The murder trial of rapper YNW Melly, who was accused of killing two of his friends in 2018, has ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
The rapper, whose real name is Jamell Demons, was facing the death penalty for the shooting deaths of Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr., who were also part of the YNW collective.
According to prosecutors, Demons and his accomplice Cortlen Henry, known as YNW Bortlen, staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting after Demons shot Williams and Thomas inside a Jeep. They then drove the bodies to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Prosecutors said the motive was related to a gang dispute.
However, defense lawyers argued that Demons had no reason to kill his best friends and that the evidence was inconclusive. They pointed out that the gun was never recovered and that there were no witnesses or DNA linking Demons to the crime.
The trial lasted for 19 days at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The jury deliberated for three days but could not reach a unanimous decision. Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy declared a mistrial on Saturday, July 22, 2023.
Prosecutors are expected to retry the case with a new jury. Henry will also face a separate trial as an accomplice.
YNW Melly rose to fame in 2017 with his song “Murder on My Mindâ€, which ironically described a scenario similar to the one he was accused of. He also collaborated with Kanye West on “Mixed Personalities†in 2019, a month before his arrest.
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