A new motion by the prosecution in the YNW Melly double murder trial wants the names of members of the jury kept anonymous after the rapper’s co-defendant reportedly kept logs with the names and descriptions of the last jury.
YNW Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is currently awaiting his second trial for first-degree murder of his friends Christopher ‘YNW Juvy’ Thomas Jr. and Anthony ‘YNW Sakchaser’ Williams. The rapper’s first trial ended with a hung jury, with 9-3 voting guilty due to a deadlock.
The trial date was pushed from October 9 to an indefinite date as several developments in the case have occurred, which include allegations by Melly’s defense that the prosecution has committed prosecutorial misconduct.
YNW Melly and YNW Bortlen were also slapped last week with witness tampering charges in a twist no one expected. However, more details about Bortlen’s charge have been revealed in a new motion filed by prosecutor Kristine Bradley, which alleges that Bortlen had a notebook he kept with the names and descriptions of jury members, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The motion asked that Judge John Murphy II conceal the names of the jurors in the upcoming trial to protect them from intimidation or influence by the defendant, Melly, and persons associated with him.
“There is evidence that suggests potential or seated jurors in the upcoming jury trial will be subjected to improper outside influences or harassment,” the motion read.
In the meantime, a date for jury selection in the new trial is yet to be set. A pre-trial hearing set for October 10 was also pushed back for Judge Murphy II to hear the defense motions, which outline complaints about Brady violations and a serious allegation that prosecutors and the state attorney’s office were aware that detective Mark Moretti volunteered to fabricate evidence and also coerced another officer to agree to lie to perfect a defective search and seizure of Melly’s mother Jamie King’s phone.
In the meantime, YNW Melly and YNW Bortlen, along with several other persons, including Melly’s mother, rapper Fredo Bang, and Melly’s manager, are being sued by Christopher Thomas’s mother over a wrongful death lawsuit. The bunch were set to attend a Zoom hearing for the civil trial on Thursday morning.
Fredo Bang court hearing
Fredo Bang has not been named a witness in the ongoing murder case. However, during the first trial, the rapper was named in the text messages and chat evidence taken from Melly’s phone in which prosecutors claimed that he was picked up by Fredo Bang from the murder scene after killing his friends. There is also a text in which Melly asks his mother, Jamie King, and Fredo Bang separately to procure a gun for him days before the murders took place in 2018.
