Police booking photo of Jamell Demons a.k.a. YNW Melly. February 13, 2019.
Broward's Sheriff's Office via Getty Images
YNW Melly will once again go on trial charged with two counts of murder, NBC6 reports. Melly, real name Jamell Demons, saw his initial trial collapse last week after a jury was unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict. NBC6 states that the Broward County State Attorney’s office confirmed the plans to them with a status hearing set for July 28. A date for the retrial remains to be determined.
Melly was charged in the October 2018 shooting deaths of his childhood friends Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. The rapper was arrested in February 2019 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
The first trial began on June 12 this year. Over the next several weeks, prosecutors attempted to prove that Melly had murdered Williams and Thomas Jr. in a car and staged the scene to make it look like a drive-by shooting. The state also had access to Melly's phone and text records, which included a message that read “I did that” sent after the shooting.
The defense alleges Melly was asleep at home at the time of the killings and that a co-defendant named Cortlen Henry is responsible.
