News/Commentary

New Black Panther Chair calls for convicted murderer Karmelo Anthony’s release

August 21, 2026 | | Print Article

With Karmelo Anthony’s legal team seeking a new trial after the black teem was convicted of murder for fatally stabbing an unarmed white high school student during a confrontation in the bleachers of a high school stadium near Dallas, some are calling for Anthony to be released from prison.

With “new details” emerging that claim 17-year-old victim Austin Metcalf “had a history of fighting and using racist language,” a new trial is being requested, and on that note, New Black Panther Party chairwoman Krystal Muhammad demanded that Anthony be released.

“Black Power. It’s about goddamn time. Our power to the people,” Muhammad said outside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas. “That’s the first step. Now we need for Karmelo [Anthony] to be released.”

“All of the racist acts that took place under Judge Roach—from them not letting people come into the courthouse when it’s supposed to be a public hearing, from them not giving the jury instructions on self-defense—so Karmelo would have never got a case in the first place,” the chairwoman said in her best attempt at the English language. “He would have had—the jury would have had the option of manslaughter—from the racism.”

The extremist group was on hand to celebrate a judge granting a defense motion to recuse Judge John Roach, who presided over Anthony’s murder trial, from further proceedings in the case

“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,” ABC News reported.

ADVERTISEMENT

An agreement had been reached in the original trial between prosecutors and the defense to withhold character information that may have inflamed a case already boiling with racial tensions — in addition to the allegations assigned to the victim, Anthony, whose self-defense claim was rejected by a jury, had previously fantasized about stabbing someone.

Anthony, 19, was sentenced to 35 years for stabbing Metcalf in the heart at a 2025 Texas track meet.

The New Black Panther Party is a black nationalist, separatist group that is rejected by the original Black Panther Party founded in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, who took their inspiration from Malcom X in establishing the revolutionary socialist organization focused on class struggle.

There seemed to be a common theme in the responses to the story — see if you can pick up on it in the responses from X seen below:

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Tom Tillison
Latest posts by Tom Tillison (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles