The double-murder case against rapper YNW Melly ended in a mistrial July 22 after three days of deadlock from the jury. A judge had twice asked the jury to continue deliberating, beginning on the second day of deliberations, per the Associated Press, but declared a mistrial when the jury returned a third time. The mistrial does not mean Melly is not guilty, and prosecutors in Broward County, Florida, where the case was tried, told the Miami Herald they plan to retry the case. Melly, born Jamell Demons, faced two counts of first-degree murder in October 2018 for the shooting of two members of the YNW collective, Anthony Williams (a.k.a. YNW Sakchaser) and Christopher Thomas Jr. (a.k.a. YNW Juvy); the county sought the death penalty. Prosecutors argued Melly, now 24, shot the two from inside a Jeep driven by an associate, Cortlen Henry (a.k.a. YNW Bortlen), and the two then exited and shot through the car to make it look like a drive-by shooting. Henry is set to be tried separately. Melly’s defense focused on the rapper’s friendship with the victims, along with the fact that a murder weapon was never recovered.
The trial had seemed like the culmination of a yearslong legal affair that began with Melly’s arrest in early 2019. Prosecutors called witnesses for over a month, while Melly’s defense only called one witness, a friend of the rapper. Melly was animated throughout the trial, smiling and at one point even blowing kisses from his seat.