Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the double murder trial of YNW Melly made their final points to the jury Thursday. Now, it’s time for the jurors to decide the fate of the Florida rapper.
Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of shooting to death his childhood friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in an alleged drive-by cover-up after spending the night 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.
The 24-year-old’s case is among the first being considered after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law to lower the threshold for a death sentence to an 8-4 jury vote, from a unanimous vote.
Prosecutor Kristine Bradley flashed a slideshow on the screen, each slide with a puzzle piece on the top left corner. She turned to the jury and mentioned how the drive-by was staged.
”The question is why?” she said. “Why does there need to be a cover up? Because there were two murders committed.”
Bradley delved into the reconstruction of the shooting and how it revealed that the bullet trajectory holes on the Jeep Compass couldn’t have come from a drive-by. She then displayed a photo of the inside of the Jeep glowing where blood was found. The back lit up everywhere but the left rear seat, where Melly was caught on tape sitting earlier that night.
”What does that tell you?” Bradley said. “The killer was sitting there.”
The state, Bradley said, established that someone was sitting in the left rear seat — and that’s who killed Thomas and Williams.
The prosecutor then played a video of Melly at the Fort Lauderdale recording studio and pointed out the phone in his hand. Bradley presented a reel of photos from the phone to further prove that it was Melly’s.
For Bradley, maps of the phone’s pings indicate that Melly was in the gray Jeep — not the red Mitsubishi — that was caught on several cameras that night.
Bradley sped through other evidence the state introduced throughout the trial: The rear left door handle had DNA that matched Melly. The rapper was affiliated with the G-Shine Bloods set. The murders, Bradley argued, benefited Melly and, by extension, the gang.
But the prosecutor later dug back into messages sent from Melly’s social media accounts. One on which she narrowed in was from Melly to his ex-girlfriend during an argument about codefendant Cortlen Henry: “I keep Bortlen wit kuz at da end of the day he did one of a realist sh*t in my life.”
“Yeah, he covered up a murder,” Bradley said. “He did a very terrible job of it, but that’s what he did. That’s what this is referring to.”
She also mentioned the alleged confession Melly sent a man known as Peezy Gambino, who Bradley says is a member of the Bloods gang. On Oct. 26, 2018, Peezy Gambino asked if Melly was OK.
“I did that,” Melly responded on Instagram. “Shhhh”
Though the state doesn’t have to prove motive, Bradley provided the first inkling of a motive during closing arguments Thursday. Text messages, she said, show that Williams and Thomas frequently asked Melly for money.
“Look at the stress being placed on this defendant, as the only one bringing the money, as the only person who is paying the bills.”
Several exchanges also shed light into tension between Melly, a successful rapper, and his friends, who were aspiring musicians, Bradley alleged.
“Anthony Williams had not had that level of success. Christopher Thomas didn’t have that level of success,” she said. “They don’t have that opportunity because the defendant killed them.”
As Bradley wrapped up, the puzzle pieces on the left corner of the slides intertwined. They pieced together a collage including snapshots of Melly, the bodies of Williams and Thomas and other key evidence in the case.
”We have all these pieces of the puzzle that we have just talked about. And each and every one shows how this case has been brought together,” Bradley said.
“The overall picture puts Mr. Demons in the back seat of that Jeep. It puts him holding a gun. We don’t need a murder weapon to know that he committed these two crimes.”
Challenging the narrative
Defense attorney Stuart Adelstein strolled over to the lectern, his eyes piercing the jurors just feet away from him. He summarized the state’s case, dissecting evidence and poking holes at the witnesses that the state called.
For Adelstein, the defense has plenty of reasonable doubt: From evidence presented, from conflicting evidence and from a lack of evidence.
“All this evidence is open for interpretation,” Adelstein said. “That’s not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
At the request of prosecutors, Sgt. Christopher Williams, who works for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, was brought into the investigation three years after Melly was arrested, Adelstein said. Williams found two projectiles and a blood stain inside the Jeep — and completed a projectile analysis to put Melly in the seat.
“That should tell you something about the quality of this investigation,” he said. “That should give you a clue about what’s going on in this case.”
Adelstein, frequently reminding the jurors that the defense doesn’t have to bring forth any evidence, also questioned why Bradley asked investigators to complete another DNA test just weeks before the trial.
“They realized there’s problems in their case,” he said. “Why else would you do it?”
That’s also why in 2022, the state brought BSO Detective Danny Polo, a gang expert who made headlines for testifying with a mask, Adelstein argued. Polo linked Melly to the G-Shine Blood set, which he called “one of the more violent Blood sets.”
“In the rap culture, whether you want to accept it or not, gangs are attractive.”
Adelstein challenged the integrity of the investigation, indicating that Miramar Police Detective Mark Moretti never analyzed the broken phone found in the Jeep nor did he get a search warrant for codefendant Henry’s home despite lying to police and having gunshot residue on his hands and blood on his clothes.
“Why in the heck don’t you get a search warrant for the house?” Adelstein said. “Don’t tell us it was months later because they go into the car four years later...”
Investigators, Adelstein continued, searched the home of Melly’s manager Track, whose real name is Jameson Francois, and found a key that led to a storage with guns. But detectives never tested them.
“God forbid one of those could be the murder weapon,” he said. “Then, the investigation of this rap star is down the tubes.”
Moretti, Adelstein claimed, also intimidated and threatened witnesses in the case, including Francois and Felicia Holmes, the mother of Melly’s ex-girlfriend. On the stand this week, the detective confirmed to Adelstein that he told Francois he would be deported and sent to a crowded Haitian jail.
“Everything was directed to get this kid,” Adelstein said while pointing at Melly. “That’s why he ignored everything. That’s why he intimidated and threatened anybody who said something different.”
He pointed to the testimony of Adrian Davis, the defense’s only witness. Davis, a lifelong friend of Melly and the victims, testified that the rapper was at the home they shared on the night of the murders and noticed his phone was missing.
Adelstein, as he closed, questioned if the investigation is enough to determine the young man’s fate.
“This is the great investigation?” Adelstein exclaimed. “This is what they want you to use in order to render a verdict that could tell him that he’s going to live life in the state penitentiary without parole or be on death row?”
The jury, which is sequestered at a nearby hotel, will deliberate through the weekend.
