After being on trial and charged with double murder, Florida rapper YNW Melly, 24, was recently sent back to Broward Main Jail, without bail, after the judge declared a mistrial due to a hung jury. Since, one single juror is claiming that YNW Melly’s innocent and is being “framed” for his two friends’ murders.
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As we previously reported, YNW Melly, born Jamell Demons, was arrested in 2019 on first-degree murder charges for allegedly shooting two of his childhood friends: Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. Both were aspiring rapers with the YNW collective and respectively known as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.
Prior to the charges placed, the three men were being driven in a Jeep by Cortland Henry, known as YNW Bortlen, after a recording session in Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 26, 2018. Prosecutors alleged that Demons shot Williams and Thomas, while Henry is accused of being an accomplice. He is separately being tried, and is still awaiting said trial.
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Prosecutors alleged that Demons and Henry drove the bodies to an area near the Everglades before at the back and passenger seats from outside of the car, to make it appear as if they’d been in a drive-by shooting. Prosecutors said that ballistics tests showed that the initial shots fired were from inside the car.
Police added that Henry drove to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital Miramar asking for help, claiming that Williams and Thomas had been shot in a drive-by. Both victims were then pronounced dead.
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While Broward County prosecutors were seeking the death penalty in Demons’ double murder case, arguing that the shooting was part of gang action, the defense said this claim lacked credibility because Demons and the two victims were close friends. The defense argued that their client had no motive for the crime and that gun from the shooting was never recovered.
Demons’ double murder trial, which began nearly four-and-a-half years after being taken into custody, ended with a hung jury. After sitting through 19 days of arguments and testimonies, the jury deliberated for two days before announcing that they weren’t able to reach a unanimous decision.
Subsequently, Broward Circuit Court Judge John J. Murphy III thanked them for their efforts and declared a mistrial. Following the decision, it’s been reported that Demons will be tried again for first-degree murder by the Broward County State Attorney’s Office. Demons still faces the possibility of execution if he is convicted in his retrial, which is due to begin next month.
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And more recently, it has been revealed by one juror that they believe Demons was framed for double murder. In her first interview since the deliberations ended, juror number 7, who asked to remain nameless, spoke with the Sun-Sentinel and said she was able to convince two other jurors to vote against conviction, leading to the 9-3 deadlock.
The YNW Melly juror, from Fort Lauderdale, said, “I believe that he didn’t do it and it wasn’t proved in court. This was a really bad situation of being framed. Melly was a very good person. He always tried to help out people around him.” The juror claims that because of missing pieces of information from the incident, it left room for doubt.
The YNW Melly juror said, “Between them leaving the recording studio and the phone pinging in the everglades, anything could have happened.” The juror, who is Black, added, “This was not a matter of fact but a matter of race,” noting that everyone in the Jeep was Black and that the lead police investigator and lead prosecutor were white. She said she felt the gang connection argument was weak, and other arguments from the prosecution weren’t solid.
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