01Character
Honor student. Two-sport team captain. 3.7 GPA. Two jobs. Zero prior record. Walked toward police, not away.
Centennial HS · Public Records
Convicted June 9, 2026 · Appeal Underway · New Pro-Bono Team (Jun 22)
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People v. Anthony · Case No. 296-CR-2025
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296th District · Collin County, TX
Case No. 001 · Convicted · Appeal Underway · New Appellate Team
Karmelo
Anthony.
Stand Up.
A 17-year-old (now 19) honor student, team captain, and two-job worker who defended himself in the rain at a Texas track meet. Convicted of murder on June 9, 2026. The appeal is underway — and we do not stop until he is free.
VerdictConvicted · June 9, 2026
Venue296th District · Collin County, TX
Defendant19 yrs · 3.7 GPA · No Prior Record
StatusAppeal Underway · Pro-Bono Appellate Team
0Voices on the Wall
35Year Sentence · On Appeal
0Black Jurors Seated
✍️ Stand With Karmelo
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Your message is on the wall. We have you.
Karmelo will know you stood with him. The appeal is underway — thank you for standing where it counts.
§ The Living Letter Wall
Post Him a Public Word
Every message left above appears here, so Karmelo and the whole world can see he is not alone. Add your message ↑
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💜 #BelieveKarmelo · #FreeKarmelo
Share his story. Keep his name loud.
A guide for supporters. Ready-to-post graphics in every format — square, story, wide, carousel. Support him, don't expose him. Download one or grab the full kit. Please don't post his mugshot or any mailing address.
He Had The Right · Square 1080Download
Self-Defense Is Not A Crime · Square 1080Download
Add Your Name · Square 1080Download
Look At Him · Square 1080Download
Wear Purple · Square 1080Download
Add Your Name · Story 1080x1920Download
Don't Repeat The Lie · Story 1080x1920Download
He Is A Child · Story 1080x1920Download
Add Your Name · Wide 1600x900Download
Don't Repeat The Lie · Wide 1600x900Download
There Is A Way · Wide 1600x900Download
Carousel 1 · He Had The Right · Carousel 1080x1350Download
Carousel 2 · Self-Defense · Carousel 1080x1350Download
Carousel 3 · Add Your Name · Carousel 1080x1350Download
Carousel 4 · There Is A Way · Carousel 1080x1350Download
Carousel 5 · Wear Purple · Carousel 1080x1350Download
What happened that night, on the record, without varnish.
⚖ Appeal Update · June 22, 2026
A new pro-bono appellate team has taken over Karmelo's case. Led by Russell Wilson II (lead counsel), with Michael L. Ware (second chair) and Gary Bledsoe, President of the Texas NAACP (third chair) — joined by Brooke Cluse of Ben Crump Law, Sean Daredia, and Justin A. Moore. The team will conduct a fresh, independent review of the trial record and pursue every avenue of appeal supported by that record.
On the evening of April 2, 2025, Karmelo Anthony was sitting under a tent at a UIL track meet in Frisco, Texas. He was 17 at the time of the incident — now 19. He was an honor student, captain of both his football and track teams at Centennial High School, carrying a 3.7 GPA and working two jobs. It was raining so heavily that officers could not take witness statements outside. Police pulled witnesses into a locker room because the rain came down too hard to write.
Karmelo was seeking shelter. He was not the aggressor. Austin Metcalf and his twin brother Hunter approached and confronted him. Karmelo's own father stated publicly: "He was not the aggressor. He was not the one who started it." Multiple witnesses corroborate this account.
"I was protecting myself. He put his hands on me." — Karmelo Anthony, first words to responding officers, April 2, 2025
When Austin Metcalf physically grabbed and pushed Karmelo to remove him from the tent, Karmelo defended himself. He then walked directly to officers, hands open. He identified himself. He asked, more than once, whether Austin was going to be okay. He did not run. He did not resist. He cooperated fully.
He was arrested on the spot. He was held on a $1,000,000 bond — later reduced to $250,000 after Judge Angela Tucker determined the original amount was facially excessive for a teenager with zero criminal history. He has been under house arrest with an ankle monitor since April 14, 2025. He has checked in with the court every single Friday without fail for over thirteen months.
On June 24, 2025, a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty and argued self-defense. On June 9, 2026, a Collin County jury convicted him of murder and he was sentenced to 35 years. He filed a notice of appeal within 24 hours. On June 22, 2026, a new pro-bono appellate team — appellate, civil-rights and criminal-defense attorneys — took over the case to conduct a fresh, independent review of the trial record and pursue every available avenue of appeal. Russell Wilson II serves as lead counsel, with Michael L. Ware as second chair and Gary Bledsoe (President, Texas NAACP) as third chair; the team also includes Brooke Cluse of Ben Crump Law, Sean Daredia and Justin A. Moore.
Six things the State does not want amplified.
02Initiation
"He was not the aggressor." — Karmelo's father, Andrew Anthony, publicly, on the record. Multiple eyewitnesses corroborate. The confrontation was initiated by Austin Metcalf.
Family Statement · Arrest Report Witnesses
03Texas Law
Texas is a Stand Your Ground state. Tex. Penal Code §§ 9.31–9.32. There is no duty to retreat when confronted with unlawful force in a place you have a right to be.
Texas Penal Code
04Retaliation
The Anthony family received death threats and was forced to evacuate their home. The sitting judge who reduced bond was doxxed. The family has endured 13+ months of targeted harassment.
Court Filings · Verified Reporting
05Public Witness
Over $514,000 raised for the Anthony family — a community verdict long before the jury convenes.
GiveSendGo · Verified
06Legal Doctrine
If Austin Metcalf died in the commission of an unlawful assault he initiated, Texas law raises a profound question: who bears criminal accountability — the survivor, or the aggressor?
Texas Aggressor Doctrine · Common Law
The fight didn't end at the verdict. It moved to the appeal.
Verified, Tier-A-sourced developments in the appeal — jury composition, reviewable legal error, and the documented record. Updated as the case moves.
The structural question is on the record. The defense raised a Batson challenge to the striking of Black jurors. The Constitution guarantees a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community — and forbids race from deciding who is struck. A nearly all-white jury in a county where the defendant is Black is not a footnote; it is the equal-protection issue the appeal preserves.
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A legal brief, in plain terms, for the record.
Legal Analysis
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People v. Anthony
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No. 296-CR-2025
Filed · May 2026 · E5 Enclave BDI
Issue ITex. Penal § 9.31 / § 9.32
Self-Defense; Stand Your Ground. A person is justified in using force against another when, and to the degree, the person reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect against the other's use of unlawful force. Texas imposes no duty to retreat. When a 17-year-old is grabbed and shoved by an aggressor who initiated the confrontation, the statute does not require him to wait and absorb whatever comes next.
Issue IIAggressor Doctrine
Who initiated. The witnesses present and Karmelo's father confirmed immediately after the incident that Austin Metcalf was the aggressor. If death resulted from that aggression — an assault that Metcalf initiated — Texas law raises a profound question about criminal accountability. The law does not require the person who was attacked to be the one who stands trial.
Issue IIIEqual Protection of the Law
The bottom line. A young man who defended himself, cooperated fully with police, had no prior record, and came from a family of integrity is charged with first-degree murder. He should have been released with the thanks of the court. Stand Your Ground either means what it says — or it means what the powerful need it to mean in any given moment. This is a miscarriage of justice in progress, and it is happening in public view.