FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The judge allowed a Broward Sheriff’s Office detective to hide his identity while testifying in court on Thursday during the trial of Florida rapper YNW Melly.
Jamell “Melly” Demons could face the death penalty if convicted of the murders of Christopher “Juvy” Thomas Jr., and Anthony “Sakchaser” Williams on Oct. 26, 2018, in Broward County.
Circuit Judge John Murphy allowed BSO Detective Danny Polo to wear a black ski mask after he reported working undercover and having received death threats unrelated to the case.
Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley focused her questions on Polo’s training and experience. Murphy said a juror reported the ski mask was causing her “anxiety.”
Defense Attorney David Howard objected to the witness’s mask and to the authentication of evidence that was related to the use of a mobile phone.
“That phone was being used while Mr. Demons was in custody. We know its being used by several other people,” Howard said.
Earlier in the trial, Bradley alleged Demons was a member of the G-Shine Bloods set, and he was learning the street gang’s oath of loyalty on Oct. 24, 2018, two days before the murders.
“This is not his stage personality. This is not an actor that is playing a character. This was his real life,” Bradley told the jury during her opening statement.
Bradley also said videos and photos show Demons displaying, or “stacking,” gang signs with his hands and avoiding a rival’s letter in his communications.
“Any time a word would normally be spelled with a ‘C’ as in Charlie, they don’t use that. They replace it with the letter ‘B,’ so instead of saying, ‘I am at the crib,” they say, ‘I am at the brib.’ Why ladies and gentlemen? Because ‘C’ is associated with Crips, ‘B’ is for Bloods,” Bradley told the jury.
The jury saw surveillance video showing Demons in a Jeep Compass with the two victims and Cortlen “Bortlen” Henry at the New Era Recording Studio in Fort Lauderdale.
The jury also watched another surveillance video showing Henry, who was driving the Jeep, arriving at the Memorial Miramar Hospital with the victims’ bodies.
Thomas was 19 and Williams was 21.
Henry reported there was a drive-by shooting at Miramar Parkway. Bradley claims the shooting was inside the Jeep and the four traveled on Pines Boulevard and Pembroke Road.
Bradley also said detectives didn’t find evidence on Miramar Parkway but at a desolated area on Pembroke Road that the cell phone data pointed them to.
Demons surrendered to face two counts of premeditated murder on Feb. 13, 2019. A judge ordered deputies to hold him without bond.
Prosecutors are handling the case against Demons and Henry separately. Henry, who is on house arrest, was awaiting trial. They both claim they are innocent.
Demons grew up in Indian River County’s Gifford community and had an arrest record there and in Lee County. He is in music videos on YouTube with the victims and other teenage boys who appeared to be playing with guns, cash, alcohol, and marijuana.
Demons became known as YNW Melly when he released his breakout song “Murder on My Mind” on SoundCloud and on YouTube in 2017.
Demons’s golden single while signed with 300 Entertainment made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, and he partnered with Kanye West for “Mixed Personalities.”
YNW Melly released “Melly vs. Melvin,” his debut album, in 2019, and “Just a Matter of Slime” — which features Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, and Lil Baby — in 2021.
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