YNW Melly double murder retrial pushed again as prosecutors seek to use music as evidence

Opening statements in the double murder retrial for rapper YNW Melly are delayed once again.

The prosecution confirmed to NBC6 that jury selection is on hold until March, inevitably pushing back opening statements.

Rapper YNW Melly was back in court in November as the prosecution aimed to suppress evidence in his retrial.

The judge ruled that the lead Miramar detective in the double murder case could be re-deposed by the defense, but only on certain topics. Detective Mark Moretti was on the stand as defense attorneys questioned him about evidence from the day two of the rapper's friends were shot to death in 2018.

Opening statements were initially rescheduled for January, and reset for February 5th after prosecutors requested more time for preparation.

Attorneys say they will spend much of January and February arguing motions before the court and deposing new witnesses ahead of the continuance of jury selection.

YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, was in a Broward County courtroom back on Nov. 2 for a hearing ahead of the double murder retrial.

Attorneys for Demons were asking for another chance to question the lead detective in the case, but prosecutors claimed the defense didn't have the right to question the detective again.

Murphy granted the defense’s motion to recuse prosecutor Kristine Bradley in an abundance of caution after defense attorneys claimed prosecutors didn't reveal that the lead detective in the case had been previously accused of being willing to lie as he gathered evidence.

The judge didn't find that Bradley's integrity had been comprised but agreed that she couldn't serve as a prosecutor on the case if the defense was planning to call her as a witness regarding the credibility of one of the investigators.

Attorneys for Melly had asked Murphy to remove the Broward State Attorney’s Office from the case and potentially dismiss the case entirely. The request came after Assistant State Attorney Michelle Boutros, who works for the Broward office, testified that she overheard the lead investigator in the case against Demons, Mark Moretti, ask a Broward County deputy to lie about being present when Moretti executed a search warrant outside his jurisdiction last October, forcibly seizing a phone from Demons' mother as part of a witness tampering investigation.

Defense attorney Jamie Benjamin said that information should have been turned over to the defense because they could have used it to discredit Moretti during Demons’ recent murder trial, which ended in July with a hung jury.

Prosecutors say the exchange between Moretti and the deputy was a joke, pointing to the fact that an attorney for Demons' mother was present when her phone was taken and would have known the deputy wasn't there.

Demons' first murder trial ended with a 9-3 vote for conviction.

Court filings now show that prosecutors intend to introduce music and lyrics from more than 55 of Demons' songs, including Melly’s biggest hit, "Murder on My Mind," which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2019 and describes killing a friend by accidentally shooting him twice.

His defense team immediately asked the judge to stop the state from being able to use the music as evidence.

Melly faces a possible death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder in the 2018 slayings of two childhood friends, Christopher "YNW Juvy" Thomas and Anthony "YNW Sakchaser" Williams.

Their stage names all include "YNW" because they belonged to the same hip-hop collective. It stands for "Young New Wave" or another phrase that includes a racial slur.

Prosecutors say Melly, after a late-night recording session, shot Thomas and Williams inside an SUV and he and Cortlen "YNW Bortlen" Henry then tried to make it look like a drive-by shooting.

Melly chased stardom from a very young age.

Born in the small town of Giffords, Florida outside of Vero Beach, Demons boasted about getting out of there.

Melly's mom, Jamie Demons-King, was just 15 when he was born and says he was outgoing from the start.

"If you played music or anything like that he was down to dance and perform always," she said.

Just as his music career started to take off, so did his life in the criminal justice system.

In late 2015, Melly was arrested for shooting at a group of students near Vero Beach High School.

A conviction led to serving several months in prison for aggravated battery and assault.

While incarcerated, he joined the YNW collective and started releasing music -- among the songs was "Murder on my Mind."

Music videos of his songs amassed 200 million views on YouTube by early 2019 with one song featuring Kanye West who now goes by Ye.

At 24, Demons has lived one-quarter of his life behind bars.

The rapper remains jailed without bond.