YNW Melly on trial: Millionaire record executive Kevin Liles gets front row

A millionaire record executive was in Broward County court on Thursday to support Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons, the 24-year-old Florida musician who is on trial for two murders.

Kevin Liles, the chief executive officer of 300 Entertainment, sat on the first row, next to Jamie King, who gave birth to Demons when she was 14 years old in Gifford, Fla.

Liles co-founded the 300 independent record label in 2012 with music entrepreneurs Lyor Cohen, Todd Moscowitz, and Roger Gold in New York.

“It warms my heart to see him,” Liles told King outside of the courtroom, according to Bryson “Boom” Paul, a Law & Crime correspondent, who first reported Liles’s presence.

Liles is also behind the rapper’s meteoric rise. The teen first released “Murder on My Mind” on SoundCloud in 2017, and 300 Entertainment released it as a single on June 2018.

The murders about eight months later didn’t stop the golden single from peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019. That same year, Demons surrendered to face murder charges before the release of “Melly vs. Melvin,” his debut album.

Success followed both Liles and Demons. The rapper partnered with Kanye West for “Mixed Personalities.” Billboard Magazine recognized Liles as R&B/Hip-Hop Executive of the Year in 2020. Demons released his second album, “Just a Matter of Slime,” in 2021. That same year, the Warner Music Group, a global entertainment company, acquired 300 Entertainment.

Demons pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. He waited for his trial behind bars in Broward County for nearly five years. Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley mentioned his gangster rap videos and lyrics when the trial started on Monday.

“We are not going to get into that because that’s artistic expression; that’s not why we are here,” Bradley said during her opening statement in court.

Prosecutors showed the jury surveillance videos of the slain YNW Collective rappers — Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams — and not the music videos that had shown them with Demons playing with what appeared to be cash, weapons, alcohol, and marijuana.

Prosecutors said videos show Thomas, 19, and Williams, 21, were at the New Era Recording Studio with Demons and they left together in a Jeep Compass on Oct. 26, 2018. Cortlen “Bortlen” Henry, another YNW rapper, told police he was behind the wheel of the Jeep.

Prosecutors played a recording of Henry reporting that they had been the victims of a drive-by shooting on Miramar Parkway. The jury also watched a video of Henry arriving at about 4:30 a.m., at Memorial Miramar Hospital.

Detectives believe Demons was behind Henry in the passenger seat, and Thomas was to the right of Demons, and behind Williams, who was in the front passenger seat. The jury also learned Thomas and Williams had suffered gunshot wounds to the head and upper body.

Detectives reported they didn’t find evidence on Miramar Parkway, but on Pembroke Road and inside the Jeep, where there was a .40 caliber spent shell casing that they believed suggested the shooter was inside the Jeep.

Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy had yet to rule on the defense’s motion Thursday afternoon asking for a mistrial after the testimony of Felicia Holmes, a registered nurse who said her daughter Mariah Hamilton was in a relationship with Demons.

Prosecutors displayed an Instagram message allegedly written by Holmes, who complained about YNW’s failed promises to “take care” of her financially, so she wouldn’t talk to prosecutors. She also wrote a threat that rhymed: “They can call me Mrz. Snitch B [expletive].”

Murphy declared Holmes was a “hostile” witness to the state. During her testimony, Holmes admitted that Demons’s music manager Jamison “100K Track” Francois had given her $5,000 to rent an Airbnb, but “not for personal use.”

Defense Attorney David A. Howard accused Murphy of allowing Bradley to introduce “out-of-court statements that are otherwise inadmissible” and Bradley of bypassing the court’s rules. Defense Attorney Stuart Adelstein also accused Bradley of damaging Demonds and his defense.

“In my entire career, I’ve never heard the state imply with no evidence whatsoever that the defense team would ‘take care of’ this witness,” Adelstein said.

Defense Attorney Raven Ramona Liberty, Adelstein, and Howard told Murphy that they had not interacted with Holmes, as they believed Bradley had implied while questioning Holmes about the Instagram messages.

Meanwhile, King, 37, represents her 16-year-old son Brandon as rapper YNW BSlime, and he released his “Baby Goat” album when he was just 12 years old, and his brother was in jail facing murder charges.

“Felicia, I love you,” Brandon said, according to Paul who reported the teen and Holmes ran into each other in the elevator at the courthouse.

If convicted, Demons could face the death penalty. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that makes the death penalty more likely by reducing the jury’s unanimous requirement for an 8-4 vote.

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