YNW Melly’s lawyers are challenging evidence as retrial looms. Here’s what — and why

After YNW Melly’s first double murder trial ended with a hung jury, both the state and the defense have gone back to the drawing board to prepare for a new trial in October.

Through the week, the rapper’s defense team has filed a slew of documents arguing that key evidence in the case should be thrown out, offering insight into how prosecutors and defense attorneys plan to approach the second trial.

READ MORE: YNW Melly’s lawyers urge judge to throw out rapper’s double murder case. Here’s why

Broward Circuit Court Judge John Murphy will decide on the requests likely before jury selection begins on Oct. 9.

Attorney Stuart Adelstein previously warned Murphy about the deluge in filings at a hearing, during which Murphy quipped that he thought the retrial would be simpler.

“It’s going to be more complicated, I will advise the court,” Adelstein said at the time. “We’ve taken somewhat of a new approach to certain issues.”

Texts and social media messages

The bulk of the filings challenged evidence extracted from Melly’s cellphone, email addresses and social media accounts. The rapper’s attorneys questioned the validity of the search warrants that police obtained to round up the evidence.

Throughout the first trial, prosecutor Kristine Bradley introduced thousands of photos, videos and messages that Melly allegedly sent and received on a cellphone number tied to him as well as his Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts.

Some of the messages displayed during the trial were mundane, everyday exchanges, like many supposedly between Melly and his mother, Jamie King, in which King scolded the rapper for missing a show and reassured him that she loves him. Others, however, were used to allege that Melly was affiliated with the violent G-Shine Bloods set.

For the prosecution, however, one message was a confession. On Oct. 26, 2018, a man known as Peezy Gambino asked if Melly was OK via Instagram DMs.

“I did that,” Melly responded. “Shhhh”

A documentary about the rapper

The defense also urged Murphy to ban prosecutors from playing snippets of a documentary about Melly’s rise to fame. Bradley showed clips of the video in the first trial while questioning Miramar Police Detective Mark Moretti on the stand.

In the 21-minute film posted to YouTube in December 2018, Melly shares his background story growing up in Gifford, a small community on Florida’s Treasure Coast. He’s sitting around and smoking with friends, including victims Christopher Thomas and Anthony Williams, as they reminisce about their past admiration for Chris Brown.

The documentary, however, also touched on Melly’s interest in guns and the cutthroat nature of the industry. One of Thomas’ messages echoed an ominous sentiment:

“Make you not know who to trust, you know what I’m saying?”

The video ends with Thomas’ voice as Melly faces the splashing ocean. Then, white text appears on the screen: “Four days after the completion of this film, YNW Melly and his friends were targets of a drive-by shooting in Miami, Florida,” a statement that prosecutors argue link the rapper to the scene.

The defense claims that the reason the documentary shouldn’t be admitted is because the statement at the end of the video amounts to hearsay.

“Unless the person was there at the time of the shooting, it would be based on hearsay,” the filing says. “Further, the statement says the event took place in Miami, not Miramar. [If] ... brought in for the truth that the Defendant was at the scene of the shooting, then it is only relevant to a shooting that occurred in Miami.”

A possible motive?

Melly’s attorneys also urged Murphy to bar the prosecution from mentioning disputes between Melly and Williams over money and the YNW collective. The state, they argue, should provide a signed contract, correspondence or a verbal acknowledgment by Melly to be able to make this argument in front of jurors.

In closing arguments during the first trial, Bradley provided the first inkling of a motive for the murders by pointing to text messages showing that Williams and Thomas frequently asked Melly for money.

“Look at the stress being placed on this defendant, as the only one bringing the money, as the only person who is paying the bills.”

The victims’ families have theorized that money was at the center of the murders. This theory was also outlined by the Williamses’ and Thomases’ lawyers in two ongoing lawsuits.

“The State has no motive as to why Mr. Demons would kill two of his best friends,” the defense says in the filing. “In fact, in opening statement in the last trial, the State contended that there was no motive and that they did not have to show one.”