The trial of Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons continued Tuesday, with Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy denying a defense request to stop the proceedings and, potentially, set their client free.
Defense lawyer Jason Roger Williams made the request last week after prosecutors called an uncooperative witness, Felicia Holmes, who could not remember earlier statements she had made to investigators and should not have been relied on to authenticate Demons’ alleged social media posts, according to the defense.
Demons’ trial was on hold Tuesday morning to accommodate a juror’s illness.
Murphy said he was denying the motion for a mistrial and that jurors can be instructed to ignore statements that were ruled inadmissible. Williams asked the judge to remove documents that were introduced as evidence during Holmes’ testimony, a request Murphy promised to consider after the defense puts it in writing and gives prosecutors a chance to respond.
The Demons’ trial has been moving slowly and steadily since testimony started last week. According to prosecutors, physical evidence points to two victims, Christopher Thomas and Anthony Williams, being shot from inside a Jeep driven by Cortland Henry.
The four young men were all rappers who had left a late-night recording session in Fort Lauderdale early on Oct. 26, 2018. Prosecutors say Demons was sitting behind Henry and that he shot and killed Williams and Thomas as a gang action, a notion the defense says lacks credibility because Demons and the victims were, at least at one point, close friends.
Prosecutors say Demons and Henry drove from the shooting location in Miramar to an area bordering the Everglades, on Pembroke Road near US 27, where they shot at the back and passenger sides of Henry’s Jeep from the outside to make it look like Williams and Thomas were the victims of a drive-by shooting.
The gun used in the shooting was never found. Jurors have yet to hear medical testimony that could presumably be used to establish that the fatal shots did not come from outside the vehicle. Prosecutor Kristine Bradley told jurors that the victims were already dead when the drive-by was staged.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at or 954-356-4457.
