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UPDATE (May 7):
YNW Melly’s attorney, Drew Findling, has released the following statement to XXL about the rapper’s bond being denied again after seven years in jail fighting a double-murder case.
“The Court, the State Attorney’s Office, and all who observed this bond hearing should have been deeply troubled by the clear evidence presented regarding the inhumane conditions Mr. Demons has endured for over seven years (with the last three in solitary confinement) while presumed innocent under our Constitution. Yet the Court denied bond and allowed those conditions to continue without even acknowledging the shocking circumstances under which he has been forced to live.
The irony is that in the last few days, the nation saw a United States Magistrate Judge apologize to an individual accused of an attempted assassination of the President for his mere days in solitary confinement and not a word by this Court regarding the three years.
In the collective decades of experience shared by this defense team, we have never encountered such cruel treatment comparable to what Mr. Demons has endured. Numerous colleagues across the legal community have likewise expressed disbelief and outrage at the conditions imposed in this case.
Mr. Demons remains an innocent man in the eyes of the law. The State failed to secure a conviction once, and we remain confident it will fail again. Unfortunately, it now appears that only a jury’s verdict compelling his release will bring an end to the years of unnecessary and unjust punishment he has already suffered.”
ORIGINAL STORY (May 7):
Following multiple attempts to be freed ahead of his initial trial and retrial, YNW Melly has once again been denied bond after spending seven years in jail fighting his case.
The South Florida rapper has his latest bond hearing on Thursday (April 30), the first with his new legal team. The ruling on whether he would be released before his double-murder trial was deferred. On Wednesday (May 6), Broward County, Fla., judge Martin S. Fein finally decided to deny the rapper’s release.
Melly has been pushing for a bond for the past several years, going as far as suing the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in 2024 and claiming they were violating his human rights in an attempt to be released. However, his efforts have been unfruitful.
Melly is being charged with killing two of his childhood friends in 2018. His first trial in 2023 ended in a mistrial, and the prosecution decided to run it back. Since then, there have been multiple delays. That October, Melly was additionally charged with witness tampering. The charges were dropped in January.
Last August, Melly dropped his legal team and added high-powered attorney Drew Findling to his counsel. Findling is also working on Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire case. His client list also includes Cardi B, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, YFN Lucci and others.
YNW Melly’s retrial is now scheduled for next January.
XXL has reached out to YNW Melly’s attorney for comment.
See Court Documents Showing the Ruling on YNW Melly’s Bond
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