Trial Updates

Rapper YNW Melly has been denied bond yet again. The rapper will have to stay in jail until his retrial in January 2027, a source with direct knowledge told NBC6 after a Broward County judge denied his request. Last week during a four-hour hearing, attorneys for Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, argued he would have 24-hour security and family support if allowed out of custody. Demons is charged in the 2018 shooting deaths of two friends, Christopher Thomas Jr. and Anthony Williams, with whom he worked in the music industry. The defense had set up a home in Broward County for Demons if the judge agreed to let him out before the trial. There were numerous conditions he would have followed if given a bond, including no access to social media, limited movement and 24-hour supervision. Demons' double murder retrial is set for January 2027. He could face the death penalty if he is found guilty. The rapper's attorneys, Drew Findling and Carey Haughwout, released a lengthy statement on Thursday about the bond decision. "The Court, the State Attorney’s Office, and all who observed this bond hearing should have been deeply troubled by the clear evidence presented regarding the inhumane conditions Mr. Demons has endured for over seven years (with the last three in solitary confinement) while presumed innocent under our Constitution. Yet the Court denied bond and allowed those conditions to continue without even acknowledging the shocking circumstances under which he has been forced to live," the statement read, in part. "Mr. Demons remains an innocent man in the eyes of the law. The State failed to secure a conviction once, and we remain confident it will fail again. Unfortunately, it now appears that only a jury’s verdict compelling his release will bring an end to the years of unnecessary and unjust punishment he has already suffered."

After a long month of days in court, melly first trial ended in a mistrial.

This is when the first trial officially started for YNW Melly.