Attorneys representing rapper YNW Melly have criticised a court decision denying him bond ahead of his retrial on double murder charges, arguing that the artist has endured harsh treatment while in custody for years.
The legal team for YNW Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, stated Thursday’s ruling refusing his release on bond. His lawyers, Drew Findling and Carey Haughwout, compared his detention conditions to a recent high-profile court case involving an individual accused of attempting to assassinate former US President Donald Trump.
“The irony is that in the last few days, the nation saw a United States Magistrate Judge apologise 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,” the attorneys said.
The lawyers were referencing a recent case involving Cole Allen, where a judge reportedly apologised in court over the conditions of confinement.
According to Melly’s legal team, the rapper has spent more than seven years in jail while awaiting trial proceedings, including approximately three years in solitary confinement. The attorneys described the conditions as “inhumane” and said they had rarely encountered treatment they considered comparable during their legal careers.
“In the collective decades of experience shared by this defence team, we have never encountered such cruel treatment comparable to what Mr Demons has endured,” they said. “Numerous colleagues across the legal community have likewise expressed disbelief and outrage at the conditions imposed in this case.”
YNW Melly is awaiting retrial over the 2018 shooting deaths of Christopher Thomas Jr. and Anthony Williams. The retrial is currently scheduled to begin in January 2027.
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