FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Leondra Phillips has been grieving her 19-year-old son since his murder in 2018. For three weeks, she has been attending the Broward County murder trial of Florida rapper YNW Melly. On Thursday, she was finally able to testify.
The prosecution called Phillips to the witness stand and played the surveillance video that last shows her son, Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., alive outside of the New Era Recording Studio in Fort Lauderdale.
The prosecutor asked Phillips to identify her son, as the surveillance video showed he was at the recording studio, at 805 NE 4 Ave., and got into a gray Jeep Compass with Jamell “Melly” Demons, Cortlen “Bortlen” Henry, and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams.
“He got on the back seat on the right-hand side,” Phillips said during her testimony in court.
Earlier in the trial, Broward Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley said the video recorded on Oct. 26, 2018, shows Demons in the left rear seat of the Jeep Compass; Williams, 21, in the front passenger seat; and Thomas in the right rear seat. Henry was driving.
The four YNW Collective rappers left together at about 3:20 a.m. Bradley is accusing Demons, 24, of killing Thomas and Williams. Henry arrived at Memorial Hospital, at 1701 SW 172 Ave., in Miramar, with the two bodies at about 4:35 a.m.
Attorney Stuart Adelstein, who is defending Demons, decided not to cross-examine Thomas’s mother. He expressed the defense’s condolences for her loss. Phillips said, “Thank you.” Once, the judge dismissed her, she stood up and returned to the gallery.
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The jury had already seen a video of Henry talking to a detective about a drive-by shooting on Miramar Parkway that he said killed his two friends in the Jeep Compass. Bradley said detectives didn’t find evidence of a shooting there.
Instead, Bradley said, cell phone data helped detectives to find evidence of a shooting in a desolated area of Pembroke Road. Bradley said it was there where Demons and Henry shot at the Jeep in an attempt to cover up the murders.
If convicted of the two counts of premeditated first-degree murder, Demons faces the possibility of life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Under the new state law, the jury’s unanimous agreement is no longer required for death.
A grand jury indicted Demons on Feb. 7, 2019, and he surrendered to Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies on Feb. 13, 2019. Deputies have held Demons without bond for over four years. He and Henry, who is awaiting trial for the alleged coverup, pleaded not guilty.
Broward County Circuit Judge John Murphy is presiding over the case. Opening statements were on June 12. Attorneys David Howard, Adelstein, and Raven Liberty have been on the defense table with Demons.
The defense alleged the case against Demons is the result of an opportunistic detective who spotted a high-profile case without DNA evidence or a weapon. Bradley has been relying on circumstantial evidence such as an alleged gang association and the estimated trajectory of the bullets.
The pathologists who performed the victims’ autopsies and a shooting reconstruction expert who investigated the possibility of the drive-by shooting said the entrance of the victims’ fatal head wounds was on the left side.
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.
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 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.
The court is in recess until 9 a.m., on July 10.
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