Convicted killer Karmelo Anthony was sentenced on Tuesday to 35 years in prison for murdering Texas teen Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet last year.
According to the New York Post, the sentence was handed down hours after a Collin County, Texas, jury found the 19-year-old Anthony guilty of first-degree murder in the death of the 17-year-old Metcalf. The jury rejected a “sudden passion” argument put forward by Anthony’s legal team that sought to lessen his verdict from “first-degree to second-degree murder and shr[i]nk his steep punishment to a maximum of 20 years.”
Anthony will not be eligible for early release and parole until he’s served a minimum of roughly 17 years behind bars, according to local media.
As The Federalist previously reported, the fatal incident occurred last year when Anthony brought a knife to a multi-school track meet. Witnesses testified that it was after he was repeatedly asked to leave the team tent for Metcalf’s school by Metcalf and others that Anthony plunged the knife into Metcalf’s chest, killing him.
Metcalf’s family delivered impassioned remarks during Anthony’s trial in remembrance of Austin. The deceased teen’s mother, Meghan, noted that her son “didn’t just die. He was taken from us. Just as he was starting to live.”
“There was a part of him you can never take from me, the strength I still get from him every day, because I know what it was like to be loved by him,” Meghan said, addressing Anthony. “You may have just been given a sentence of 35 years, you should feel lucky because I’ve been sentenced to a life without my son.” --->READ MORE HERE
Convicted killer Karmelo Anthony has claimed he’s “penniless” and can’t afford a lawyer for his appeal — despite his family collecting $625,000 in crowdfunding for his legal defense and “living expenses,” according to a report.
Anthony, 19, made the assertion in a notice of appeal filed after he was found guilty of fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years behind bars, according to a report by ABC WFAA.
Anthony — who was moved to a Texas state prison Wednesday — is “penniless, destitute, and indigent person, too poor to employ counsel to represent me on the appeal,” reads the appeal form.
Anthony’s defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense has “several important issues for the appellate courts to consider. An appeal is the next part of the legal process and a right afforded every American.”
The GiveSendGo that was set up for Anthony by his mom was closed down Wednesday but a new account could be opened to help fund his new appeal.
It’s unclear how a judge would factor in the $625,000 his family collected when determining if he should be considered indigent and eligible for a taxpayer-funded lawyer for his appeal. --->READ MORE HERE
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