The Breakfast Club - EXCLUSIVE: Karmelo Anthony’s Advocate Speaks Out After Guilty Verdict & 35 Sentencing

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

Loren sits down with an advocate close to the Karmelo Anthony case following the guilty verdict and 35-year sentence. They discuss the emotional impact on Karmelo’s family, the courtroom decisions that sparked debate, jury selection concerns, the fight for an appeal, and what comes next in the pursuit of justice. A powerful conversation about accountability, fairness, and the questions still surrounding a case that captured national attention.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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today's conversation is going to be one that is very serious. We cover a lot of things here at the latest with Lauren La Rosa, but when it's time to take the time, we do so. And today, there was a verdict that came down in the Carmelo-Anthony case. And I, like the rest of the world, had some thoughts and feelings on it, but wanted to put my own thoughts and feelings aside and bring someone who has been very close to this case,

who's been advocating for the Anthony family right here to you guys on the podcast to have some conversations about what happened and the verdict that we all heard today of guilty. Thank you for joining me, Dominic. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. I bet yourself. I mean, I'm doing good. I think like everybody else, I'm kind of watching from the outside looking in and just

have a lot of questions. And I don't know. I kind of feel like I have a younger brother. So watching everything that played out in this case. and what didn't play out, it's heartbreaking. You know what I mean? And I know that you were working alongside Carmelo Anthony's family to give everything that was happening, you know, some platforms

so that we knew what was going on. How are you feeling following the verdict? Well, it's really hard right now to be able to process it when, you know, I've had the opportunity to get, get to know Carmelo Anthony. I've had the opportunity to get to know Kayla and Andrew and his father and other children. You're talking about a beautiful black family. You're talking about a very educated young brother, Carmelo Anthony, a very kind and very smart

and had a very promising future that was stolen today. Do you feel like, and it's hard. to do in a trial, right, where, you know, you have the prosecutors who are, they're stuck on what they're trying to get to. But do you feel like it was, there was a good enough job done of humanizing Carmelo and Anthony outside of what we, as a community, would just try and do ourselves on social media? Do you think it was done well in court? I don't, I don't think so. I think that there were many things that I disagreed with the approach. But at the end of the day I'm not a lawyer. Of course, he had attorneys. There were multiple different things

that I felt like it could have went this way, but it didn't. And I just, the young man that I got to know, I didn't think, I didn't think it was displayed to the fullest in courtroom. How is Carmelo's mom doing? I know she was the only one. At this time, she is the only person that is testified in the sentencing part of the trial because that's where we are now. How's his mom doing as of now? Kayla is distraught. I can't speak for her. But just to know Kayla, Kayla is a mother.

She does everything for those children. She is a woman of, she doesn't say a lot or whatever, but she doesn't play about her children. and, you know, my heart goes out to her because this is a family that traveled and moved from Louisiana to Texas and for just a better opportunity, better exposure. Right. And they landed in Collin County. And Collin County is a county north of Dallas County where the city of Dallas resides. And of course, a lot of times when people move here, they end up, you know, moving to some of these suburb areas, not knowing some of the history that goes behind some of these areas. Mm-hmm. Very problematic. And so I know that the family is really hurt right now.

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Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I read a report about the plea that she made to the court after everything. and, you know, her attempt to just humanize her child herself. And it was heartbreaking to read. So I can only imagine what happens now, though, like is after, are you guys already talking about like a pill? How do we activate around the case and the verdict? Like, what now?

What do we do now? Well, of course, the next generation action network is going to have to raise resources. And we're going to have to have people from all different. colors and Greece in black America to really stand up because this case is solely about are these laws going to be applied to everyone or are they going to be applied to some right um i know you um see cases from all across this country even from the recent case in carolina um where we're told hey take your emotions out of the situation it's law this is law right and so in this situation the law was very clear. And the law was ignored. And of course, that was also the reason why the judge

limited the court proceedings so that the people won't be able to know what really went on rather than the secondhand count of information that pretty much all America is pretty much going off of because only 50 people were allowed at a time to be in the court. Can you break down? So first, let's start with the limiting. Can you explain what was limited? Well, first of all, you limit the amount of people that were able to see exactly what's going on, the activities. You also, even in the ruling of the jury, of course, many people, are making it seem like the judge went through a full process. No, the judge actually made a decision fairly quickly on those three black jurors that the

prosecution striked, right? A lot of people got answers on that. A lot of people got answers on how did these people testify in court? What were their body language? We know, based on a lot of accounts of people who were in the courtroom, a lot of them witnesses were coerced. They were instructed what to say you can tell. They tried to keep the brother far away from the situation. When we know that Hunter, McClough had already went on national TV saying he was right there, but some kind of way during the trial. By multiple eyewitnesses

account, we found that Hunter was there. But, you know, this is what we have to. to deal with. And now just while I've been on the interview with you, we find out that Carmelo has been sentenced to 35 years. Oh my God. Mm. Oh, why was I expecting that? So, okay, let's talk about the jury really quick, because you brought that up, right? And I know the conversation with the black jurors, there were three of them that were struck, correct? Yes. The judge said that they were struck for non-racial reasons, and they brought up the fact that they were educators. Wouldn't you want people that were educators and understood children in an educational or a school setting and how those things happened on a jury? Like, was there a law basis that allowed them

the strict? Like, how was that able to be an argument to take those jurors off of the jury or off of the selection process? You know, it flabbergastic. Nobody that was there understood exactly how they were able to strike them. They just said they were educators, not not explain why they think they're conflicted by because they're educators just because they're just their educators, right? And of course, we know that Collin County has a long history of yet discriminatory practices. We know that Collin County is a county where black people have had a real uphill battle to be able to get justice. And we know that Collin County has a real large population of black people that it has sent to prison in the history of it.

And we know that this county is very problematic. And we heard a lot of different calls for people saying, why didn't we push for change of venue? but if they understood how state law work, there were only certain red counties around that that even if they would have pushed it to another venue, it would have been even worse. Close your eyes and you can hear the entire world come alive. 2026 FIFA World Cup is on

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The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal. personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And there was an educator that was kept on the jury still. So even though they tried to have that argument. It was still, was that one educator that was kept?

Was that a person of color or a white person? A white person. Man. Okay. So if it's educators, his blanket educators across the board. Yeah, I thought that there was maybe like a legal standing. But if you're keeping one educator and getting rid of the other ones, I, like, I would have to dive more into like, why, like, what made one different than the other three? And then my last question, I know we have to wrap up.

Are we going to see a change? I don't even know if this would be possible at this point. But if you guys go into the appeal status, which are you guys are planning to appeal, is that something that family is considering? Yes. Will there be a change of attorney? Yes. There will be new appellate attorneys assigned.

And there will be a new legal strategy. And we will need to be able to raise the resources to be able to support that. Yeah. Okay. Got you. And then the focus of the appeal, is it going to be to just kind of combat all the jury? information. The thing with the judge and the DA and the father, there's some

correlation of relationship there that I was reading about. Is that true? We don't know if that was true. We know that the pitcher was not the sitting judge. We gave some clarification. We don't know

what judge that was in the picture. It wasn't given to us but it wasn't John Roach who was the presiding judge over this situation. But of course, we're going to need to need the community support across America's support to go into this next process. And of course, we know the road to justice is not a quick one, but we stand committed towards making sure. Well, thank you so much for joining me.

I know you have a lot to try and figure out at this point. Thank you. Thank you for having you. me. Thank you. I'll talk to you guys soon. Please stay in contact. All right. I will. All righty. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kot me. If you're craving inspiration, support and useful tools to maximize your joy,

tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Listen to Joy 101 on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Chams podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture, like Sway Lee. Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that. I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got, like, so much more to do. Like, Prince, he dropped like 30 albums. We dropped like five right now.

That's the rate we got to be going. Yep, that's a good attitude. No matter the era, Drink Chams brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Chams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It just came out. Jeremy, what did you just do? You just sit yourself up for failure. I've never heard you tell this story.

I've never told this story. This must have been tucked deep, deep into Jeremy Lynn file. My name is MC Jen. I'm excited to tell you about laugh, but not least. I'll be chatting with guests from all walks of life about the power of humor when it comes to facing difficult times. These will be conversations that remind us all. Life is hard. Laugh harder.

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