YNW Melly Awaits Jail Release Decision Ahead of Murder Retrial – NBC 6 South Florida

On By Littum

Attorneys for rapper YNW Melly are praying that a federal court judge will release him from prison ahead of his double-murder trial in Broward.

YNW Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, is accused of shooting two friends to death back in 2018. He has been in custody since his arrest in February 2019. His first murder case in 2023 ended in a mistrial.

Now his lawyers are arguing that Demons should be released from custody because the conditions of his confinement are illegal.

A recently filed petition claims that the Demons’ “current detention conditions shock the conscience.” It goes on to say that he “continues to be subjected to the kind of debilitating solitary confinement that makes his conditions of imprisonment cruel, unusual and unimaginable.”

The petition claims that Demons has not been allowed to make a single phone call or have a single visit with his family, including his mother, for over three years.

Last month, a judge ordered the Broward Sheriff’s Office to explain why Demons should not be released based on the petition’s allegations.

YNW Melly is seeking his immediate release from prison in a new lawsuit accusing the Broward Sheriff’s Office of cruel treatment and violation of his constitutional rights.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office now has until Dec. 16, after a 10-day request for more time, to respond to the judge’s order.

“The Broward Sheriff’s Office generally does not comment on pending litigation. Our Office of the General Counsel will respond to the judge’s order,” BSO said in a statement. “Jamell Demons has been placed on administrative segregation, which is a classification that results in an alternative life assignment for an inmate whose placement in the general population poses a serious threat to the safety of staff or inmates, or life and property.”

Michael Pizzi, an attorney for the Demons, said the petition does not challenge the merits of the criminal charges he faces. The goal is for the judge to review the conditions of his incarceration and consider ordering a release prior to trial.

Demons’ second double murder trial is currently scheduled to begin in September 2025.