An appeals court stepped in this week to delay the upcoming retrial of Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons, the Florida rapper accused of killing his two friends in an apparently unprovoked attack after a late-night recording session in 2018.
Demons was first tried in 2023, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of fellow rappers Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas. That trial ended with a hung jury, followed by plans to bring the case in front of a new jury.
But the road to retrial has been plagued with a volley of accusations of misconduct fired from both sides, with defense lawyers accusing prosecutors of plotting to hide key information and prosecutors accusing Demons (and possibly one of his lawyers) of witness tampering.
Even with some of those issues unresolved, Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein said as recently as last month that he wants jury selection to get underway in September. But the Fourth District Court of Appeal ordered a stay while it continues to review rulings made by Fein and his predecessor overseeing the case, now-retired Judge John Murphy III.
The trial date has been reset to January 2027, for now.
If Demons is convicted, the jury will have to decide whether he should be executed for the crime.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.
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