Life or death? Fate of ‘Murder on My Mind’ rapper rests with the number 8, judge rules

Rapper YNW Melly’s murder trial is expected to start the week of June 20, but before the first juror has been picked, a judge on Friday lowered the threshold for a death sentence should he be convicted.

Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy granted the state prosecutors’ motion to follow a new law that allows juries to recommend a death sentence with an 8-4 vote instead of a unanimous vote.

The push to reduce Florida’s death penalty threshold was inspired by the convicted Parkland school shooter not getting the death penalty due to a split jury.

READ MORE: He rapped ‘Murder on My Mind.’ Now, jury will decide if he’s behind a double homicide

Melly, best known for hit song “Murder on My Mind,” was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder on Feb. 13, 2019. Since then, he has been in the Broward main jail, despite efforts to get released at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 24-year-old’s death penalty case is among the first considered after the change. The 8-4 vote to recommend a death sentence is the lowest threshold in the country.

Murphy wrote in the order that the decision “was not fundamentally unfair for [Melly]... nor would it violate his right to due process of the law.”

A staged drive-by shooting?

In the early morning hours of Oct. 26, 2018, co-defendant and confidant Cortlen Henry rushed into Memorial Hospital Miramar’s emergency room, according to court records. He told medical staff that two men were shot inside his 2018 Jeep Compass.

A Miramar police officer found Anthony Williams, 21, in the front passenger seat with gunshot wounds to his head and torso and Christopher Thomas Jr., 19, in the right rear passenger seat with gunshot wounds to the back and head.

They were already dead.

Henry, court records say, recounted their whereabouts that night. He told police that the trio had left the New Era Recording Studio in Fort Lauderdale when a car pulled up next to them on Miramar Parkway and opened fire. Williams and Thomas, both aspiring rappers, went by YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.

Amid the gunfire, Henry lowered his body, he told police, to shield himself. He sped toward the nearest hospital the moment he knew his friends were struck by the spray of bullets.

Police scoured the area where Henry said the shooting took place, but didn’t turn up any evidence matching Henry’s account, according to court records. They came across a witness who said he was at the recording studio with Henry, Thomas, Williams and Melly that night. Surveillance video captured all four men hopping into the Jeep, with Melly sitting in the left rear passenger seat. That’s where police later uncovered a single .40 caliber shell casing tucked inside a white plastic bag, court records reveal.

After looking at the blood inside the bullet-riddled Jeep, police began to suspect that Williams and Thomas were shot inside the SUV, according to court records. Cellphone data also placed Melly, Thomas and Williams together throughout the night.

Court records show investigators located evidence, including another .40 caliber shell casing and glass matching the Jeep, on an isolated patch of Pembroke Road. Projectile analysis determined it to be unlikely for the barrage of bullets to have hit the SUV while in motion, according to court records. The autopsies suggested that the shots came from the left rear passenger side, where Melly was caught on tape sitting earlier that night.

Police believe that Henry and the rapper drove around with Williams’ and Thomas’ bodies for a while before entering the hospital. At some point, Melly got out of the Jeep. According to court records, Melly’s girlfriend and mother told investigators that he called them via FaceTime that night and said he was the victim of a drive-by shooting that left two of his friends dead. The mother of Melly’s girlfriend, who was present during the FaceTime, said it looked like he was hiding and waiting to be picked up.

YNW Melly came into the public eye in 2018 with his double-platinum song “Murder on My Mind,” which he initially released on Soundcloud. He would go on to collaborate with several popular artists such as Kanye West, Juice WRLD and Trippie Redd and released his debut album “Melly vs. Melvin” while locked up.