YNW Melly, and the prosecutors charging him, will begin to select a jury in seven weeks, whether they’re ready or not.
Judge John J. Murphy, III has 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,” according to a document filed last week.
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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 Friday (January 12).
More pre-trial hearings are scheduled for next Thursday and Friday (January 18 and 19) in an attempt to settle any remaining issues before the trial begins.
The March 5 date marks the beginning of jury selection.
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YNW Melly is accused of conspiring with co-defendant YNW Bortlen (real name Cortlen Henry) 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.
In addition to the murder charges, Melly faces a case of witness tampering.
An affidavit obtained by XXL in October of last year confirmed that Melly (born Jamell Demons) was hit with the additional charge.
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His alleged accomplice in the case, YNW Bortlen, has also been charged with witness tampering.
The duo are accused of using an inmate named Terrence Mathis to communicate on the phone with Melly’s ex-girlfriend, Mariah Hamilton, and her mom, Felicia Holmes, to convince them not to testify in the murder case.
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The affidavit revealed that Bortlen and Mathis had 60 different phone calls between March and August 2023, in which they used various coded language to hide their intentions.
