Prosecutors rest in YNW Melly double murder trial. Here are five key revelations
The state rested its case on Monday in the double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly. Now, it’s the defense team’s turn to present its witnesses.
Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of shooting to death his childhood friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in an alleged drive-by cover-up after spending the night of Oct. 26, 2018, at a Fort Lauderdale recording studio. Williams and Thomas, both aspiring rappers with the YNW collective, were known as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy, respectively.
READ MORE: State rests in YNW Melly’s double murder trial. So, what’s next in the rapper’s case?
The 24-year-old’s case is among the first being considered after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law to lower the threshold for a death sentence to an 8-4 jury vote from a unanimous vote.
Throughout the month-long trial, the state brought dozens of witnesses, ranging from associates of the rapper to ballistic experts. Here’s a look at some of the state’s evidence and the witnesses prosecutors called to the stand:
1. An alleged confession on Instagram
After weeks laying groundwork, prosecutor Kristine Bradley introduced an Instagram exchange between Melly and a man known as Peezy Gambino. On Oct. 26, 2018, Peezy Gambino asked if Melly was OK.
“I did that,” Melly responded on Instagram. “Shhhh”
Defense attorney Stuart Adelstein, however, tried to cast doubt on the alleged confession, introducing 19 pages of text messages where Melly spelled “that” as “dat.”
“These phone messages that the state introduced...pages that we painfully went through, he spells it d-a-t not t-h-a-t,” Adelstein said. “What a strange thing.”
Bradley later challenged Adelstein’s claim by mentioning one of the rapper’s songs called “Melly Fix That” and showing several messages in which he spells the word the conventional way.
The state presented another eyebrow-raising Snapchat message about codefendant Cortlen Henry (nicknamed Bortlen) sent during an argument between Melly and his ex-girlfriend:
“I keep Bortlen wit kuz at da end of the day he did one of a realist shit in my life. Dis n**** saved my life he koming everywhere wit me kuz if dem crackers come grab him it’s my fault u forgot???”
2. Shots came from inside the car
Surveillance video from the recording studio in Fort Lauderdale captured codefendant Henry, Williams, Thomas and Melly hopping into the Jeep. Hours later at the hospital, police found Williams, 21, in the front passenger seat with gunshot wounds to his head and torso and Thomas, 19, in the right rear passenger seat with gunshot wounds to the back and head. They were already dead.
Projectile analysis determined that it would be unlikely for the barrage of bullets to have hit the SUV while in motion. The autopsies —and a single .40 caliber shell casing found inside a white plastic bag — suggested that the shots came from the left rear passenger side, where Melly was caught on tape sitting earlier that night.
Investigators never located a gun. Gunpowder residue wasn’t found on Melly.
3. Possible gang ties
Since 2021, the state has insisted that the murders were committed to “benefit, promote and further the interests of a criminal gang.” In June, Bradley called on gang expert Danny Polo to delve deeper into Melly’s supposed affiliation with the G-Shine Bloods set, though prosecutors have yet to elaborate on how the killings benefited the gang.
Polo, who’s an undercover detective with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, said Melly knows all of G-Shine’s signs, “does them very well” and even flashes them in videos. The rapper, he said, has posed in hundreds of photos with known gang members and often substitutes the letter “C” with the letters “B,” “K” or “X” in messages, which can be an indicator of affiliation with the group.
The prosecutor also displayed photos of Melly that Polo identified as the rapper’s making gang signs as well as texts with G-Shine Blood lingo that the detective decoded while on the stand.
Some of Melly’s songs, Polo said on the stand, refer to him being a member of the Bloods set. Though he didn’t quote any of the rapper’s lyrics, Polo said he didn’t believe Melly’s alleged affiliation was an act because “G-Shine is one of the more violent Blood sets.”
4. Phones ping near the scene
Throughout the trial, the state displayed maps of the FBI investigation into the phones’ general whereabouts on the night of the murders. The maps showed the phones pinged within a range of proximity, though Special Agent Brendan Collins couldn’t definitively say that the phones were together at the same exact location.
Miramar Police Detective Mark Moretti executed a geo-fence warrant, which casts a virtual fence around a location, for the crime scene. This technique, used to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, works via location tracking by apps like Gmail or Google Maps.
However, no devices appeared at the location. Melly’s booking Gmail account, Moretti said, had turned off its location services.
Moretti, however, said he was able to corroborate the phone’s movements through video surveillance, including when Melly was captured at the recording studio and the Jeep was spotted near several businesses. The detective confirmed that cellphone location science isn’t always correct — and could even prove to be inaccurate, depending on cell tower locations.
Rapper Fredo Bang, according to Bradley, picked Melly up the night of the murder after he sent Fredo a pin to his location.
5. Limited DNA in the Jeep
BSO DNA analyst Kurt Rhodes tested objects found inside the SUV, including a water bottle, Gucci slides, a spent shell casing and blood stains discovered on clothes and a pair of Jordans.
The DNA on those items wasn’t a match to the rapper.
But DNA that “may have been” Melly’s was found inside the Jeep — on the rear passenger-side door handle, Rhodes said on the stand. Though the first test didn’t link Melly to the door handle, another completed on June 1, just days before the trial started, was a possible hit.
