![\"Jamell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tfl-l-ynw-melly-trial-verdict-watch-03.jpg\" "\\"Jamell")
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Jamell Demons, better known as rapper YNW Melly, waits for a question from jurors as they deliberate at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, July 22, 2023. Demons is accused of killing two fellow rappers and conspiring to make it look like a drive-by shooting in October 2018.<\/p>\n
Mike Stocker<\/p>\n
South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n
READ MORE<\/p>\n
The double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly<\/p>\n
\n The double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, has had many twists and turns since the South Florida artist was accused of killing his childhood best friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in 2019.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
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A Broward judge rejected rapper YNW Melly\u2019s latest bid to get out of jail as he awaits his double-murder retrial.<\/p>\n
Broward Circuit Court Judge Martin Fein\u2019s ruling came almost a week after Melly\u2019s latest Arthur hearing, which allows courts to consider setting bonds for defendants charged with crimes that aren\u2019t usually eligible for bail. Melly\u2019s attorneys argued that the rapper should be released because of his detention conditions, which include being kept in a unit by himself.<\/p>\n
In an Arthur hearing, prosecutors have to establish that \u201cproof is evident and the presumption great\u201d that the accused person is guilty. This is a high burden \u2014 often considered even greater than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201c[T]his court continues to find that the State\u2019s evidence is arguably sufficient to convict and is not contradicted in a material respect such that there is a substantial question of fact as to the guilt or innocence of the Defendant,\u201d Fein said in the order, which was filed on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
Melly, 27, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of gunning down his childhood friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in a drive-by cover-up after spending the night of Oct. 26, 2018, at a Fort Lauderdale recording studio. Williams and Thomas, both aspiring rappers with the YNW collective, were known as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.<\/p>\n
He has been locked up in Broward since 2019. His trial is set for 2027. If convicted, Melly faces the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Judge Martin Fein confers with attorneys in the case of Cortlen Henry, a rapper known as YNW Bortlen, in a Broward County courtroom in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. Henry pleaded no contest to accessory to murder in the shooting deaths of rappers Anthony \u2018YNW Sakchaser\u2019 Williams and Christopher \u2018YNW Juvy\u2019 Thomas Jr. Prosecutors say Henry was the driver when YNW Melly opened fire, then helped stage the scene to look like a drive-by. Mike Stocker South Florida Sun Sentinel <\/p>\n
If Melly were granted a bond, attorney Drew Findling recommended that he be placed on house arrest \u2014 and tracked 24\/7 through GPS monitoring. Melly\u2019s team had a home equipped with a recording studio ready for the rapper to stay in, with private security guarding him.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: YNW Melly, awaiting murder trial, is asking to be released from jail \u2014 again<\/a><\/p>\n Urging the judge to release Melly, Findling called several witnesses, including Melly\u2019s grandmother, a representative from his management company and a mental-health expert. The attorney pointed to the conditions in which he is being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach.<\/p>\n Major Kevin Corbett, who works for the BSO\u2019s detention department, testified that the rapper is kept in a 30-cell unit by himself and an emergency-response team \u2014 dressed in tactical attire \u2014 supervises him 24 hours a day. He is not allowed to interact with other inmates or have phone calls or visits with his family, the attorney said.<\/p>\n Last year, Melly sued the Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office in federal court<\/a>, seeking to be released due to the \u201cdebilitating isolation.\u201d That case was dismissed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen the conditions that were described here,\u201d Findling said this week. \u201cThis is the single worst thing I have ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n The Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office previously told the Miami Herald that Melly is on administrative segregation, which is for inmates who pose a \u201cserious threat to the safety of staff or inmates, or life and property.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe only reason the defendant is not in general population, in a regular dorm, in a regular pod, is because of his own actions,\u201d prosecutor Alixandra Buckelew said during the hearing.<\/p>\n Melly was accused of tampering with a witness \u2014 his ex-girlfriend Mariah Hamilton \u2014 to keep her from testifying in the double-murder case. Prosecutors dropped that charge against the rapper in January.<\/p>\n Isolation is \u2018damaging\u2019: expert<\/p>\n Dr. Matthew Norman, a forensic psychologist called to the stand, compared Melly\u2019s jail conditions to the film \u201cCast Away,\u201d in which Tom Hanks played a man who was stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash.<\/p>\n The restrictive conditions, Norman said, could be damaging. Norman said he recommended Melly be released, even for the eight months until his trial, because just 15 days of isolation can take a toll on a person.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like someone becomes accustomed to the isolation,\u201d Norman said. \u201cThey may accept it …, but that doesn\u2019t mean the damage does not continue.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"Jamell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tfl-l-ynw-melly-court-1-101323.JPG\" "\\"tfl-l-ynw-melly-court-1-101323.JPG\\"")
Jamell Demons, better known as rapper YNW Melly, speaks with one of his attorneys during a hearing before his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Demons is accused of killing two fellow rappers and conspiring to make it look like a drive-by shooting in October 2018. Amy Beth Bennett South Florida Sun Sentinel <\/p>\n
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