YNW Melly Hopes To Avoid Death Penalty In First-Degree Murder Case

BYHayley Hynes31.8K Views
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YNW Melly
YNW Melly is up against two counts of first-degree murder.

YNW Melly's legal team is working hard to protect him. As AllHipHop reports, the 22-year-old rapper is currently awaiting trial for first-degree murder, and his lawyers recently filed motions in an effort to remove the death penalty as an option when it comes time for sentencing.

According to the defence, the prosecution "[hasn't] met the criteria to justify the harsh punishment," but they argue that Melly "committed murder in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner."

On Monday, February 7th, the defence filed their opposing motion, arguing that "This aggravating factor is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, is not capable of a constitutionally adequate narrowing construction and has been applied in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner."

When giving their notice to seek the death penalty, prosecutors reportedly listed four aggravating factors. Late last year, the defence is said to have "submitted a mitigation package to dispute those factors being proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

The Just A Matter of Slime hitmaker's legal team has contended that "the death penalty still wouldn't be appropriate," even if the burden of proof happened to be met. A mitigation package was supposed to be sent to a Death Penalty Review Committee to receive a final decision, but as of February 3rd has still not been received.

YNW Melly Hopes To Avoid Death Penalty In First-Degree Murder Case
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AllHipHop notes that the defence has concerns about whether the package will be reviewed in time for trial, which is scheduled to kick off on March 7th. They've asked that the court either compel the state to send the package to the committee or drop the death penalty entirely.

As we previously reported, YNW Melly is facing two counts of first-degree murder for the alleged slaying of his friends Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas in 2018 – read more about that here.

[Via]


About The Author
Hayley Hynes is the former Weekend Managing Editor of HotNewHipHop, she stepped down after two years in 2024 to pursue other creative opportunities but remains on staff part-time to cover music, gossip, and pop culture news. Currently, she contributes similar content on Blavity and 21Ninety, as well as on her personal blog where she also offers tarot/astrology services. Hayley resides on the western side of Canada, previously spending a year in Vancouver to study Fashion Marketing at Blanche Macdonald Centre and Journalism at Mount Royal University in Calgary before that. She's passionate about helping others heal through storytelling, and shares much more about her life on Instagram @hayleyhynes.
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