US rapper YNW Melly is currently standing trial after being arrested on two counts of first-degree murder in 2019. Investigators allegedly found evidence that proved the artist fatally shot Anthony Williams, 21, and Christopher Thomas Jr, 19 in 2018 in Fort Lauderdale Florida.
Police said that Melly, whose real name is Jamell Maurice Demons, now 24, fatally shot his friends and then staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting. At that time, the 19-year-old had begun enjoying his career, even collaborating with Kanye West on the song “Mixed Personalities”. Demons is widely known for his song “Murder on My Mind”.
So is Melly in jail now, and what is Florida’s rule on the death penalty? Here is what you need to know.
What happened to YNW Melly?
Rapper YNW Melly’s trial is set to begin on 19 June, after being arrested on two counts of first-degree murder on 13 February 2019. In the morning of 26 October 2018, a co-defendant and confidant Cortle Henry rushed into Memorial Hospital Miramar’s emergency room, telling medical staff two men were shot inside his 2018 Jeep Compass, according to court records according to the Miami Herald.
Williams was found in the front passenger seat with gunshot wounds to his head and torso and Thomas Jr., 19, was found in the right rear passenger seat with gunshot wounds to the back and head by a Miramar police officer. In recounting their whereabouts Henry said the trio had left the New Era Recording Studio in Fort Lauderdale when a car pulled up next to them on Miramar Parkway and opened fire. But police later came across a witness who said he was at the recording studio with Henry, Thomas, Williams and Melly that night.
Surveillance video saw all four men in the Jeep, and a single .40 calibre shell cashing tucked inside a white plastic bag in the left rear passenger seat – where Melly was sitting, court records reveal according to the Miami Herald. Since his arrest, Melly has been in the Broward main jail, despite efforts to get released at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Florida’s new death penalty law
On 20 April 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law which allows for the imposition of the death penalty when the jury recommends death by a vote of 8-4. Previously, all 12 jurors had to come to an unanimous decision on whether the death penalty should be levied. DeSantis then signed a bill expanding capital punishment in the state on 1 May, which allows for the death penalty to be imposed for certain sexual crimes committed against children, as well as in cases where the victim does not die.
According to the American Bar Association, this is despite the existing Supreme Court precedent which limits the death penalty to offences that intentionally cause the victim’s death. This law also utilises the 8-4 standard. The move came after public outrage around Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland school shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, avoided death after a split jury in October 2022.
“Proper justice will be served in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at the time. However, this 8-4 split is the lowest threshold in the US, with Alabama being the only other state allowing split juries to recommend death sentences, and it requires a 10-2 majority.
If convicted and sentenced, Demons would be one of the first to receive a death penalty verdict due to the new statute after Judge John Murphy granted state prosecutors’ motion to follow the new law.
Source : National World
