A judge shouldn't get to tell the public whether a jury he oversaw got it right, after the case is already closed.

That's exactly what happened in Collin County, Texas. State District Judge John Roach Jr. presided over the trial of Karmelo Anthony, who was convicted of murder for fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet and sentenced to 35 years. Once the trial ended, Roach sat for an interview and was asked whether the jury reached the right verdict. "Yeah, they did," he said, adding, "Whatever they say, they got it right," according to The Associated Press.

Now Anthony is seeking a new trial, and his legal team pointed to that interview, along with strict courtroom rules Roach enforced during the case, as reasons to question his impartiality. On August 19, 2026, a different judge agreed to remove Roach from the retrial proceedings, not because he found actual bias, but because of how the situation could appear to the public.

That should concern people well beyond this one case. When a judge publicly endorses the outcome of a trial he personally oversaw, it raises real doubts about whether every party gets a fair hearing, no matter how anyone feels about the underlying verdict.

This petition calls on the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Texas Legislature to adopt a clear standard: judges should not publicly comment on whether a jury got it right in a case they presided over. Public confidence in the courts depends on judges staying impartial even after the gavel comes down.

Sign the petition to demand judicial ethics rules that keep judges silent on their own verdicts, before public trust in Texas courts erodes further.