Time ticking: New judge faces Monday deadline in Karmelo Anthony murder case

Retired Texas Judge Michael Chitty has only days to decide whether Karmelo Anthony’s murder conviction and 35-year prison sentence will stand, after the judge who presided over his trial was removed from the case this week.

Mr. Chitty, a retired district judge from Kaufman County, is hearing arguments Thursday on a motion for a new trial filed by Mr. Anthony’s attorneys, a day after an appointed administrative judge pulled Judge John Roach from the case over concerns about his impartiality.

During a Wednesday recusal hearing in McKinney, defense attorneys played an 18-minute video that included audio from a post-trial television interview in which Mr. Roach discussed the case and offered his impression of the defendant.

“He seems like a nice young man who committed a crime,” Mr. Roach said. Mr. Roach also said in the interview that he believed the jury reached the right verdict and defended several of his courtroom decisions, including barring cameras and limiting public seating to 27 spots.

The presiding administrative judge, Sid Harle, ruled that a reasonable outside observer could question whether Mr. Roach could fairly weigh a new-trial motion built partly on the same issues he had already publicly commented on.

Anthony, 19, was convicted in June of murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, whom prosecutors said he fatally stabbed during a confrontation at a Frisco track meet in April 2025. According to a police report cited by the Associated Press, Anthony reached into a bag and told Mr. Metcalf, “Touch me and see what happens,” before pulling out a knife. A Collin County jury rejected Anthony’s self-defense claim and sentenced him to 35 years.

Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth that Mr. Roach’s removal doesn’t guarantee his son’s family will lose ground in the case.

“Let’s see if they’re still celebrating tomorrow,” Jeff Metcalf said, warning that a new trial could carry a steeper sentence for  Anthony.

Criminal appellate lawyer Brett Ordiway said Mr. Roach’s removal, while a win for the defense, does not erase the conviction — and winning an outright new trial is a much harder task.

“It is very, very difficult to win these motions in any case,” Mr. Ordiway told Fox News Digital, adding he would be surprised if Anthony’s team succeeded.

Anthony’s attorneys argue the June trial was not sufficiently open to the public, that jury instructions improperly limited jurors’ ability to weigh self-defense, and that prosecutors broke an off-the-record agreement to keep character evidence out of the case — a dispute they say pressured Anthony not to testify.

The timeline is tight. Anthony was sentenced June 9, and Texas law requires a ruling on a new-trial motion within 75 days of sentencing — a deadline that falls Monday. If Mr. Chitty does not rule by then, the motion is denied by operation of law. If the motion is denied, Anthony’s direct appeal would proceed in the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, a process that can take a year or longer. If granted, Anthony’s conviction and sentence would be wiped out, returning the case to its pre-trial posture and opening the door to a new trial or a plea deal.