Broward prosecutors dropped witness tampering charges against Jamell YNW Melly Demons, the former rapper accused of the 2018 murders of two childhood friends and fellow artists after a late-night recording session in Fort Lauderdale.
Assistant State Attorney Alixandra Buckelew made the announcement in court Tuesday morning during a status conference. Jury selection in the case was scheduled to begin this week.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office is expected to release a memorandum outlining its rationale for dropping the tampering case. Melly was accused of using jailhouse go-betweens to pressure his ex-girlfriend against cooperating with detectives and investigators in the lead-up to his first murder trial in 2023, which ended in a hung jury.
Demons, 26, still faces the possibility of a death sentence if he is convicted on the murder charges. That trial is scheduled to begin next year.
Demons, a rising star in the rap world at the time, is accused of suddenly shooting his friends, Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr. and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams, inside a Jeep after an overnight recording session in Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 26, 2018.
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