The Texas judge who presided over Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial has been removed from further proceedings in the case, as the teen seeks a new trial.
Anthony, 19, was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison in June for fatally stabbing a fellow student at a high school track meet.
In the defense motion seeking to recuse Judge John Roach from the post-trial proceedings, Anthony’s attorneys questioned both the judge’s impartiality in the case and his courtroom restrictions. Ahead of the high-profile trial, Roach imposed a gag order in the case and barred any electronics from the courtroom during the proceedings due to the attention the case had garnered.
Collin County Jail
The motion cited what it called “problematic comments” Roach made during an interview following the verdict, in which it said the judge “endorsed the jury’s guilty verdict” and defended his courtroom restrictions. It also pointed to a public letter Roach released following the trial, in which he stated that those who worked on the case “contributed to ensuring the process was conducted fairly.”
The court “made extrajudicial public statements that objectively appear to commit it to the verdict and the challenged access rulings while it still retained authority to decide a timely motion for new trial attacking those very matters,” the motion stated.
During a hearing on Wednesday, defense attorney Russell Wilson argued that Roach “gave public comment about an impending proceeding,” which should be an “automatic recusal,” according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.
Prosecutor Bill Wirskye argued that Roach didn’t do anything wrong and alleged that there was a “concerted effort from social media and influencers to disrupt” the high-profile trial, according to WFAA.
“I know Judge Roach. What is important to Judge Roach is being fair,” Wirskye said, according to WFAA.
Judge Sid Harle, who traveled from San Antonio for the proceedings in Collin County, granted the defense motion to recuse Roach from any further matters in the Anthony case. In his order, Harle wrote that there were grounds for recusal “in that the evidence adduced at the hearing is such that the respondent judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
People walked out of the courtroom cheering loudly and crying. A crowd of dozens in the parking lot shouted chants including “Free Karmelo!”
A hearing on Anthony’s motion for a new trial is scheduled for Thursday. His attorneys allege in part that Roach’s courtroom restrictions denied him a fair trial. They also alleged that the court improperly instructed the jury and claimed that prosecutors prevented Anthony from testifying that he acted in self-defense.
Anthony’s attorneys said they are “pleased” by Harle’s decision to recuse Roach and “look forward to presenting the merits of Karmelo’s motion for a new trial to a fair and independent judge.”
Prosecutors called the deadly stabbing “unjustified” and “plain and simple murder,” while the defense argued that Anthony acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco in April 2025.
After hearing four days of testimony, a Collin County jury found Anthony guilty of murder following three hours of deliberation on June 9. The same jury sentenced him to 35 years in prison after several more hours of deliberation.
Jurors had the option to consider manslaughter, as well as whether the crime was one of “sudden passion,” both of which would have limited the maximum possible sentence to 20 years.
Anthony did not testify during the trial.
Metcalf Family
The deadly stabbing occurred at a Frisco Independent School District stadium on April 2, 2025, during a track and field competition involving multiple schools in the district.
Police said Metcalf, an 11th grader at Frisco Memorial High School, was stabbed during an altercation under his school’s tent in the stadium bleachers.
Witnesses told officers that the two got into an argument over Anthony, a then-17-year-old student at Frisco Centennial High School, being under Metcalf’s school tent during the rainy track meet, according to the arrest report.
Multiple current and former students recounted the incident during the trial.
One witness testified that Anthony was asked to leave the tent about 15 times. Some witnesses recalled Anthony saying, “Touch me and see what happens,” during the altercation. Another witness quoted Metcalf as telling Anthony, “I’m not going to fight you.”
Witnesses recounted that Metcalf shoved or nudged Anthony, who was sitting on the bleachers, before Anthony stabbed him with a pocket knife. The blade perforated Metcalf’s right ventricle, and he was pronounced dead after being transported to an area hospital.
Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said the “senseless murder” had “struck a deep nerve in Collin County and far beyond.”
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