YNW Melly appeared in a Florida court today (June 12) for the first day of his trial for the alleged murder of two friends. The rapper born Jamell Maurice Demons pleaded not guilty in 2019. He may face the death penalty if found guilty of first-degree murder. In the opening arguments, YNW Melly’s lawyer, David Howard, said the prosecution’s investigation had been “incompetent and incomplete,” and that his client had no reason to kill his friends.
Prosecutors presented the case they put forward upon the initial charges in 2019: YNW Melly shot and killed Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams on October 26 in South Florida, and then staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting. They cited surveillance video of Melly with 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. Prosecutors also claimed that phone data, blood spatter evidence, and a bullet casing in the car indicate the four young men were together the night of the crime and that the victims were shot dead from inside the car.
During the first day of trial, the state called up witnesses including police and hospital workers to establish a timeline of the night of the shootings.
