Rapper YNW Melly appeared in a Florida court today (June 12) for the first day of his double homicide trial. The rapper born Jamell Maurice Demons pleaded not guilty in 2019 to the alleged murder of his two best friends.
YNW Melly is accused of shooting and killing friends Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams on October 26 in South Florida. Melly is also accused of staging the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting by the prosecutors. Prosecutors cited the surveillance cameras and his co-defendant, Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry, as well as the two victims, in YNW Bortlen’s car when YNW Bortlen had claimed the shooting happened, per Pitchfork.
Phone data, blood spatter evidence, and a bullet casing in the car made pulled prosecutors to conclude that the four men were all together on that October 26 night. The victims were shot dead from inside the car prosecutors say per the outlet.
“After four years of investigation, the state comes and says, ‘Hey, he killed two of his best friends.’ And you’re wondering why, and their answer is, ‘Uh, I dunno.’ That’s the first indication that they’re just guessing and don’t know what they’re talking about,” Melly’s attorney David Howard argued in court, per Miami New Times. He described the prosecution’s investigation as “incompetent and incomplete.”
During the first day of the trial, prosecutors called up witnesses, including police officers and hospital workers, to set the timeline for the night of the shooting, according to Pitchfork.
Melly may face the death penalty if found guilty of first-degree murder.
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