YNW Melly filed a motion to prevent any mention or testimony suggesting that Melly owed fellow artist YNW SakChaser money in his upcoming second murder trial.
According to documents obtained by AllHipHop.com, the State is planning to present witnesses who will claim that there was an agreement between the rising rapper and YNW SakChaser “to share or split all of the money that Mr. Melly made through his musical pursuits.”
Melly’s lawyer claims that the State never offered a motive for why their client would want his friends dead in the first trial. Daniel Aaronson said that the State’s potential argument about a financial dispute between Melly and SakChaser is baseless and should not be admitted as evidence in the upcoming trial, scheduled for October 9.
The motion further elaborates that unless there’s concrete evidence, such as a “signed contract or agreement; a verbal acknowledgment by YNW Melly that he owed that money to YNW SakChaser, any reference to it would be “pure hearsay and conjecture.”
“The nature of the testimony referenced above would be brought in so that the State could argue there was motive, i.e. [YNW Melly] did not want to pay [YNW Sakchaser] the money. Before the State contends during opening statement that it will show this evidence, the Court needs to rule on the admissibility of this argument,” Aaronson explained.
The rapper has been in custody since 2019.
He stands accused of the murder of his friends, YNW Juvy and YNW SakChaser, in 2018. His trial started in June of 2023. Jurors could not reach a unanimous decision after several weeks of testimony, and as a result, Judge John Murphy declared a mistrial in July.
The artist’s legal team recently approached a Florida judge requesting to release him from jail as he awaits a retrial. This move was influenced by the judge’s earlier decision to grant a bond to YNW Bortlen, Melly’s co-defendant in the case.
YNW Bortlen believed to have assisted YNW Melly in staging a drive-by shooting to mask the murders, will be tried separately. Both YNW Melly and YNW Bortlen have pleaded not guilty to the charges.