Today YNW Melly was back in court (Tuesday 0ct. 17). The Broward County rapper, YNW Melly, is accused of killing two of his childhood friends in 2018.
The former lead prosecutor is no longer allowed to be on the case and there are three new prosecutors taking over. Today's arguments mainly focused on when the retrial should begin.The defense argued that it should be starting soon and following rules about allowing for a speedy trial. On the other hand the state asked the judge to give them time to allow the new prosecutors to get familiar with the case they are now in charge of trying.
“This is an accusation that could carry the death sentence of the defendant, who hasn’t been proven guilty because they haven’t met their burden and we don’t think he’s guilty,” defense attorney Jamie Benjamin said.
Assistant State Attorney Alix Buckelew rebutteled, “We just got this case 48 hours ago and we know nothing (about it),”....“And we will still be at a disadvantage -- because Miss Bradley had this case for five years, we will still be at a disadvantage.”
Jury selection will begin Wednesday morning. His initial trial ended with a hung jury in July after they couldn’t come to a unanimous verdict.
A video shows the four YNW Collective rappers left a recording studio together in a Jeep around 3:20 am. Detectives used cell phone data in an attempt to determine the YNW Collective rappers' whereabouts. About 4:30am another video shows YNW Bortlen arrive at the hospital with the bodies of YNW Juvy and YNW Sak were in the Jeep.
Prosecutors say Melly, after a late-night recording session, shot Thomas and Williams inside an SUV and he and Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry then tried to make it look like a drive-by shooting. The 24-year-old rapper remains jailed without bond.
Photo: Getty Images
Video: Law & Crime Network