FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The judge allowed a Broward Sheriff’s Office detective to hide his identity while testifying in court on Thursday during the trial of Florida rapper YNW Melly.
Circuit Judge John Murphy authorized Detective Danny Polo to wear a black ski mask after he reported working undercover and having received death threats unrelated to the case.
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Polo said the evidence online included hundreds of pictures of Jamell “Melly” Demons with gang members. He said there were also several references in his songs.
“I don’t believe this is an act or a character,” Polo said during his testimony in court.
Demons, 24, could face the death penalty if convicted of the murders of fellow YNW Collective rappers Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams on Oct. 26, 2018, in Broward County.
“To make money, you have to sometimes commit crimes,” Polo said about the nature of gang membership, which he said includes “paying dues.”
Defense attorneys David Howard and Jason Williams, who are representing Demons, objected to the witness’s ski mask.
“The state could have chosen any expert in gangs. They elected to choose one who has threats against his life that don’t concern this case, and who is undercover,” Williams told Murphy. “They have precipitated this problem.”
A juror also criticized the judge’s decision in a note to the court: “Why does he get to see us but we don’t get to see him?”
Later, as Polo continued his testimony, a juror requested a break and wrote, “I need a moment. I can’t listen properly. When I was a child, I’d seen someone get robbed and I am having an anxiety attack.”
Murphy allowed the jurors to take a break. When the juror returned, she told Murphy she felt better, but she added, “I don’t believe that was appropriate.”
With Polo on the witness stand, Howard objected to the prosecution being able to admit a mobile phone into evidence that detectives said belonged to Demons.
“That phone was being used while Mr. Demons was in custody,” Howard said. “We know it is being used by several other people.”
Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley told Murphy that Demons gave his mother the passcode of the cell phone during a jail call, so this allowed detectives to access it.
Earlier in the trial, Bradley alleged Demons was a member of the G-Shine Bloods set, and he was learning the street gang’s oath of loyalty on Oct. 24, 2018, two days before the murders.
Polo said G-Shine was among the most violent Bloods factions. He also said videos and photos show Demons displaying, or “stacking,” gang signs with his hands.
“He does them very well,” Polo said. “He does them very quickly.”
Bradley showed the jury copies of an e-mail that she referred to as a “G-Shine document,” which included rules, codes, symbols, and other information about the gang.
During her opening statement, Bradley said Demons’s spelling also “indicated” his gang affiliation.
“Any time a word would normally be spelled with a ‘C’ as in Charlie, they don’t use that. They replace it with the letter ‘B,’ so instead of saying, ‘I am at the crib,” they say, ‘I am at the brib.’ Why ladies and gentlemen? Because ‘C’ is associated with Crips, ‘B’ is for Bloods,” Bradley told the jury.
Before Thursday, the jury saw surveillance video showing Demons getting into the backseat of a gray Jeep Compass with the two victims and Cortlen “Bortlen” Henry.
They left the New Era Recording Studio, at 805 NE 4th Ave., in Fort Lauderdale together, but only two made it out of the Jeep alive, Demons and Henry, according to Bradley.
The jury also watched another surveillance video recorded later that morning. Bradley said it showed Henry, who was the driver, arriving at Memorial Miramar Hospital.
Thomas, 19, and Williams, 21, were dead inside the Jeep, and Henry reported they had been the victims of a drive-by shooting on Miramar Parkway, but detectives didn’t find evidence there, according to Bradley.
Cell phone data showed them on Pines Boulevard and Pembroke Road, in a desolated area where detectives did find evidence, according to Bradley.
Demons is facing two counts of premeditated murder. He surrendered to deputies on Feb. 13, 2019. A judge ordered BSO to hold him without bond.
Henry, who is on house arrest, is awaiting trial. Prosecutors are handling their cases separately. Both YNW Collective rappers claim they are innocent.
Demons grew up in Indian River County’s Gifford community and had an arrest record there and in Lee County, records show. He is in YouTube videos with the victims playing with what appears to be guns, cash, alcohol, and marijuana.
Demons became known as YNW Melly when he released his breakout song “Murder on My Mind” on SoundCloud and on YouTube in 2017.
Demons’s golden single while signed with 300 Entertainment made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, and he partnered with Kanye West for “Mixed Personalities.”
YNW Melly released “Melly vs. Melvin,” his debut album, in 2019, and “Just a Matter of Slime” — which features Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, and Lil Baby — in 2021.
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