YNW Melly returned to a Broward County, Florida courtroom on Monday, where Judge Martin Fein set a date for his double murder retrial, following months of delays.
The rapper, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of murdering his childhood friends, Chris “YNW Juvy” Thomas and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams, in 2018. The incident, staged to look like a drive-by shooting, occurred after a late-night recording session.
On Monday, Judge Martin Fein set a new trial date for September 10, 2025. For the more recent tampering case, a pretrial meeting is scheduled for December 5, 2024.
Melly’s first double murder trial ended in a mistrial last summer. In January, a judge’s ruling to suppress a promotional video about Melly’s life from evidence prompted prosecutors to file an appeal, delaying the case for months.
In late April, Melly attended a hearing after his attorneys requested to discuss outstanding motions in the case. They wanted to proceed with discovery, including depositions, but prosecutors argued against it since the appeals court had issued a stay in the proceedings.
Judge John J. Murphy III ruled in January that the jury should not see the 20-minute documentary about Melly’s life and rise to fame, which was filmed just before the double murder. The video frequently shows Melly holding a weapon and mentions the deaths of Thomas and Williams in the last few seconds.
The defense argued that the video is hearsay, while the state contended it proves Melly was at the scene of the crime. The state argued that because the appeal is from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence, the stay is automatic, and the judge does not have the authority to allow discovery to proceed while the case is on appeal.
The defense countered that the rules do not require a blanket stay on all issues and expressed a desire to explore, among other things, the broadness of a search warrant for text messages from 2018.
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