YNW Melly’s legal team wants to ensure that before the trial starts next month, they can prevent witnesses from using money disputes as a motive for murder.
The defense team for the “Mixed Personalities” rapper filed a motion asking a Florida judge to bar testimony from any witnesses in the upcoming retrial who suggest that “there was an agreement between Jamell Demons [YNW Melly] and Anthony Williams [YNW Sakchaser] to share or split all of the money that Mr. Demons made through his musical pursuits.” Melly’s attorney noted.
YNW Melly’s team says these are baseless claims without evidence and shouldn’t be brought up during his second murder trial. Daniel Aaronson, Melly’s attorney, further explains that there is no proof that his client killed YNW SakChaser over a financial dispute. Aaronson said there was no “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 stated.
The mother of YNW Sakchaser and the lead detective believed that Sakchaser was expecting a $200,000 payment just before his murder. His mother recalls just a few days before he was killed, her son was anxious about money and knew something would happen to him.
“My son hysterically called me,” she said. “[H]e was very concerned about my whereabouts … He’s concerned, like something is going to happen to us. And he told me that he would not get his money. He said: ‘I’m probably not going to get my $200,000. I’m probably not even going to get my money, Ma.’”
On top of Melly’s defense team looking to bar witnesses from bringing up the financial dispute, a motion was filed to dismiss the case altogether. The team claims that the lead detective assigned to the case withheld evidence, and the state covered it up.
