YNW Melly’s Witness Tampering Trial Starts This Month

YNW Melly’s witness tampering case is scheduled to go to trial in a few weeks.

On Monday (Jan. 5), the Florida rapper appeared in Broward County Court for a motion hearing. During Monday’s hearing, both sides filed motions as to what should be admissible in the rapper’s witness tampering trial, according to news outlet NBC 6 South Florida.

Melly has been behind bars fighting a double-murder case since 2019 and additional witness tampering charges that were tacked on in 2023 after his first trial ended in a mistrial. The witness tampering trial is slated to start on Jan. 21, while the double murder re-trial has been pushed back several times and is now scheduled to take place in 2027.

Melly is accused of killing his childhood friends Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams in October of 2018 and making it look like they were victims of a drive-by. In October of 2023, prosecutors charged Melly with witness tampering, claiming Melly disuaded his ex-girlfriend, Mariah Hamilton, and her mother, Felicia Holmes, from testifying in the first trial.

YNW Melly will have new representation for his upcoming trials. Last September, he added attorneys Drew Findling and Carey Haughwout to his legal team. Melly requested the new counsel last August. He cited his former lawyer, Raven Liberty, being under investigation for reported witness tampering.

Melly’s codefendant in both cases, YNW Bortlen, accepted a plea deal last September and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and six years of supervised release.

Watch NBC 6 South Florida’s Report on the Latest in the YNW Melly Witness Tampering Case