Federal judge green-lights the next steps in YNW Melly’s lawsuit over jail conditions
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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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The Broward Sheriff’s Office must explain why YNW Melly — who has been behind bars in South Florida since 2019 — shouldn’t be released from jail, a federal judge ruled Monday, weeks after the rapper sued alleging “egregious violations” of his constitutional rights.
U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian ordered BSO to file a detailed response by Dec. 6 explaining why Melly shouldn’t be immediately released from jail, including “all documents and transcripts necessary for the resolution of this petition.” Such records would likely shed more light on the conditions of Melly’s detention.
READ MORE: YNW Melly kept in ‘debilitating isolation’ while in jail, lawsuit says. He seeks release
The 12-page lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court earlier this month, allege that the rapper has been kept in total isolation with no way to contact the outside world and has also been barred from meeting with his legal team on several occasions. The conditions in which Melly is living in, the document states, “shock the conscience and could not even be imagined ... even in a third-world country that has no guard rails protecting human decency and dignity.”
Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of gunning down his childhood friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in an alleged drive-by cover-up after spending the early morning hours 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.
He’s facing the death penalty. If convicted, Melly could be sentenced to death by an 8-4 jury vote, the lowest threshold in the country for a death sentence. His retrial is set to begin in early 2025.
When the lawsuit was filed, BSO said “Mr. Demons has been placed on administrative segregation, which is a classification resulting in an alternate living assignment for an inmate whose placement in the general population poses a serious threat to the safety of staff or inmates, or life and property.”
Attorney Michael Pizzi celebrated the legal win Monday, stating that Melly’s family was “very pleased” that the judge found the petition had merit.
“For the first time the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the jail officials will have to explain to a Federal Judge why they are refusing to permit Mr. [Demons] to have the same phone contact and visitation and lawyer visits that all inmates are guaranteed by the United States Constitution,” Pizzi told the Miami Herald.
Grim jail conditions?
For three years, Melly hasn’t been allowed to make phone calls or have visits with his family, including his mother Jamie King, according to the filing. Defense attorney Raven Liberty also told the Herald she’s shown up to the jail and has been left waiting for substantial periods of time on several occasions.
The circumstances of Melly’s detention stem from a 2022 grievance report a fellow inmate filed against the rapper, in which the inmate claimed that Melly was planning an escape by having one of his attorneys bring in handcuff keys, according to the lawsuit.
Detention officers, in response to the complaint, searched Melly’s cell, seizing commissary items and jail-issued clothes. A further investigation, the lawsuit says, concluded no wrongdoing. The rapper’s attorneys raised the issue to BSO’s lawyers, but Melly was still moved into solitary confinement, where he has remained for years.
At one point, the rapper was transferred to a unit where he was only allowed outside his cell for an hour and had no contact with other inmates, according to the filing. While at another Broward jail earlier this year, Melly was housed on a floor by himself, in a cell without a door. A member of the sheriff’s office emergency response team guarded him around the clock, and jail staff was instructed not to speak to him, the lawsuit says.
In a statement, Liberty told the Miami Herald that it was “due time” that BSO is “forced to address the unconstitutional conditions..., which range from the inhumane isolation he endures to the impermissible interference with his access to defense counsel.”
“These are rights that are supposed to be guaranteed to every citizen, even those of Broward County, Florida,” she said. “It is unfortunate that Broward County is allowing this gross abuse of power by certain employees to go unchecked. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a change, not only for Mr. Demons but all inmates being housed in the Broward County jails.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
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