FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The judge in the trial of Florida rapper YNW Melly said on Wednesday that the prosecution had violated the rules of discovery, a process of gathering information in preparation for the trial.
Jamell “Melly” Demons could face the death penalty if convicted of the Oct. 26, 2018 murders of his fellow YNW Collective rappers Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams.
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Attorney David Howard, who is defending Demons, criticized the state’s handling of the evidence by continuing to test it for new findings after the discovery deadline.
“It’s not only an ambush, but it’s an insult to the process,” Howard said
Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy, who is presiding over Demons’s trial, sanctioned the state after ruling there had been a discovery violation.
“It shouldn’t be done by surprise,” Murphy said in court about the findings of a new test that was done on existing evidence and that the state did not share with the defense.
Murphy also told Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley that this was an issue of “fundamental fairness” and he ordered her to turn over all of the evidence findings to the defense.
“Everything has been turned over,” Bradley told Murphy in court. “That was the only item of which there was additional investigation done.”
Kurt Rhodes, a DNA analyst with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, testified that he didn’t find evidence of Demons’s DNA on a door handle at first, but during a second test on June 1, 2023, which involved a third party. He said he didn’t know the trial had already started.
Murphy listened to both the defense and the prosecution while the jury was away and while FBI Special Agent Jeff Collins waited on the stand to testify about his analysis of the cell phone records in the case.
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