The ex-girlfriend of a younger Florida rapper about to go into his second trial for the murders of his greatest buddies tells Legislation&Crime the prosecutor and police concerned within the investigation have harassed her incessantly, satisfied she is aware of greater than she’s saying.
Jamell Demons, identified by his stage identify YNW Melly, is about to face his subsequent trial in Broward County, Florida, after his first ended with a hung jury in July. Choose John Murphy declared a mistrial on July 22. Regardless of 14 hours of deliberation, the jurors stated they couldn’t come to a unanimous verdict within the double homicide case.
YNW Melly’s retrial is scheduled for October.
Prosecutors accuse YNW Melly and his greatest good friend, Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry, of killing Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. in October 2018. That’s when Henry confirmed up at a Miami hospital, claiming the SUV he was driving had been focused in a drive-by capturing. The automobile itself was riddled with bullet holes, with Williams and Thomas slumped over lifeless inside. Each had been shot a number of occasions, together with within the head.
Police searched the realm the place Henry stated the drive-by occurred, however couldn’t discover any proof of a capturing. When investigators retrieved surveillance video, they noticed YNW Melly, Henry, Williams, and Thomas all leaving a recording studio collectively. The 4 buddies all will be seen stepping into the identical SUV. Melly wasn’t within the automobile when it arrived on the hospital, however prosecutors allege he was the triggerman.
Police charged YNW Melly and Cortlen Henry with two counts of homicide every. Henry was granted bail with sure situations and faces a punishment of life in jail if convicted. Melly has been locked up since his arrest in 2019 and will get the dying penalty. Each males have pleaded not responsible.
YWN Melly prays earlier than closing arguments. (Legislation&Crime Community)
Throughout YNW Melly’s first trial, one of the vital contentious moments in courtroom got here early on, when the prosecution known as Felicia Holmes to the stand. Holmes is the mom of YNW Melly’s ex-girlfriend, Mariah Hamilton. Hamilton was 17 on the time of the capturing.
Prosecutors alleged that Hamilton was on the cellphone with Melly after the capturing and will have details about the evening in query. They believed her mom, Felicia Holmes, was close by in the course of the cellphone name, based mostly on an announcement Holmes gave to police in 2018.
Nevertheless, in a sworn deposition given in December 2022, Holmes gave some completely different particulars about that evening. She stated she doesn’t clearly bear in mind what she advised police in 2018.
When questioned, Holmes was confrontational with lead prosecutor Kristine Bradley. Holmes claimed she felt threatened by each the prosecutor’s workplace and the police division. Bradley tried a number of occasions to get Holmes to testify about her 2018 assertion to police, regardless of the courtroom ruling that the assertion wouldn’t be allowed in. Holmes stated time and again she didn’t bear in mind. The state even made the overture that the protection could also be paying the witness to lie, which prompted robust objections from the protection desk.
YNW Melly’s attorneys requested a mistrial, saying the jury had been closely prejudiced by not solely the prosecutor inappropriately giving direct testimony, but additionally the a number of sidebars and recesses taken in the course of the back-and-forth. That movement was finally denied.
YNW Melly laughs out loud throughout a break whereas on trial for the murders of his greatest buddies. (Legislation&Crime Community)
Hamilton and Holmes agreed to take a seat down for an interview with Legislation&Crime’s Sidebar podcast, alongside her lawyer Christopher Beres. This was the primary time Hamilton spoke to the media in regards to the case or trial.
“I’m at present wished,” Hamilton advised Sidebar’s Jesse Weber. “I’ve tried to get the warrant lifted loads of occasions however it’s simply been a relentless battle with my lawyer and the prosecutor. So I’ve simply been laying low making an attempt to get the warrant lifted earlier than I may even are available and converse my half.”
She went on to say, “I simply need folks to know that I’m not operating due to any cash or something like that. It’s as a result of I don’t need to go to jail for one thing that I didn’t do or one thing that I’m not part of. I simply really feel like they’re me fallacious and what they’re displaying shouldn’t be true.”
Hamilton stated the police first approached her due to her connection to YNW Melly.
“As a result of I used to be his girlfriend on the time, in order that they thought I knew greater than what I telling them. Which I didn’t. So that they had been simply harassing me. When the state of affairs first occurred, I used to be threatened. I used to be 17, about to show 18. They got here to my home, telling me they had been going to arrest me on accent after the actual fact. My mother didn’t know what to do.”
YNW Melly smiles in courtroom whereas chatting along with his attorneys throughout his double homicide trial. (Legislation&Crime Community)
“I used to be younger and I didn’t have a legal file, I didn’t have a background. I used to be making an attempt to enter the navy on the time. So I needed to inform them what they wished to listen to so they may go away me alone. I believed they would depart me alone, however they didn’t,” Hamilton says.
The younger girl filed a criticism towards the lead investigator within the case, Miramar Police Detective Mark Moretti.
“When he first got here to my home, it was so unexpectedly,” Hamilton defined to Weber. “I had pulled up with my cousin they usually had been outdoors my home. I used to be so confused; I requested my mother what was happening. She stated they need to speak to you, you must speak to them. They’re threatening that you simply’re going to go to jail, so I used to be like ‘Oh my gosh.’ I advised them my story, I advised them what I knew.”
“He advised me that I used to be mendacity. He advised me I knew greater than I used to be telling and that he may arrest me for accent after the actual fact. So he wished me to get on a tape recording and inform him what he wished me to inform him, which I did. And after that, he stated they wouldn’t hassle me anymore. [But] they had been nonetheless calling and texting my mother asking for me. I refused to speak so many occasions. And I haven’t talked to them since 2019.”
Hamilton claims she and her lawyer have provided to return in and converse with police and the courtroom, however says she was repeatedly threatened with jail time if she “didn’t inform them what they wished to listen to.”
Later within the interview, Hamilton’s mom joined the decision. She defined why she was so upset with the prosecution.
“We had been pressured to inform a narrative,” Holmes continued. “Are you going to take my 17-year-old daughter to jail? I don’t need my daughter to go to jail for anyone. Get your case collectively and cease making the witnesses pay to your errors.”
Have a tip we should always know? [email protected]
