The YNW Melly trial has ended in a mistrial — but his alleged co-conspirator, YNW Bortlen, is still facing a trial of his own for the double murder of YNW Juvy (Christopher Thomas Jr.) and YNW Sakchaser (Anthony Williams).
Just a few hours after the mistrial was declared on Saturday (July 22), Bortlen (real name Cortland Henry) sent out a cryptic tweet that seemed to address his upcoming trial.
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“Mind games dont work on people like me [handshake emoji],” he wrote.
Check out his tweet below.
In a three-minute pre-trial hearing before Broward County Judge John Murphy on June 30, it was revealed that Bortlen will face a jury of his peers on October 2. A status conference between the prosecution (who will be representing the state of Florida) and the defense will be had sometime in September.
Additionally, Fred Haddad — the attorney for YNW Bortlen — requested that Judge Murphy grant his client’s request to work in the studio and record some music while awaiting trial.
However, prosecutor Kristine Bradley opposed the motion, pointing out that working in the studio until the wee hours of the morning violated YNW Bortlen’s terms of house arrest, and she further argued that there was no need to grant him special privileges since he’d violated the terms of his bond agreement prior to this request.
Judge Bradley agreed with Bradley’s argument and denied Haddad’s request.
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Back in January, audio surfaced of YNW Bortlen speaking to detectives about the deadly October 2018 night.
Bortlen vaguely recounted the 2018 night that ended with YNW Sakchaser (Anthony Williams) and YNW Juvy (Christopher Thomas Jr.) being killed and recalled being the driver of the vehicle while the shots rang off.
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“I’m trying to make sure I don’t get hit,” he said. “And you’re telling me about this — I don’t know, you know what I’m saying? I’m driving, shit crazy, bro.”
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Williams and Thomas Jr. suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were driven to Memorial Hospital Miramar at 4:35 a.m. where they passed away. The hospital is located about 20 miles outside of Fort Lauderdale.
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As for YNW Melly, his mistrial was declared as of 2:12 p.m. ET on Saturday (June 22).
The jury deliberated until 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday (June 21) before breaking for the evening. They resumed deliberations on Saturday (June 22) at 8:52 a.m. ET.
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Despite this constant deliberation, however, the jury could not reach a majority verdict.
A retrial of the case is likely, and YNW Melly’s lawyers are scheduled to meet with Florida prosecutors by the end of the month.
