YNW Melly’s Murder Charge

YNW Melly or Jamell Demons is a 21-year-old Florida rapper who rose to prominence in late 2018 with the song ‘Murder on my Mind’ and a January 2019 song ‘Mixed Personalities’ featuring Kanye West. Melly has a fairly distinctive musical style and voice taking elements from new wave melodic rap pioneers like Young Thug and Future while combining this with often bright production and bleak lyrics about trauma and violence and the role they take and have taken in his life. In October 2018, two members of his crew YNW (Young N- World or Young New Wave) were killed in a shooting and in February 2019 YNW Melly turned himself in for arrest and was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Legal History

YNW Melly has a lengthy history of legal issues. In 2015, at the age of 16, he was convicted of aggravated battery, discharging a firearm in public and two counts of aggravated assault after shooting at a group of students outside the nearby Vero Beach High School. No one was injured in the incident which came just a month after two unrelated students were charged with felonies for possessing loaded weapons at the school. Melly served a year sentence at the Juvenile Justice Center in Fort Pierce during which time he penned ‘Murder on My Mind’. Upon release the song became a regional hit and YNW Melly was sent back to jail for minor probation infringements but mentioned that much of the sentence hinged on the state attorney’s reading of the second verse of ‘Murder on My Mind’ in court. The use of rap lyrics in court is a controversial subject which many academics and legal scholars alike describe as a racist practice in a racist justice system.

The news report for the shooting outside of Vero Beach High School

In 2018, YNW Melly, YNW Bortlen (Cortlen Henry) and YNW Sakchaser (Anthony Williams) were arrested in Lee County, Florida and charged with possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, minor possession of marijuana and possession of d*** paraphernalia. In January 2019, Melly was charged with possession of Marijuana and served 25 days in jail.

Melly’s 2019 mugshot went viral after Melly shared it on Instagram following his arrest

2017 Police Shooting

In 2019 an anonymous law enforcement linked YNW Melly and YNW Bortlen to the fatal shooting of a Florida deputy and suggested that one of the rappers had fired the shot that killed the off-duty Gary Chambliss. Melly and Bortlen were purported to have been present in a group when a bottle was thrown at a passing car. The car shot at the group and the group returned fire. A stray bullet struck Chambliss killing him. It is worth noting here that Melly and Bortlen have not been officially named as suspects in the case. Additionally witnesses suggest at least 3 members of the group were returning fire and authorities have been unable to press charges on any suspects over a year following the release of the report.

Double-Homicide

Objective Facts

On October 26th 2018, 19-year-old Christopher Thomas Jr. (YNW Juvy) and 21-year-old Anthony Williams (YNW Sakchaser) were killed in the early morning. They were driven to hospital by YNW Bortlen arriving dead with multiple gunshot wounds at 4:35am. They were last seen alive at 3:20am. The next day Melly mourned the deaths on social media.

Melly’s Facebook post on October 27 2018

Prosecution Story (Police)

Police allege that YNW Melly shot and killed his two friends while YNW Bortlen attempted to stage the shooting as a drive-by. Police cell-phone records allege that Melly was present at the crime scene and cite autopsy reports and forensics tests that allege that the shooting took place within the car. They suggest bullet holes on the exterior of the car were staged to misdirect law enforcement.

Police found no evidence of shots in the location that Melly suggested the shooting took place in when interviewed in October, phone records and video suggests that Henry took a different route to the hospital than he testified, a K-9 search and cell phone records indicated no other vehicle presence at the scene and trajectory a***ysis suggested that the story contradicted the wounds. A shell-casing was found on the floorboard of the car that matched casings found at the crime scene and investigators claim that Melly and Bortlen drove around for a period of time to corroborate stories before driving to the hospital.

Police allege the following positions of the rappers within the vehicle at the time of the shooting

In April 2019, prosecuters filed intent to pursue the death penalty in the case which requires proving of several aggravating factors such as the killings being “especially heinous or cruel” and “committed in a premeditated manner without moral or legal justification”.

Defence Story

Melly plead not guilty to the charges. While its hard to piece together the defence story without a trial, its exceedingly likely that the defence will allege that the two rappers were killed in a drive-by shooting. YNW Bortlen states that they were returning from a studio session when a car pulled alongside them and opened fire. Surveillance footage confirms that they were returning from the studio but there is not publicly available evidence other than gunshots in the car to suggest a drive-by.

In March 2020, Melly's acting attorney said “If he wanted to run he would have ran when learning of the misidentification of the other individual,” his lawyers argued in court documents seeking his release. “There has been no murder weapon, no witness placing a gun in Mr. Demon’s hand, no witness placing Mr. Demons in the actual vehicle at the time of the alleged shooting. There is no DNA that would implicate Jamell, there is no indication of a motive. There is also no evidence that if Jamell was present in the vehicle, that he had anything to do with the killing of his two best friends.”

Things to be aware of

Firstly, the American justice system operates on innocent until proven guilty. While you’re entitled to an opinion on the case, be aware that a trial has not happened and there is likely a significant amount of evidence and testimony on both sides that is not public. Additionally, the burden of proof lies on the prosecution. Melly and the defence do not need to prove that he didn’t do it, rather the prosecution must prove that Melly was present and killed the two rappers beyond reasonable doubt.

Melly was denied bail. This does not indicate guilt by any means, a denial of bail can be because the defendant is a flight risk – a rapper with a significant amount of money is more able to avoid court or leave the country, the defendant’s criminal history, the nature of the charges and then also the strength of evidence. As Melly fits many of these profiles it is hard to argue that the denial of bail indicates strong evidence.

The forensic reports were shown at the bail hearing but have not obviously been used in a courtroom. In fact, evidence can be shown at bail hearings that is not admissible in court (not valid). As a result, be wary when considering the preliminary available evidence – it is not necessarily evidence that can be used to convict.

Melly’s former lawyer on the case posted on Instagram that he believed Melly would end up with a not guilty verdict based on the evidence he had reviewed. It’s difficult to comment on the validity of this – Cohen is no longer representing Melly and as such doesn’t necessarily have incentive to lie or exaggerate but we have no idea the scope of Cohen’s involvement in the case or the amount of evidence he reviewed. It is however an indication that the defense has a case.

The case has yet to get a trial date. This does not mean Melly is innocent or the prosecution has no evidence. It is however a suggestion that there is more complexity to the case be this due to the media around the case or because of circumstances or evidence.

Using the lyrics of ‘Murder on my Mind’ as a reason to claim Melly’s guilt is problematic. There is actually a real issue in the courts of using rap lyrics as evidence and this is an issue that is grounded in racial injustice. The song was released 18 months prior to the murder and the lyrics of the song tell the story of an accidental shooting not a premeditated murder. There’s a great article here about the issues of lyrics in rap specifically relating to this case - thefader.com/2019/02/20/ynw-melly-murder-on-my-mind-charis-e-kubrin-interview.

Last week YNW Bortlen was granted bond and released on house arrest while Melly will remain in jail until trial.

So to sum up – we really don’t know if Melly is guilty. There is absolutely evidence to suggest he is but there’s a very reasonable possibility of innocence based on what’s available to the public. Melly will not be released in the near future and there is no indication of a trial in the immediate future either.

if they let this nigga out

ik he might have some legit mental problems but major yikes if he ever walks free

why is this constantly on the sidebar?

is op posting and deleting a bunch?

huh?

I just have to post it in multiple parts cause theres a character cap

the thread got made 5 minutes ago lol

nice write up

free melly

inb4 @Cosmixx

so there's not even a trial start date?

Y’all think he’s mentally ill?

KTT Journalism at its best

nope

next court date for YNW Bortlen is July 2 I think not sure if Melly's has been announced

The forensic reports were shown at the bail hearing but have not obviously been used in a courtroom. In fact, evidence can be shown at bail hearings that is not admissible in court (not valid). As a result, be wary when considering the preliminary available evidence – it is not necessarily evidence that can be used to convict.

Isn’t most forensic evidence admissible in state courts? Ik there is contradicting precedent on the federal level but I am not sure how that effects judgement on this situation

if he is that doesn't appear to be the angle theyre going for

I think he may well have ptsd or something but I doubt he has multiple personalities or whatever that whole thing was

oh yea it may well be admissible but im more just saying that evidence in a trial has to be admitted and theres rules that govern what can and can't be admitted - forensic evidence might be admissible generally but theres reasons why specific pieces of forensic evidence may not be admissible

for a bail hearing there aren't these requirements so the police evidence we have now is not necessarily proven to be admissible in court

was really hoping the title in op ended w “dropped”

He didn’t do it

it is a shame hes an incredibly talented guy

wish he could at least make music in some way while hes awaiting trial

Bout to dive into this. Hope my takeaway is "Melly innocent"

Safe u got any threads about 6ix9ine case? Would be a good ass read

Innocent until proven guilty

safe a goat

gotta put "safe" in the title just in case people didnt know you made the thread right?

informative dedication

gotta build up a reputation for quality threads so that when I make threads about more obscure stuff people still read & discuss