Innocence Project, NAACP, and more join forces: Inside Karmelo Anthony’s fight for justice with his new legal team

Key Takeaways

• Karmelo Anthony has retained a new pro bono legal team to challenge the 35-year prison sentence issued after his murder conviction.
• The appellate counsel includes former prosecutor Russell Wilson II, Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe, and Michael Ware of the Innocence Project of Texas.
• In a June interview, Karmelo’s father, Andrew Anthony, seemingly hinted at regrets over the 19-year-old’s original defense.

Karmelo Anthony has a new legal team. On Monday (June 22), several civil rights and criminal defense attorneys announced that they will now represent the 19-year-old, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison over the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf earlier this month.

Arriving just two weeks after Karmelo filed an intent to appeal, his new defense attorneys — serving pro bono — will “review the trial record and pursue all available avenues of appeal.” The news came on the heels of a Collin County judge releasing evidence from the trial, including footage of the former Centennial High School student’s arrest and photos of the knife used to stab Metcalf, last Friday (June 19).

In a press release issued by the Stand With Karmelo Coalition, his counsel said, “Our appellate team has been retained following the conviction to conduct a fresh, independent review of the trial record. We recognize the profound loss suffered by one young man’s family and the uncertainty facing another, and we extend our respect to everyone whose lives have been forever changed by these events.”

The Dallas Morning News/Hearst Newspapers / Contributor via Getty Images

Meet the attorneys now leading Karmelo Anthony’s appeal

Karmelo’s new legal team is being led by former Dallas County prosecutor Russell Wilson II, who argued at both the state and federal levels for nearly three decades; Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe; and Michael Ware, director of the Innocence Project of Texas. Brooke Cluse, chief of staff to Ben Crump, is also part of the appellate effort, along with defense trial attorneys Sean Daredia and Justin Moore.

“Our responsibility is to determine whether a legal error occurred and to ensure that every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal,” they said. “The appellate process exists for precisely this purpose.”

Karmelo Anthony’s family had already raised concerns about the original defense team

For anyone who’s been keeping up with Karmelo’s family following the conviction, his decision to bring on a new legal team shouldn’t be all that surprising. Speaking with “The Breakfast Club” host Mimi Brown on June 11, his father, Andrew Anthony, seemed to have regrets about choosing the original defense.

Andrew said several people he consulted, including Black attorneys, advised him to hire a white lawyer for Karmelo’s case. “They’re like, ‘Oh, you need a white attorney to go out there to fight out there,’” he remembered. Later, when Brown asked if there was anything they would have done differently, he once again pointed to the legal advice they received.

“I was told, ‘Don’t talk to this person. Don’t talk to this person,’” Andrew shared. “I feel like it was just a setup. Like I said, they told us, ‘Go get white attorneys.’”