MIAMI – A defense attorney said Wednesday in court that his 21-year-old client — who he described as “a star football player” with a college scholarship and no prior criminal record — was falsely accused of three murders and four attempted murders in Miami-Dade County.
Melchelzadek Jacory Matthews, a former wide receiver for the Miami and South Dade high schools’ football teams who was arrested in Fort Myers, made his first court appearance before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer on Wednesday morning.
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“It sounds like a lot of smoke without any fire,” Attorney Richard Docobo, who was representing Matthews, said in court.
Detectives identified Matthews as one of the suspects involved in the murders of Jahem Ziegler, 18; Tyleisha Taylor, 20; and William Everett Jr., 22, during the early morning of June 6, 2021, in Kendall.
“It appears the vehicle used in the incident was his mother’s,” Glazer said in court, later adding, “He was on the phone with the person in the other car at the time of this incident.”
Glazer also said detectives believe Matthews was outside of the Hookah Inn, at 10549 SW 109th Ct., where police officers reported there was a high school graduation party when a drive-by shooting happened.
“He may have just been the driver,” Glazer said in court while reviewing the records of the case.
Detectives connected the shooting outside of the Hooka Inn to a crash that followed shortly after at Miami Dade College’s Kendall campus, and another shooting on the Florida Turnpike, police said.
Detectives found Everett and Ziegler, both cousins, inside a bullet-riddled car that had crashed into a wall at MDC, at 11011 SW 104 St., across from the Hookah Inn. There was a gun in the car, police said.
Taylor, a Florida Department of Corrections officer who was off-duty while attending the party, died at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, police said. She had worked at the Dade Correctional Institution since January 2020, officials said.
Shortly after the Hookah Inn shooting, detectives identified three suspects in the Turnpike shooting that followed: Keyshad Richardson, 19; Quantayvius McCutchen, 19; and Yahtayvius McCutchen, 17.
Detectives accused Richardson and the McCutchen brothers of leaving the Hookah Inn in a Chevrolet Malibu, following a Nissan Altima, and using a handgun and a rifle to injure a driver in the leg, while on the Turnpike’s southbound lanes.
There were also four others injured in the incidents, according to prosecutors. The initial police report included five injured and identified a Toyota Camry as involved.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Matthews at 11:35 a.m., on April 20, in Fort Myers, and released him to the custody of Miami-Dade authorities on Tuesday, records show.
A prosecutor told Decobo Wednesday that the arrest warrant in the case was sealed until arraignment since the police investigation was ongoing. Decobo argued Matthews had a right to have access to the warrant sooner.
Miami-Dade corrections officers were holding Matthews without bond on charges of one count of conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of second-degree murder, and four counts of first-degree attempted murder.
“This is a kid who is not a kid with a history or a past — wrong place at the wrong time —18-year-old kid,” Docobo said about Matthew’s age and criminal history at the time of the crime.
Records show prosecutors filed the Miami-Dade Police Department case against Matthews on April 12, and the court assigned it to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Lody Jean.
“This is a serious case. You have a good attorney listen to what he tells you,” Glazer told Matthew in court.
The list of suspects in the 2021 case also includes James A. Johnson III, 20; Aaron J. Clermont, 20; Willie Lee Thomas III, 21; and Jeremy Devine, 22, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Detectives suspect the murders were associated with a feud between gangs from Florida City and West Perrine, police said. They were asking anyone with information to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Complete coverage of the case