Young Dolph’s accused murderer has been issued a warning by the judge presiding over the case to refrain from engaging with the media while the trial is still underway.
One of the prime suspects in the case, Hernandez Govan, was arrested for the crime in 2022 and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Soon after, he was granted bond for $90,000 and put on house arrest so he could find work to take care of his family.
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On Friday (February 16), Shelby County Judge J. Jennifer Mitchell criticized the defendant for talking to a journalist.
“[I] shouldn’t have to remind you that you’re out on a bond,” she began. “At this point, the court feels like you’re playing, and playing fast and loose with the court and these stipulations, and I don’t like that.
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“You have filed a motion through your attorney, asking me to review your bond conditions. And before we could ever do that, I get a message from a concerned citizen that you’re out doing interviews.
“Whether you’re talking about this case or not, you’re doing interviews. The court doesn’t like the fact that you feel free enough to do interviews, because what could be happening is that you could be in jail, and it’s a whole lot easier to supervise you there. But you’ve been given the opportunity to post a bond with bond conditions, and you’re not doing those things you need to do.”
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She added: “We’re going to review those bond conditions on March 1, but let me make myself extremely clear to you that you are to not have any interviews with anybody for any reason.”
The DA told reporters that Govan did not talk about the case during his 28-minute interview, which was posted on YouTube.
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“It wasn’t the smartest thing to talk from house arrest, you know, in a YouTube video, but it wasn’t anything about the case and in fact he would say no comment any time someone asked him about the case,” Paul Hagerman explained to Memphis’ FOX13.
“They talked about rap music, various rappers, and they talked some about Mr. Govan’s daughter that is deceased now. He was asked two or three times about the case that he did not answer.”
Earlier this week, one of the other people allegedly involved in the killing was granted his request to pool jurors from areas outside Memphis, Tennessee.
In mid-February, Mitchell decided in favor of the motion filed by Justin Johnson due to the intense media coverage surrounding the murder in the rapper’s hometown. A jury will now be brought to the city from outside Shelby County for the trial, which is scheduled to commence on June 3.
In his original filing earlier this month, the accused’s lawyer Luke Evans argued that “the victim in the case is beloved here,” while claiming that Dolph’s fans have allegedly threatened Johnson and his co-defendant, Cornelius Smith, with “lynching” and being killed in prison.
The attorney feels that these calls for violence are rooted in “seeking vengeance, not justice.”
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Hagerman suggested sending questionnaires to a potential jury pool of about 150 to 200 people to “gauge the effect of news coverage and social media commentary,” but Judge Mitchell turned down the proposal as it could delay the trial, especially since it was already pushed back from its previously scheduled start date of March 11.
Young Dolph was shot and killed in Memphis back in November 2021. He was only 36 at the time of his passing.
