — despite his family collecting $625,000 in crowdfunding for his legal defense and “living expenses,” according to a report.
Anthony, 19, made the assertion in a notice of appeal filed after he was found guilty of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years behind bars, according to a report by ABC WFAA.
Anthony — who was moved to a Texas state prison Wednesday — is “penniless, destitute, and indigent person, too poor to employ counsel to represent me on the appeal,” reads the appeal form.
Anthony’s defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense has “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.”
The GiveSendGo fundraising page that collected over a million dollars for Anthony’s family was shut down not long after his conviction. Jury selection is reportedly one of the areas that will be included in the appeal (via CBS News):
Dallas appellate attorney David Coale, who was not involved in the case, said the strongest issues on appeal may have little to do with the evidence jurors heard and more to do with whether the trial was conducted properly.
“The first is, are we in the right county or should we be in Collin County?” Coale said. “Then we go to the race issue because before we even start the trial, we’ve got to have a jury. Did we do that right? And then once we got the trial going and heard all the evidence, did we tell the jury what to do correctly?”
Coale said one issue likely to resurface is the defense’s claim that Black jurors were improperly removed from the panel during jury selection, potentially violating what’s known as Batson law, which prohibits attorneys from excluding jurors solely because of race.
“And the argument is, it’s not so much that the jury pool is all white,” Coale said. “The problem is when the jurors were struck … the Anthony argument is that the prosecution used it to get rid of the black jurors.
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Well, first, the jury was not all-white. And second, this appeal should be crushed immediately.
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