Young Thug,French Montana and a slew of other rappers have been named during the latest day of testimony in the YNW Melly trial, as more texts were read out in court.
As reported by Bryson “Boom” Paul, Detective Danny Polo, who initially donned a ski mask in court because of his undercover work, read out multiple text messages sent between GBK gang members Goon and Hurk to Youngsakchaser Howard that included mentions of JGreen, Young Thug, Boosie Badazz, French Montana, Juelz Santana and Quando Rondo.
At one point during his testimony on Monday (June 26), Detective Polo, who was eventually forced to remove his mask, alleged that Juelz Santana is an active blood gang member based on a text exchange Goon had, and said he couldn’t confirm or deny whether French Montana was also gang-affiliated.
One of the texts – out of the 123 the prosecution obtained in order to help prove Melly was a member of the Bloods – was read out by Polo. “You beloved was set is @youngthug pushing now,” and also added that Quando Rondo “lame ass hated” on a previous text message read out.
Another notable text conversation read in court caused Detective Polo to believe that Melly was “being recruited by two different G-Shine Bloods gang members based on text message conversations of Gino and Hurk.” Another included texts from GBK member Goon to Melly hours after the murder of YNW Juvy and Sakchaser that read: “You straight? I just heard what happened last night.”
The latest day of testimony comes shortly after other texts were read out in court between Melly (real name Jamell Demons) and his mother Jamie King in which the former asked the latter for a legal firearm a few months before the aforementioned murders took place.
The texts reveal that the rapper asked his mother for a gun back in October 2018. “Get me a Glock ASAP,” read one of the texts. “Like go now … I just don’t want no illegal gun.”
The prosecution claimed that YNW Melly asked for the gun because a dispute arose between YNW Sakchaser’s mother and sister, but it’s unclear whether YNW Melly was also involved in the dispute, or whether he wanted the gun for the benefit of the parties involved in a dispute.
While a Broward County Sheriff’s Office ballistics expert, Jorge Bello, also previously testified that a .40 caliber shotgun was used to kill YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy, the defense has claimed that the texts weren’t from Melly’s phone and that the gun involved in the murders didn’t belong to the “Murder on My Mind” rapper. It’s also unclear if the firearms were ever actually obtained.
According to legal analyst Terri Austin, Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy revealed on Wednesday (June 21) that the prosecution failed to disclose a second forensics report that resulted in a discovery violation.
Because of this, the information will now be excluded from the trial. “Judge Murphy ruled @ynwmelly trial that Prosecution committed a discovery violation for failure to disclose a second forensics report,” she tweeted. “That information will now be excluded!”
YNW Melly was arrested and charged with two counts of premeditated murder in 2019 and faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. If convicted, he could get the death penalty.
