The road to YNW Melly‘s retrial for double murder has been a long and windy one, but things appear to be moving in the right direction after the rapper’s attorney reportedly got the judge to agree to address 20 motions that have been on the table for months.
YNW Melly Judge Agrees to Address Defense Motions
On Oct. 15, NBC 6 South Florida reported on an update in the slow-moving case. During a recent pretrial hearing, Melly’s attorney Raven Liberty argued that there are over a dozen motions her team has filed in preparation for retrial that have yet to be addressed.
“I made several attempts to schedule the close to, I think, 15-20 motions that are still outstanding. We could not get state to agree with any dates and your office then told us not to contact them unless the state agrees to dates,” Liberty told the judge.
The prosecution responded by saying they were having problems discerning which motion is for which case, and said they needed a list of all the motions in order to ensure a proper response.
“I don’t think there’s any motion that I have filed that date goes past May,” Liberty added. “It’s October. They’ve had time to respond.”
In response, the judge told both sides, “I’ll give you dates and then whatever motions the defense wants me to hear, just file a notice of hearing… likewise state, if you have anything you want me to hear, you can file a notice of hearing for the same date and time and say this is the motions that you want me to hear. And I’ll hear them.”
XXL has reached out to YNW Melly’s attorney for comment.
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YNW Melly Awaits Retrial
After his first trial for the 2018 murder of his friends Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams ended in a mistrial last July, the State is moving forward with retrying the South Florida rapper.
This time around, Melly, born Jamell Demons, has been additionally charged with witness tampering. His second trial was initially set to begin on Oct. 9, 2023. However, the case has been delayed over and over due to dozens of motions being filed on both sides. Melly’s latest trial date has been set for Sept. 10, 2025.