After weeks of witness testimony and presentations from the prosecution and defense, YNW Melly’s fate is now in the hands of a jury in Broward County, Florida. If convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, the rapper could be sentenced to the death penalty.
Melly is accused of killing his friends and musical collaborators Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. in October 2018. Prosecutors argued that Melly shot and killed his friends in a car after an evening at a recording studio. (Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry was in the car with the other YNW rappers, the state alleged, and brought his friends’ corpses to a Miramar hospital, claiming they’d been shot in a drive-by shooting. Bortlen is scheduled to go on trial later this year.)
The trial, which streamed live on Law&Crime Network’s YouTube channel, made headlines initially for YNW Melly’s behavior during the proceedings, as the rapper smiled, laughed, and blew kisses in court. Importantly, the jury was not present to view Melly’s conduct, so it should have no bearing on the jurors’ deliberation and decision-making, despite the public interest. (Broward County Circuit Judge John J. Murphy III, who has overseen the trial, consistently admonished the jury not to seek out extracurricular information on the case.)
The state’s first witness of significance was Felicia Holmes, a registered nurse whose daughter was dating YNW Melly at the time of Sakchaser and Juvy’s deaths. Holmes was largely uncooperative and repeatedly said that she felt intimidated into testifying. Her testimony led the defense to motion for a mistrial, but Judge Murphy denied the motion.
After Holmes, the prosecutors shifted their attention to expert witnesses, including a Broward County firearms expert (Jorge Bello), a crime lab analyst (James Marano), and the Miramar Police Department’s crime scene unit supervisor (Michael Kelly). Though a murder weapon was never recovered, Bello testified about the shell casings found in the vehicle where Sakchaser and Juvy died. Marano and Kelly, meanwhile, spoke about the trajectory of the bullets.
The state also called to the stand Danny Polo, a Broward County detective and gang expert who wore a mask during testimony because he works undercover. The defense took exception to Polo’s appearance, and one juror needed a break because she was experiencing “anxiety” due to the mask. Polo eventually removed the mask.
Another key witness was Treveon Glass, a YNW collaborator who was with the rappers in a recording studio the night of the killings. Prosecutors showed Glass security footage from outside the studio that showed him getting into a vehicle adjacent to the one that the four YNW rappers entered. The defense considered Glass’ testimony to be controversial because he admitted that he had been following the case online—a violation of instructions given to witnesses.
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