NEW LEGAL TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR KARMELO ANTHONY APPEAL

A team including Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe, appellate attorney Russell Wilson II, and civil rights attorney Brooke Cluse has announced it is taking over Karmelo Anthony’s case and “will pursue all available avenues of… pic.twitter.com/CWDkSepFSP

— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) June 22, 2026

I wonder who is funding this?

Quote:

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As always, I believe the public deserves to know who is representing the parties involved in high-profile cases.

* Gary Bledsoe serves as President of the Texas NAACP and has been involved in civil rights litigation for decades. However, in February 2026, a federal judge ordered Bledsoe to show cause regarding what the court described as a "hallucinated case citation" and alleged mischaracterizations contained in a legal filing. The judge raised concerns about possible misuse of artificial intelligence in the filing and considered sanctions. Public reports later indicated that Bledsoe apologized and avoided sanctions.

* Russell Wilson II is a veteran appellate attorney. At the time of this post, I have found no public disciplinary history associated with him through publicly available records.

* Brooke Cluse joined Ben Crump Law in 2023 and serves as Chief of Staff and Executive Liaison to nationally known attorney Ben Crump. Prior to that, she served as a public defender in Harris County, Texas.

Ben Crump represented the family of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor and Michael Brown.

The announcement signals that Anthony's legal team intends to frame the appeal through both appellate and "civil-rights"lenses.

NOTE - An appeal is NOT a new trial. The appellate court will review the record for legal errors that may have occurred during the proceedings. The jury's verdict remains in place unless and until a higher court determines otherwise.

As always, I will be reviewing the filings, court records, and arguments myself rather than relying on press releases from either side. Thank you.

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'Hallucinated case citation' is a new one for me.

They should have hired Jake Brigance.

Hey @TheView, i’m challenging you to bring me onto your show.

You spit nothing but falsehoods and misinformation in this entire clip. You might be “following this case now”. I’ve been reporting and investigating this case for over a year.

FACT CHECK: A “jury of your peers”… pic.twitter.com/4u5l9Eagsu

— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) June 22, 2026

TL;dr, The View sucks

Imagine thinking the only people under a tent at a track meet in Texas would be white. How effing stupid/racist are you to believe that?

The judge kept the evidence sealed for a reason. It had to be airtight for that murdering racist SOB to stay in prison, even for a short time.

Anything less than life was too short for the crime he committed.

His families actions since have been despicable.

I pray for Austin's family. I would not have the restraint they have shown.

It will be interesting to read the appellate brief. Judging strictly by what I heard go on, I don't think the prosecution objected to much of anything. Rising to the level of reversible error in a criminal case is a pretty high hurdle. Let's look at possible avenues of appeal.

1. Jury selection. Race issues/Batson. Here, I believe only peremptory and not for cause, challenges apply. How many Black jurors did the prosecution strike that were not for cause? I don't think any, but I can't say that with absolute certainty.

2. Evidence. The defense clearly wasn't held back in putting on evidence. Did the prosecution object to defense questions of witnesses (or did they object to prosecution's questions), and can the defense show that such evidence, if offered/overruled, would have led to a different verdict? I'm not sure of the actual standard, but it is SOMETHING like that. Criminal attys chime in here. This is going to be an extremely weak section of any appeal. Judges have significant discretion here and if the standard is abuse of discretion, it will take something big to overcome that. It would almost certainly have to involve a legal ruling by the judge that is reviewed de novo (no deference to the trial court) by the COA.

3. Sufficiency of the prosecution's evidence to prove murder. This, or something like it, is probably what they'll argue -- at least in part. Good luck.

4. Self-defense/instructions. Another likely avenue. What did the defense try to get in that wasn't allowed?

5. Was there a change of venue motion offered by the defense? If so, they may try to relitigate that on appeal. I don't think that will go anywhere.

Total guess, but I think they'll hit jury selection with a misleading set of "facts," a few evidentiary rulings, sufficiency of the evidence, and a few instructions, including self-defense. I don't think they have much more.

I own a short term rental across the street from the Metcalf family so have known the devastation this has caused to this family first hand.

Jeff the Father, and his Son kept this unbelievable constraint the entire time and always carried themselves with Godly spirits. Truly unbelievable.

That family did not ask for this and I saw in a father's weeping eyes that his Son was a gentle soul that didn't deserve his fate. So hard and sad

Whoopi blindly defending a murderer because he's the same skin color as her. One of the many, many problems with society.

Lee Merritt has chimed in.

Immediately after the conviction, Karmelo Anthony’s father reached out to me and asked for help assembling a new legal team to fight for his son’s future. From that moment, we have been working nonstop to bring together experienced appellate and civil rights attorneys to review… pic.twitter.com/m4UQoDxlCv

— Lee Merritt (@LeeMerrittesq) June 23, 2026

This is your reminder that Merritt is not licensed to practice law in Texas.

With Crump and Merritt, the biggest grifters/race hustlers are all here.

The funding is likely coming from folks that need to see stuff burn. The press will hype the "civil rights" angle in all of this to try to fuel the fire.

Note to Dems behind using this guilty thug to create chaos: they already vote for you.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Backyard Gator said:

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Re: #1 I believe three potential jurors were struck because they are educators. Is that enough for a Batsom challenge? I don't think it is.

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Did I read somewhere, maybe this site, that they weren't just educators but taught in district?
Even teachers, any teacher, I would think would be overly likely to lose objectivity. Good educators have a desire to help every kid they come across, it's their mission, its their ethos.

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I'd sure lose objectivity if the kid was a turd in my class.
Word actually does travel fast about frequent flyers.
Most likely to succeed in furthering education at Huntsville is often a prediction. ( and to the bleeding hearts here, that statement is made AFTER teachers have tried to help, after parent never came, and kid just grew the chip on his shoulder- and made also by black teachers as well!!)
Karmelo went to track meet with knife- he meant harm that day. I'd of been first to say guilty!
They are preying on ignorance and sensationalism, not guilt or innocence .

The best thing that could happen is for this thing to end in the prison yard.

Gary Bledsoe is the race pimp who lobbied hard to have the two plaques removed from the Texas Supreme Court Building (done in the middle of the night when Bush was governor). The building was made possible by the remaining money in the Confederate Pension Fund and the plaques honored the sacrifice of Confederate soldiers. Bledsoe is a bigot who claims everyone who does not kiss his arse and demonize our Southern heritage is a racist.

Backyard Gator said:

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Hey @TheView, i’m challenging you to bring me onto your show.

You spit nothing but falsehoods and misinformation in this entire clip. You might be “following this case now”. I’ve been reporting and investigating this case for over a year.

FACT CHECK: A “jury of your peers”… pic.twitter.com/4u5l9Eagsu

— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) June 22, 2026

TL;dr, The View sucks

Imagine thinking the only people under a tent at a track meet in Texas would be white. How effing stupid/racist are you to believe that?

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They've cornered the market and dip**** leftist talking points. They're so provocative that conservatives are constantly playing their video clips and discussing them on conservative political message boards and social media.

bobbranco said:

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Is the appeal team on pro bono or are fees being paid by some leftist organization?

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I'd bet whatever amount everyone is getting paid. The race card is a HUGE grift.

theJonatron said:

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The judge kept the evidence sealed for a reason. It had to be airtight for that murdering racist SOB to stay in prison, even for a short time.

Anything less than life was too short for the crime he committed.

His families actions since have been despicable.

I pray for Austin's family. I would not have the restraint they have shown.

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What that poor family has endured is beyond a nightmare. I can't imagine going through what they have.
They need to move out of the metroplex and most likely change their names. Hunter in particular will never be safe otherwise.

Science Denier said:

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bobbranco said:

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Is the appeal team on pro bono or are fees being paid by some leftist organization?

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I'd bet whatever amount everyone is getting paid. The race card is a HUGE grift.

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And black people suffer because of it! They've been told they can't do this or that, can't do Algebra, can't do correct English and that they are held back by the man. For years grifters have made millions off of programs to help them in schools, all the while saying it's not working because of racism or they need more money, more administrators more black teachers etc etc! No wonder they buy into not having a picture ID is a black thing!
Question: How did kids of any color learn to read and write with books and a Big Chief tablet and number two pencil?
Lawyers and grifters create exceptions so they can be exceptionally rich. We e been snookered for years!

Sunny Hostin clerked for the Maryland Court of Appeals and was a trial attorney for the Department of Justice and she can't even properly explain what a Batson Challenge is?

/edit: Batson*

ts5641 said:

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theJonatron said:

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The judge kept the evidence sealed for a reason. It had to be airtight for that murdering racist SOB to stay in prison, even for a short time.

Anything less than life was too short for the crime he committed.

His families actions since have been despicable.

I pray for Austin's family. I would not have the restraint they have shown.

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What that poor family has endured is beyond a nightmare. I can't imagine going through what they have.
They need to move out of the metroplex and most likely change their names. Hunter in particular will never be safe otherwise.

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It is absolutely horrific. This is only happening because they are white. The racism against them is disgusting.

Jack Squat 83 said:

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The funding is likely coming from folks that need to see stuff burn. The press will hype the "civil rights" angle in all of this to try to fuel the fire.

Note to Dems behind using this guilty thug to create chaos: they already vote for you.

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So much this. 1000%.

They need some riots this summer and fall going into the election. Right now they don't have any going, so they will try and stoke the racial division fires.

If you ever want to truly believe that there is racism

The worst and most guilty are the left, the black left who joy reid said she doesn't even care about July 4rh as a black person { I resent that} and that do it not vote for any person in government that would in any way support Israel.

I read many of their views {leftist and racist black people } over and over yesterday despite evidence , empirical evidence and facts from many countless witnesses. It disturbs me that so many people want ideology and not justice.

That a kid brought a knife to a track meet begging people to touch him so he could stab someone and proceeded to do so in the heart.

We truly have people mourning a 35-year sentence that could be 15 with parole when he took the life of a 17 year old by stabbing him in the heart. and that could have been anybody's son on this board {black white red brown yellow}and the only thing that matters is the fact that he's a black kid against a white kid. Those are making this a victim situation.

I dare say it was a white kid against a black kid he would have been hung and then straight would have been rioted

Lost our way and we've allowed in equal justice

We greatly need the Lord and his mercy so that we bring back righteousness and judgment. We don't even seem to rule by the court of law anymore but by the court of leftist ideology.