YNW Melly facing potential death penalty over murder charges

After a court appeal in Florida went over the finer details of YNW Melly’s first-degree murder charges, the rapper could now face the death penalty if he is found guilty when his trial resumes.

Back in July, Judge Andrew Siegel passed the ruling that Melly’s prosecutors could not pursue the death penalty in his case, seeing as they had not given his legal team ample time to respond to the fact that that was their intention. Melly’s team had referred to a Florida law in April that stated that prosecutors must give 45 days’ notice of their intention to arraign a defendant.

However, the Florida District Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that Siegel’s original ruling had not been accurate. The matter of fact is that Melly’s prosecutors had indeed given more than 45 days’ notice when first charging Melly back in 2019.

Judge Spencer D. Levine stated in the appeals court, “We find that the state complied with its statutory obligations when it filed its notice of intent to seek the death penalty within 45 days of arraignment. The fact that the state filed a superseding indictment, requiring a second arraignment, does not vitiate the already filed and timely notice of intent.”

He continued, “Notice is notice. The superseding indictment was clearly a continuation of the original indictment. We find the trial court erred by precluding the state from seeking the death penalty, and thus, grant the writ of prohibition.”

Melly was charged with first-degree murder in 2019 in relation to the deaths of two of his YNW associates, YNW Sakchaser and Juvy. Melly pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial had been set to resume in March this year but had been delayed. In July, it was postponed owing to the fact that the court was unsure whether or not Melly’s prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, although now it appears that issue has been cleared up.