Witness discredits YNW Melly's 'drive-by' alibi in double murder
Prosecutors in the Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons murder trial turned their focus Wednesday to the physical evidence that told investigators the victims were not the targets of a drive-by shooting.
Broward Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab manager Jorge Bello took the stand for most of the day, carefully going over the practices used by experts to classify and identify shell casings inside the Jeep where Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas where murdered early on Oct. 26, 2018.
His conclusions, considered with observations from two other prosecution witnesses, appeared to establish that the all the bullets came from the same type of .40 caliber weapon — one that has never been recovered.
The other bullets were collected at Pembroke Road near US 27, where prosecutors say Melly and co-defendant Cortland Henry tried to cover up the murder by making it look like Henry’s Jeep had been shot at from the outside.
In opening statements earlier this week, prosecutor Kristine Bradley told jurors the physical evidence would lead to the inescapable conclusion that the fatal shots were fired from inside the car, while the shots fired at the vehicle from the outside came when the victims were already dead.
Bradley and fellow prosecutor Camille Smith will need to weave together the meticulous testimony from Bello, Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab analyst James Marano, and Miramar Police Crime Scene Supervisor Michael Kelly to prove Demons and Henry’s guilt.
Demons and Henry will have separate trials.
Jurors saw images from the outside and inside of the bloody Jeep. The passenger side of the vehicle was riddled with bullet holes. The passenger side windows and rear window were shot out. There was damage to the driver’s side front of the Jeep, though there was no indication that the damage came from the morning of the murders.
The missing windows made it difficult to tell the trajectory of some bullets because they eliminated a key reference point, Kelly said. Defense lawyer Jason Roger Williams seized on that uncertainty to cast doubt on Kelly’s testimony, saying it was inherently unreliable because the missing evidence made it “impossible” to fully analyze the bullet trajectories.
Prosecutors have said later evidence will show the bullets that killed the two victims came from the person seated behind the driver, not from outside the passenger side of the car.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Thursday. Demons, 24, could face the death penalty if convicted.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.
Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel
