YNW Melly‘s attorneys have filed a motion to exclude phone conversations between YNW Bortlen, who is the co-defendant in the double murder retrial, and his girlfriend Juneviah Molina.
According to court documents obtained by HipHopDX, the motion to exclude was filed on Monday (May 20) and alleged that conversations between the two parties were irrelevant to the double murder trial at hand.
AD LOADING...
What’s more, the attorneys claim that the conversations included “small talk” between Bortlen (real name Cortlen Henry) and Molina, and as such, had no probative value to the case.
The attorneys further claim that the conversations are “irrelevant, inadmissible hearsay, and lack an evidentiary basis to be used against” their client.
YNW Melly seeking to exclude phone calls involving co-defendant from double murder case pic.twitter.com/ykjUh5mj6A
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) May 23, 2024
The “Murder on My Mind” rapper (real name Jamell Demons) has been incarcerated since he was accused of murdering his two childhood friends — YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser.
According to inmate records obtained by HipHopDX, he was moved from the Broward County Jail, where he had been since turning himself in back in February of 2019, to the Paul Rein Detention Center in Pompano Beach, FL, last month.
AD LOADING...
Per the facility’s official website, the Paul Rein Detention Center is a maximum-security prison “where staff works more closely with inmates and inmate movement is kept to a minimum. […] Because of direct supervision, higher security risk inmates don’t have to leave their housing unit for visitation.
“A non-breakable window separates the housing unit from a visitation area and inmates and visitors can talk on a built-in telephone.”
AD LOADING...
Back in January, Judge John J. Murphy, III declared that the “Murder On My Mind” rapper’s retrial for the alleged double murder of his crew members YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy will begin on March 5 “or as soon thereafter as this [case] may be heard.”
The expedited start date comes because Melly “has been in custody for more than 750 days while awaiting trial,” the document makes clear. The rapper was arrested in February 2019 and has seen his retrial pushed back numerous times in recent months.
According to reporter Bryson Paul, Judge Murphy “expressed urgency in getting the retrial underway” at a court hearing on January 12.
To date, however, the trial has not yet commenced.
AD LOADING...
YNW Melly is accused of conspiring with YNW Bortlen in October 2018 to kill Juvy and Sakchaser and stage their deaths as a drive-by shooting.
If Melly is convicted, he could face the death penalty. A previous trial ended last summer with the jury unable to reach a verdict.
