The Frisco, Texas, teen convicted of stabbing a fellow student to death at a High School track meet in 2025 and sentenced to 35 years has filed his first appeal. 

Karemlo Anthony, 19, was found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf by a jury on June 9, 2026, but his parents feel that an injustice has been served.

First Interview After The Verdict

Anthony’s parents speak out for the first time since his conviction, and they are in shambles. While the defendant never denied stabbing Metcalf, he claimed it was in self-defense as he was surrounded by teens much bigger than he was during a confrontation.

“We’re in a nightmare. It doesn’t feel real,” said Anthony’s parents in an interview with Mimi Brown on The Breakfast Club. “We’ve been up all night crying and praying.”

“We didn’t know how cruel the world could be,” Andrew Anthony, the defendant’s father, said. “We did everything we were advised and told to do, and look what happened.”

Both parents have vowed to stand by their son as they fight for justice that they feel was lost at trial and at his sentencing. “We will keep fighting,” Kala Hayes, the defendant’s mother, said. “We will not stop fighting for justice for my son.”

Father Accuses Witnesses of Perjury

Hayes said the jurors’ minds were made up before the trial even began, before the investigation had even begun. Andrew Anthony also noted several issues with the trial, including allegations that witnesses lied about events at the track meet on April 2, 2025. 

“The reality of this is that somebody literally walked into [Karmelo’s] life,” he said, “[Karmelo] did everything by the law, and just look at where we’re at.”

Two Sides on Social Media

During the trial, the judge urged jurors not to listen to any of the stories online because the public does not know the truth; they know far less than the people sitting in that courtroom listening and seeing the evidence.

On one end of the social media spectrum, people believe justice is served and that the defendant received what he deserved for taking the life of another, especially a child. On the other hand, people are outraged at the verdict and the sentencing. 

Those outraged say that you should never put your hands on anyone, referencing when the victim had shoved Anthony underneath the tent. But should a shove ultimately lead to one’s demise? 

There is a secret and quieter third opinion. One that feels for both ends, believing that Anthony should be punished for taking the life of another, but also that he received a very aggressive sentence, and that he acted on a whim when stabbing Metcalf, truly scared he was about to be beaten up.

The Prosecution’s Arguments

Prosecutors argued through the trial that Anthony exceeded the bounds of self-defense by pulling a knife out of his backpack, stabbing the victim in the chest, following a tense standoff. Several witnesses, including those called by the defense, said that the defendant was asked to leave more than 15 times and refused. 

A user on social media said that Anthony will be thinking about that for the next 35 years. What if I had just left? Metcalf would more than likely still be alive, and Anthony would be a free man, both going off to college and continuing their athletic careers.

Notice of Indigency

In the same week that the jury handed down a guilty verdict and sentence against Anthony, he filed an appeal and a notice of indigency, requesting that an attorney be appointed because he cannot afford one. 

As news broke about the fatal stabbing in 2025, online fundraisers were organized for both Metcalf and Anthony, which garnered thousands of dollars in donations. When jury selection began on June 3, 2026, Anthony’s fundraiser had surpassed $600,000, which led many to believe the money was improperly used.

Karmelo Anthony received an expedited transfer from the county jail to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility, where he will serve his sentence, according to the Collin County Sheriff’s Office