Mistrial declared in rapper’s Florida case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A deadlocked jury prompted a mistrial Saturday in the Florida trial of rapper YNW Melly on charges that he murdered two of his friends five years ago.

The 12-member panel could not reach a unanimous verdict after three days of deliberations. Broward County prosecutors, who had been seeking the death penalty, may retry the case with a new jury.

Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy twice asked the jurors to keep deliberating after they said they were deadlocked, but relented after they came back a third time.

Prosecutors say YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, shot Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. in a Jeep. Williams and Thomas were both part of the YNW collective, known respectively as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.

Prosecutors said the shooting was part of a gang action, while defense attorneys said that claim lacks credibility because Demons and the victims were friends.

Prosecutors say Demons, Williams and Thomas were riding in a Jeep driven by Cortland Henry, known as YNW Bortlen, after a recording session in Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 26, 2018. They say Demons fatally shot Williams and Thomas. Henry is charged as an accomplice and will be tried separately.

Prosecutors say Demons and Henry drove the bodies to an area near the Everglades, where they shot at the back and passenger sides of Henry’s Jeep from the outside to make it look like a drive-by shooting. But prosecutors say ballistics tests show the pair were shot from inside.

Defense lawyers focused on the fact that the gun was never recovered. They also told jurors the defendant had no apparent motive.

(AP/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Mike Stocker) Jamell Demons, also known as rapper YNW Melly, enters the courtroom for a question from the jury as they deliberate on Saturday at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.