FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Text messages recovered from a cell phone that prosecutors said belonged to Florida rapper YNW Melly show there was a conflict and a request for a gun before the murder of two YNW Collective rappers in Broward County.
Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley showed jurors images of text messages that she said were between Jamell “Melly” Demons and his mother, Jamie King, months before the murders of Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams, on Oct. 26, 2018.
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Bradley said King and Demons exchanged text messages on Aug. 30, 2018, about a conflict with Williams’s mother and sister. King referred to Williams as Demons’s best friend. The exchange later included Demons making a request to King.
“Get me a Glock ASAP ... Like go now ... I just don’t want no illegal gun,” Demons wrote, later settling for a “Glock 40 ... or 19,” according to Bradley.
Broward County Circuit Judge John Murphy allowed Bradley to enter the phone and its data into evidence on Thursday. The defense claimed the phone did not belong to Demons and was used by several others who were in the same cell phone plan.
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, Jorge Bello, a Broward Sheriff’s Office firearms expert, testified that a .40 caliber gun was involved in the shooting.
The jury saw surveillance video showing Demons, the two victims, and Cortlen “Bortlen” Henry getting into the backseat of a gray Jeep Compass outside of the New Era Recording Studio, at 805 NE 4th Ave., in Fort Lauderdale. Another video shows Henry at Memorial Miramar Hospital.
Thomas, 19, and Williams, 21, were dead inside the parked Jeep Compass, and Henry reported they had been the victims of a drive-by shooting on Miramar Parkway, but detectives didn’t find any evidence of a shooting there, according to Bradley.
Cell phone data showed them on Pines Boulevard and Pembroke Road, in a desolated area where detectives did find evidence of a shooting, according to Bradley. Detectives reported a bullet trajectory analysis showed the alleged right-to-left path of the bullets did not match the left-to-ring wounds.
Bradley said detectives concluded Demons shot and killed the two victims while they were all in the Jeep, and he and Henry staged the drive-by shooting. Bello said there was a shell casing from a .40 caliber gun inside the Jeep. The prosecution doesn’t have a gun.
The defense claims Demons is innocent and only became a suspect when a Miramar detective realized that he was a rapper. The defense has accused the detective of mishandling the investigation and the evidence because he saw an opportunity in a high-profile case.
A grand jury indicted Demons on Feb. 7, and he surrendered on Feb. 13, 2019, to face two counts of premeditated murder. Demons, now 24, has been held without bond since then, and he could face the death penalty if convicted.
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. His golden single while later signed with 300 Entertainment made it onto the Billboard Hot 100.
YNW Melly partnered with Kanye West for “Mixed Personalities.” He released “Melly vs. Melvin,” his debut album, in 2019, and his second album “Just a Matter of Slime” — which features Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, and Lil Baby — in 2021.
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