YNW Melly murder case retrial just got a new start date. He’ll also have more defense attorneys.
The rapper Jamell Demons, known as YNW Melly, is readying to face a second murder trial, which just got a new start date.
The retrial, originally scheduled for Oct. 2, will now start Oct. 9.
Demons also is expected to have more lawyers added to his defense team when he gets tried again in the deaths of two childhood friends. The details with criminal defense attorney Jamie Benjamin and two of his partners still need to be worked out, but the lawyers gave Judge John J. Murphy the heads-up in court Friday.
“We’re anticipating to that to be true,” Benjamin said after court, adding there will be “multi-faceted issues in the retrial.”
Also on Friday, defense attorney Raven Liberty asked to have a new deposition for Miramar Police Detective Mark Moretti.
Moretti had told jurors in the last trial about a string of text messages and private exchanges on social media between Demons, his mother, Williams and others. In one of the final, potentially incriminating, posts shared with the jury, Demons was asked on Instagram how he was holding up after the deaths of his two close friends. His response: “Shhh. I did that.”
Murphy did not immediately rule on that request.
Demons was in court Friday for the hearing, his wrists shackled in handcuffs, and wearing a red jail uniform. He gave a fist bump to defense lawyer Stuart Adelstein, who spoke to him privately after the hearing.
In the last trial, Murphy had declared a mistrial on July 22, despite his instruction that the jurors were to do everything possible to resolve their differences. The jury had deliberated more than 14 hours over three days.
Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams were shot to death inside a Jeep driven by their friend, Cortland “YNW Bortlen” Henry. Prosecutors say Demons was seated behind Henry after an overnight recording session in Fort Lauderdale early on Oct. 26, 2018.
The four young men were part of a collective of rap artists, and longtime friends.
Demons pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Prosecutors believe Demons tangled with the victims about money and creative credit, and that Demons was part of an offshoot of the Bloods street gang.
Prosecutors say all the evidence points to Demons as the shooter: He was seen on surveillance footage getting into the seat where forensic experts say the gunman sat. He told investigators that the victims died in a drive-by, even though the bullets that killed them came from inside the car.
Defense lawyers say that’s not nearly enough to explain why Demons would, with no apparent provocation, fire a gun at Williams and Thomas, killing them.
Henry, who has been charged as a principal and accessory to the murders, is due to be tried separately.
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