Trial of YNW Melly

Florida v. Demons
Florida v. Demons
Court	17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida
Full case name	State of Florida v. Jamell Demons
Submitted	February 13, 2019
Started	June 12, 2023
Decided	July 22, 2023 (First trial)
Verdict	First trial: Hung jury
Charge	The first-degree murder of Anthony Williams, a human being; The first-degree murder of Christopher Thomas, a human being; Witness tampering (second trial only);
Prosecution	Alixandra Buckelew
Defense	Stuart Adelstein, Jaime Benjamin
Court membership
Judges sitting	John J. Murphy III, Brayden K. Poirier, Martin Fein

State of Florida v. Jamell Demons is an ongoing American criminal case in Florida's 17th Judicial Circuit in which rapper Jamell Demons, commonly known by his stage name YNW Melly, was accused of murdering his two friends, Anthony D'Andre Williams (YNW Sakchaser) and Christopher Jermaine Thomas Jr. (YNW Juvy) in October 2018. If convicted, he faces either life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.^[1] If Demons is convicted, he will be one of the first defendants to be sentenced under Governor Ron DeSantis’ new non-unanimous death sentence law, in which the jury will only need to have at least eight out of twelve jurors agree to recommend the death penalty rather than it being unanimous.^[2]^[3]

The case gained massive public interest due to Demons' most popular single being "Murder on My Mind", a rap song in which Demons discusses hypothetical homicidal ideation.^[4]

On July 22, 2023, Judge John Murphy declared a mistrial after the jury remained deadlocked on the charges, with a 9-to-3 vote in favor of convicting Demons on the lesser offenses of manslaughter.^[5]^[6]

As of May 2024, the trial is currently on pause awaiting the adjudication of a video from Demons' YouTube channel as evidence.^[7] Demons' attorneys requested to move forward with the discovery phase of the trial, but the judge has not yet ruled on this request due to the ongoing appeal.

Background

In October 2018, Demons and his friends Anthony D'Andre Williams (YNW Sakchaser), Christopher Thomas Jr. (YNW Juvy), and Cortlen Malik Henry (YNW Bortlen) were at a recording studio. Williams and Thomas would later be driven to the hospital by Henry after being shot dead in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in what Demons and Henry claimed was a drive-by shooting. The four rappers were to appear in a music video by another local rapper the following afternoon. Demons and Henry appeared in it ^{[citation needed]}.

Arrests and charges

Following a grand jury indictment of Demons and Henry for the murders, Demons and Henry were arrested on February 13, 2019, and charged with the premeditated first-degree murders of Williams and Thomas. Demons pleaded not guilty.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Trial

Jury selection for the trial of Demons started on April 11, 2023. The trial began on June 12, 2023. Prosecutors sought the death penalty.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]

Opening statements

Both the prosecution and defense gave opening statements on June 12, 2023.

Prosecution

Former Prosecutor Kristine Bradley gave the state's opening statement. She stated that Demons and Henry murdered their two friends, Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas and attempted to stage it as a drive-by shooting. She claimed that Demons confessed to murdering Williams and Thomas when he stated on Instagram direct messages in response to a question about their deaths, "I did that. Shh."^[16]

Defense

Defense attorney David A. Howard stated that there was no motive for Demons to murder his friends, and that the state's case is "riddled" with reasonable doubt. He went on to discuss his perspective of the murder investigation, "And, if after four years of investigation, the state comes and says, 'Hey, he killed two of his best friends.' And you're wondering why, and their answer is, 'Uh, I dunno.' That's the first indication that they're just guessing and don't know what they're talking about. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is, by itself, reasonable doubt."^[17]^[18]

Mistrial

The jury deliberated for fourteen hours over three days but were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, even after the judge gave them an Allen charge, a direction which urged them to try to come to unanimous conclusion. Melly remained in custody awaiting retrial in October.^[19] The new trial proceedings were set to begin on October 9, 2023. Jury selection began on October 17, 2023.^[20] In early 2024, the case was placed on an indefinite pause awaiting the inclusion of a video as evidence. On July 8, 2024 Judge Martin Fein, the new judge preceding over the case scheduled September 10, 2025 for the beginning of the upcoming re-trial. Judge Fein also set a pretrial meeting for December 5, 2024 regarding Demons' tampering case.

A juror in the case stated in an interview to Local 10 that the hung jury was a vote of 9-to-3 in favor of convicting Demons on two lesser offenses of manslaughter. The juror stated that it was initially a vote of 11-to-1, but accused another juror of being explosive and manipulative to other members of the jury, going as far as to shout homophobic slurs at a juror, eventually persuading two others to come to her side.^[5] Now YNW Melly's fans are waiting for his release, but the official release date will be confirmed after final verdict that is expected in 2025.^[21]