Delay means YNW Melly will have been in jail for 8 years without being convicted
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The double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly
The double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, has had many twists and turns since the South Florida artist was accused of killing his childhood best friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in 2019.
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Rapper YNW Melly’s double-murder retrial — marked by years of delays after his first trial ended in a hung jury in 2023 — will now begin in January 2027. The announcement came on Friday after the Fourth District Court of Appeals granted a delay that prosecutors were seeking. Broward Circuit Court Judge Martin Fein had ruled that the trial would start in September.
“We’re disappointed that today’s hearing was yet another win for the State of Florida, allowing more time to subject my client to inhumane treatment,” said Raven Liberty, Melly’s attorney. “Every American should be concerned about this abuse of the justice system and basic Constitutional rights at the hands of Broward State’s Attorney Harold Pryor and his team of prosecutors.”
Melly, 26, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of murdering his childhood friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in a drive-by shooting in October 2018. Williams and Thomas, both aspiring rappers with the YNW collective, were known as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.
Melly has spent the last six and a half years in prison. During that time, his first trial ended in a hung jury in July 2023. He and his legal team have requested a bond to be released from jail while awaiting the retrial, but have been repeatedly denied.
The new trial date would mean he would have been jailed for eight years without being convicted.
“If this denial of basic Constitutional rights was not outrageous enough, most of this time has been spent in solitary confinement in conditions worse than death row,” Liberty said.
READ MORE: YNW Melly kept in ‘debilitating isolation’ while in jail, lawsuit says. He seeks release
Melly’s mistrial set off a whirlwind that ended with a prosecutor ousted, key evidence thrown out and new charges.
A major cause of the delays is the evidence removed from the retrial by then-Broward Circuit Court Judge John Murphy. Prosecutors appealed Murphy’s ruling. The bulk of the contested evidence was extracted from Melly’s cellphone, email addresses and social-media accounts. Under Murphy’s ruling, most of the admitted digital evidence, including messages, will be confined to the day of and following the murders. But the attorneys now have oral arguments on the evidence issue before the appeals court on Sept. 16.
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