The YNW Melly trial initially ended in a hung jury — but now, as a retrial looms, a new court hearing is scheduled.
Court documents obtained by HipHopDX reveal that a hearing defense motion is scheduled for August 18. At that time, both the prosecutor and the defense will meet, and based on the court documents, it appears that the hearing centers around “terminating around GPS monitoring of state witness Felicia Holmes.”
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Holmes, as has been previously revealed, is the mother of YNW Melly’s ex-girlfriend, and her testimony was central to the prosecution’s case. Holmes also previously claimed that the state of Florida has “ruined her life” as a result of her being a material witness.
Check out the full docket for the YNW Melly trial below.
YNW Melly trial: New court hearing scheduled as "Free Melly" merch hits streets https://t.co/52WCdDsvQrpic.twitter.com/7BjDIn1ON6
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) August 13, 2023
Meanwhile, in related YNW Melly news, it was revealed that YNW Bortlen — who is also being tried for double murder, though unlike Melly (real name Jamell Demons), he’s not facing the death penalty — began advertising new YNW merch, and specifically, merch that calls for YNW Melly to be freed.
The YNW collective has been selling merch since 2019, and YNW Bortlen receives about 35 percent of all profits received by the collective. It’s unclear, however, whether he will be able to keep these earnings if he ends up getting convicted of murder.
The first-degree murder charges took four-and-a-half years to process through the legal system. Melly was arrested back in 2019 for allegedly shooting and killing fellow YNW members Christopher Thomas Jr. (YNW Juvy) and Anthony Williams (YNW Sakchaser) in October 2018.
The state accused him of gunning down the two men and subsequently staging a drive-by shooting in an attempt to cover it up.
Melly’s team made a case for their client being at home and asleep at the time of the murder while alleging that YNW Bortlen was the culprit.
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Williams and Thomas Jr. suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were driven to Memorial Hospital Miramar at 4:35 a.m. where they passed away. The hospital is located about 20 miles outside of Fort Lauderdale.
As for YNW Melly, his mistrial was declared as of 2:12 p.m. ET on Saturday (July 22).
The jury deliberated until 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday (July 21) before breaking for the evening. They resumed deliberations on Saturday (July 22) at 8:52 a.m. ET.
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Despite this constant deliberation, however, the jury could not reach a majority verdict.
The new YNW Melly trial is set to begin, per the docket, on October 2. If YNW Melly is convicted of the double murders, he could face the death penalty.
