{"id":384089,"date":"2026-07-23T17:52:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/384089\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T17:52:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:52:26","slug":"yella-beezys-dallas-murder-case-again-raises-the-question-can-rap-lyrics-be-used-as-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/384089\/","title":{"rendered":"Yella Beezy\u2019s Dallas murder case again raises the question: Can rap lyrics be used as evidence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for Dallas rapper Yella Beezy<\/a> in his murder-for-hire trial are asking the judge to deny prosecutors\u2019 request to use lyrics from his songs as evidence.<\/p>\n

The use of rap lyrics<\/a> in criminal prosecutions has become a controversial topic, as First Amendment advocates argue they aren’t meant to be taken literally and are a legitimate expression of free speech.<\/p>\n

Yella Beezy, whose real name is Markies Conway, is accused of paying a man to kill rapper MO3, who was gunned down on Interstate-35 in Dallas in 2020.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged in a filing this month Conway uses social media and music to promote his gang affiliation. They submitted a timeline of social media posts and songs they would use during the trial, including seven songs that feature Conway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn none of Conway’s music is there any indication that he’s documenting the murder of MO3,\u201d Conway\u2019s lawyers wrote in a filing Monday.<\/p>\n

Conway\u2019s lawyers also argued the lyrics can\u2019t be used because they may have been written by multiple people.<\/p>\n

Jack Lerner \u2014 a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine \u2014 told KERA’s NTX Now that rap music has been targeted in the courtroom for over 30 years. <\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of violence in American culture and American art,” Lerner told hosts miranda Suarez and Ron Corning. “But the only art form that is consistently brought into the courtroom is rap music.”<\/p>\n

He said that’s partially because the Black community is over policed and subject to the criminal justice system at a higher rate. But it’s also a form of delegitimizing the artform, he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s a perception out there that somehow rap music isn’t art,” Lerner said. “And that somehow rap music is just a diary or a window into a person’s inner soul.”<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s highest criminal court in 2024 overturned the capital murder conviction<\/a> of a Greenville man after judges ruled prosecutors improperly used rap videos he posted on social media to impeach his testimony.<\/p>\n

That case, Hart v. State, was cited by Conway\u2019s lawyers as a reason for throwing out the lyrics.<\/p>\n

But that defense hasn\u2019t always worked. Dallas death row inmate James Broadnax<\/a> was executed this year even after prosecutors used lyrics from his songs in the case.<\/p>\n

Rapper Travis Scott in March asked the U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> to pause Broadnax\u2019s execution, arguing rap lyrics are not necessarily realistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudges and jurors unfamiliar with the genre may not know to separate a rapper\u2019s actual life from the pop culture image he or she seeks to project as an artist,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Conway\u2019s trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 24.<\/p>\n

Dylan Duke is KERA’s breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan at\u00a0dduke@kera.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider\u00a0making a tax-deductible gift today<\/a>. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers for Dallas rapper Yella Beezy in his murder-for-hire trial are asking the judge to deny prosecutors\u2019 request…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-384089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}