Karmelo Anthony hires new legal team ahead of expected appeal of murder conviction

DALLAS - Karmelo Anthony has a new team of lawyers leading the appeal of his murder conviction.

New Karmelo Anthony legal team

What we know:

The team of lawyers announced they were taking over Anthony's case on Monday.

The group will work pro bono on the case. Anthony said he had no money to pay for attorney fees when filing his appeal.

The team includes six attorneys, including some with Dallas ties. Russell Wilson II, who will lead the team, frequently contributes to FOX 4's legal coverage.

Gary Bledsoe, the longtime Texas NAACP president, is also part of the team.

The team's letter says they will "pursue all available avenues of appeal" relating to Anthony's murder conviction.

Lee Merritt, a noted civil rights attorney, posted online that he helped put the team together.

What they're saying:

The new defense team has 30 days from the day of the conviction to file a motion for a new trial. Gary Udashen, an appeals attorney not associated with the case, tells FOX 4's Steven Dial that could be difficult to do, given that two weeks have already passed since Anthony's conviction on June 9.

"They don't have the record. There are things that are difficult to raise on a motion to trial because you don't have the records," Udashen said.

"The defense lawyers representing the defendant on appeal have 30 days from the point of receiving the transcript to actually file the appellate brief, which is the written arguments to the court of appeals," Udashen continued. "On a case like this, and in fact, really on most cases, it's necessary to get at least one 30-day extension."

Udashen says the race-based portion of the trial could come into play with a potential appeal. The Collin County jury that convicted Anthony had no Black jurors on it, to which Anthony's initial legal team made an objection.

"As I understand what happened at trial, when the prosecutors struck the remaining Black jury panel members. The defense lawyer made an objection to it. So they preserve the issue for appeal purposes. So I feel quite certain that's going to be an issue on appeal."

Frisco track meet stabbing 

The backstory:

Anthony is expected to appeal his murder conviction after a Collin County jury found him guilty of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf on June 9.

Anthony, the teenager who fatally stabbed a fellow student during a high school track meet last year, was sentenced to 35 years in prison following the conviction.

Anthony has since been transported to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where he was then transported to his unit of assignment at the Pack Unit near Navasota.

Evidence from the trial was released by a Collin County judge last Friday.

Witnesses told investigators the confrontation began during a regional track meet at Kuykendall Stadium in Frisco. Anthony, a student at Centennial High School, was sitting under the Memorial High School team tent when Austin Metcalf, a Memorial High School student, reportedly told him to leave. Investigators said they found no evidence the two teenagers knew each other before the incident.

According to an arrest report, witnesses identified Anthony to a school resource officer shortly after the stabbing. The officer reported that Anthony repeatedly claimed he acted in self-defense.

The report states that after being taken into custody, Anthony told officers, "I was protecting myself" and "He put his hands on me." According to the report, Anthony also asked officers whether the victim would be okay and whether the incident could be considered self-defense.

In the days following the stabbing, the case drew widespread attention on social media. Anthony continued to maintain that he acted in self-defense while being held in the Collin County Jail on a $1 million bond. A judge later reduced the bond to $250,000, citing Anthony's lack of a prior criminal record.

Days later, Anthony's family held a news conference and called for the public to allow the judicial process to proceed.

"I don't know why we are being targeted and discriminated against before a fair trial," Anthony's mother, Kayla Hayes, said at the time.

Public attention intensified when Metcalf's father attended the family's news conference. Police later escorted him from the event after organizers said he was not invited.

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