A lawsuit is a very difficult phase in anyone’s life. And everyone wishes that they stay far away from this mess. Be it as a victim or as the accused. The process is so horrible and draining that person also tends to give up halfway. And if you are standing in the legal box as the accused there is no way out of this disarray.
The famous rapper YNW Melly is currently stuck in this hideous legal process. Melly was accused and also convicted in a double murder case for murdering his two friends, Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr.
Melly has been sentenced to life imprisonment and also the death penalty. And is also suspected of murdering the Indian River County Sheriff’s Department deputy Gary Chambliss. His fans are curious to know if there is a chance that YNW Melly is coming out of prison or how long will be his jail sentence. And if yes, then when would this happen? They are hoping to receive a piece of positive news from any source as soon as possible.
YNW Melly Mugshot
YNW Melly, or Jamell Maurice Demons, is an American Rapper. He was born on 1st May 1999 to Jamie Demons King in Florida. Jamie was only 14 when she found out that she was expecting. She raised Melly as a single mother.
The identity of Melly’s father is unknown, but Donte Taylor a.k.a Tha Gift who is also a rapper by profession claims to be Mally’s father. Jamie was in ninth grade when she gave birth to Melly. After that Jamie and the young Melly moved to a proper part of Gifford.
Jamie usually struggled with the bills of housing and other necessities. And due to this, Melly joined the Bloods, which is a street gang, at a very young age. Meanwhile, he started uploading his songs on SoundCloud when he was merely 15 years old.
Melly is currently in prison under the conviction of a double murder case. But this is not the first time he is behind bars. In 2015 Melly was arrested for shooting a group of students near the Vero Beach High School. He was charged with several convictions and was incarcerated for months.
The charges that were levied on him were aggravated battery, discharging a firearm in public, and aggravated assault.
Career and Achievements
YNW Melly opted for this stage name in 2016. His actual name is Jamell Maurice Demons. The initials YNW mean ‘Young N__ga World’ or the ‘Young New Wave.’ These initials are for a hip-hop collective. This group also had Anthony Williams, a.k.a ‘YNW Sakchaser, Christopher Thomas, a.k.a YNW Juvy, and Corten Henry, a.k.a YNW Bortlen Henry. Melly launched his first project in 2017 while he was in prison. It was an EP named Collect Call.
The specialty of this project was that it had features from many well-known artists like Lil B and John Wick. Then in 2018, he released three singles named Virtual, Melly the Menace, and Slang That Iron, respectively.
4 Real, Butter Pecan, and Medium Fries, some of his other singles that were released later that year and in the year after. These music videos gained him 26 million, 16 million, and 11 million viewers on YouTube, respectively. This was a great step forward in his rapping career.
In August 2018, he launched his debut mixtape named I am You. This one was also a huge success as it secured 192nd place on the Billboard 200. The result was declared on January 10th, 2019.
Later in 2019, on 17th Jan, Mell again released a mixtape named ‘We all Shine.’ This was the second mixtape that he released while he was still behind bars. This tape had 16 different tracts in total.
We all shine was created in collaboration with Kanye West and Fredo Bang. Later he once again collaborated with West to make the music video for the album ‘Mixed personalities.’ And by the end of March 2019, Melly had a following of over 200 million on Spotify, and out of them, over 10 million monthly listeners.
One of his most famous songs that was streamed multiple times was ‘Murder on My Mind.’ This was actually released as a single but was later added to the album I am You.
On Nov 22, 2019, Melly released his first-ever studio album. It was named Melly vs. Melvin. This studio album secured the 8th rank on Billboard 200, which was the highest record in his entire singing career.
The album also included the song 223’s which was initially released as a single and had the 34th position on the Billboard Hot 100. Then on March 13th, 2020, Melly released a remix for his track Suicidal. This made Suicidal the second single to be released from the album Melly vs. Melvin.
The remix featured a small part from the late rapper Juice Wrld. This was Melly’s third hit release. And once again, Melly’s work was in the top 20 list of billboard 100.
Murder Charges on Melly
YNW Melly was accused of murdering his two friends, Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr, and later was also convicted for the same. It is said that he committed this crime along with Corten Henry.
On the 26th of October 2018, Christopher Thomas and Anthony Williams were shot and killed. This incident took place in South Florida, according to the report given by Miramar Police Department. Both of them were rushed to the Memorial Hospital Miramar around 4:35 AM. When they reached the hospital, both the victims had multiple gunshots in their bodies.
It was stated by the police that the victims were already dead. Even before they arrived at the hospital. Fort Lauderdale was the last place where the two victims were seen alive around 3:20 AM on the same day. By this time, it was not mentioned who the person who drove Thomas and Williams to the hospital was. The victims, Williams and Thomas were part of the group that also had Melly and Henry in it.
After a while, when the investigation concluded, the police arrested YNW Melly and Cortlen Henry under the charge of Frist degree murder. That too with two counts.
Miramar police said that Melly had shot Williams and Thomas. And the Miramar police also stated that they had forensic shreds of evidence against the two. And only after this have they come to this conclusion and arrest them. This was a huge blow for Melly as well as Henry.
Melly turned himself in to the police in Broward County on the 13th of Feb., And the police arrested Henry from Texas on the 12th of Feb. The Miramar police had charged them with two counts of first-degree murder.
Police also unveiled that Melly and Henry had jointly plotted to kill their childhood friends and then make it look like a drive-by shooting. Melly was accused of firing on the two victims. And Henry was accused of helping Melly in covering this whole plot. The court records also justify these charges. It was revealed that Henry was the one who drove the bodies to the hospital.
Before Melly had turned himself in to the police, he had uploaded a picture of four of them, indicating his innocence in this matter. Along with the post, Melly had written that he had lost two of his brothers a few months ago, and the system now wanted to find justice for them.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of rumors and lies that are being told, but god will be on his and Henry’s side. The theory that Miramar police presented stated that Melly had pulled the trigger and Henry was behind the cover-up. He drove the SUV with the two bodies to the hospital around 4:35 PM the same day.
The pieces of evidence that were submitted to the court showed that. Police had not found any proof of there being a firing in the location where Henry said the shooting occurred. And there was also no report there being a firing in that area.
The cell phone records that the police found that the associate had given the false location of Melly before the shootout. They also showed that the path taken by Henry to reach the hospital was not what he stated.
The forensic reports also claimed that there were no vehicles on that street at the time of the shooting. The investigation also revealed that the trajectory analysis showed that the path of the bullets on the bodies and the path of the bullets on the car did not match.
Also, a shell casing of a .40 caliber handgun was found on the left rear passenger seat, which matched the casing that was discovered at the crime scene. The video evidence showed that Melly was sitting on the seat. The autopsy report stated that the shot that had killed William, who was sitting on the right passenger seat, came from behind and was inclined to the left.
The shot was made from less than three feet away. And lastly, Investigation also showed that Melly and Henry had been driving around with the body for some time then they were brought to the hospital. They were probably trying to establish the story at that time. The reason for this crime was not clear yet, but it was suspected that there were some monetary aspects related to this crime.
Pleaded Not Guilty
During the case hearing that was on the 5th of March. Melly had pleaded to the courts that he was not guilty of the first-degree murder. He asked the case to be heard in front of the jury. This case was set to be heard on April 25th. But it was preponed to 11th march, where Henry stood mute when the charges were announced. Later even he pleads not guilty.
The suspects are punishable with life imprisonment or the death penalty if the suspects are above 18 years of age. On the later dates of the court hearing, Melly and Henry are yet to be convicted of committing this heinous crime. But if this happens, then they will be given the punishment of life imprisonment and, later, maybe a death sentence.
Even if they are convicted of this crime, there are very few chances of them being given a death sentence. That is because even if a person is given the death penalty, only a few actually reach the action. It is found that only 1 out of 7 is punished with the death penalty. This case also showed some links to the murder of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Department deputy Gary Chambliss. Melly is suspect of this too.
Rapper YNW Melly Prison Release Date
There were claims made by Melly’s mother, Julie, that Melly was to be released soon, but the date was not revealed yet. She said that Melly was supposed to be released earlier than this, somewhere in around March 2020. But that didn’t happen due to the Pandemic. It was said that the rapper had applied to be released when he contracted covid while he was in jail.
The release was not granted. And he is now long cured of this. In Dec 2019, his mother posted saying that he was to be released from jail in a countdown of 90 days. But that didn’t happen. Since then, the release has been delayed continuously. Currently, his fans are expecting the word of Melly’s mother to turn out to be true, and this will happen soon.
One of the fans on Twitter has tweeted about the same. Saying that, first, it was Kodak who was released, and then Bobby. So let’s get Melly out next. This trended quite a bit on Twitter and also received a lot of attention.
Bobby, who was in prison for seven years for the weapons and conspiracy case, was released on 23rd Feb 2021. So the fans are awaiting the release of Melly. But as of now, there is no solid news of Mell’s release date. Fans can only hope that the release date arrives soon so that we can hear the amazing artist more often.
Update 1 (March 29, 2023):
We are back with yet another update on YNW Melly’s prison release. Due to the nature of the crime, if convicted, it is possible that YNW Melly could face a death sentence. The rapper also recently released a statement from the prison that his life is in danger in prison. He also added that he is not allowed to have television, newspaper access, or phone privilege.
Here is the statement below:
“As of this moment today I am officially in fear of my life. A new Captain named Hubert and XO Jenkins have taken over the jail for two weeks now and have handed out even harsher punishments for me then the previous ones in place. Since December 1 I have been moved and housed on a unit that holds 24 inmates at once. I am the only inmate being housed on the vacant unit, with no phone privilege, no television and no access to a newspaper.”
“When I come out of my cell for the 1 hour a day, all other inmates in the adjoining dorms must go back in there cell. I am being subjected to cruel and unusual treatment at the hands of deputies and high-ranking staff of the Broward Sheriffs Office,”
YNW Melly shared multiple posts from prison on his Instagram. He reportedly added that he wants to be moved to another jail while he awaits trial. He further added he could not call his family or lawyers if he has been beaten or harassed. Continuing, he added that the deputies there do not like him much and that they have told him that to his face. He said that he was not safe in the hands of these people as the highest command in the jail did not like him.
The District Court of Appeal overruled Judge Andrew Siegel’s decision from July 2022 that prosecutors could not seek the death penalty in YNW Melly’s case. Since the decision was overruled, the prosecutors are now seeking the death penalty for Melly; if convicted, he may face the death penalty.
In case you are not aware of the situation, YNW Melly and YNW Bortlen were arrested back in 2019 for first-degree murder. As it stands, both of them were accused of shooting YNW Juvy & YNW Sakchaser, 20 and 21 years old, respectively, in October 2018.
This article was edited by Nathaniel Hale.
