{"id":7544,"date":"2025-08-28T09:25:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/ynw-melly-fires-lawyers-after-murder-trial-delayed-again\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T09:25:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:25:54","slug":"ynw-melly-fires-lawyers-after-murder-trial-delayed-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/ynw-melly-fires-lawyers-after-murder-trial-delayed-again\/","title":{"rendered":"YNW Melly Fires Lawyers After Murder Trial Delayed Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tYNW Melly is firing his lawyers after his double-murder trial was postponed until 2027, replacing them with a famed hip hop criminal defense attorney who\u2019s previously repped Cardi B, Lil Durk and Lil Nas X.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a court filing Wednesday, the rapper (Jamell Demons<\/strong>) tells a Florida judge that an ongoing criminal investigation into his current legal team has created a conflict of interest that \u201cmakes it impossible\u201d for them to continue defending him in the long-running case.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cIt is unknown the exact nature of the investigation but an attorney being under criminal investigation by the same prosecutorial body would constitute a conflict of interest,\u201d Melly\u2019s new lawyers write in the court filings, obtained by Billboard<\/em>, later adding that his lawyers might have \u201cfear of further recrimination\u201d if they vigorously litigate the case.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce a fast-rising hip-hop star, Melly has sat in jail since 2019 awaiting a verdict on murder charges over accusations that he and another man shot and killed his close friends Anthony \u201cYNW Sakchaser\u201d Williams<\/strong> and Christopher \u201cYNW Juvy\u201d Thomas, Jr.<\/strong> in 2018.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat case has been endlessly delayed \u2014 first by COVID-19, then by a long-running death penalty appeal, then by a hung-jury mistrial, and now by another appeal over evidence. Earlier this month, a judge postponed the trial until January 2027 \u2014 nearly eight years<\/em> after the rapper was first arrested.<\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday\u2019s filing cited the supposed criminal investigation, not the recent delay, as the reason for the change in lawyers. Though it did not say which of Melly\u2019s current attorneys are under investigation, courtroom proceedings in January indicated that the target of the probe is Raven Liberty<\/strong>, Melly\u2019s longtime lead counsel, according to NBC6 South Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tLiberty and the rest of Melly\u2019s current legal team \u2014 Daniel Aaronson<\/strong>, Stuart Adelstein<\/strong>, Peter Patanzo<\/strong> and James S. Benjamin<\/strong> \u2014 have all consented to the change in legal teams, according to Wednesday\u2019s filing. Liberty did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tTaking over Melly\u2019s case will be Drew Findling<\/strong>, a veteran Atlanta criminal attorney with who\u2019s-who list of powerhouse hip-hop clients. In past cases, Findling defended Cardi B on charges of assault in a Queens strip club; repped Offset on drug and gun charges<\/a> following a 2018 traffic stop; and helped Gucci Mane secure a plea deal<\/a> on federal gun charges.<\/p>\n

\n\tMelly\u2019s case will join a packed docket for Findling. He\u2019s repping Lil Durk in his federal murder-for-hire case, as well as GloRilla on Georgia drug charges handed down last month. And as of last week, he\u2019s also representing Lil Nas X as he fights felony battery charges for allegedly lunging at police officers in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\tJoining Findling on Melly\u2019s case will be Carey Haughwout<\/strong>, a Florida attorney who recently retired to private practice<\/a> after serving as Palm Beach County\u2019s public defender for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn Wednesday\u2019s filing, Melly\u2019s soon-to-be lawyers said shed new light on the apparent probe into his attorneys, which prosecutors have not publicly disclosed. It said defense lawyers only learned about the investigation because Apple alerted them that some information had been turned over to the Broward County Sheriff Department, adding, \u201cThis information had never been relayed to the defense by the prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne key fear for Melly\u2019s new lawyers is that an unannounced investigation into one of the defense lawyers may have scooped up \u201cprotected attorney-client communications\u201d \u2014 and that they will not be able to effectively fight back.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMr. Demons\u2019 current team may be unable to fully litigate this issue without fear of further recrimination in the criminal case against one of the team,\u201d Haughwout writes in the new motion.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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YNW Melly is firing his lawyers after his double-murder trial was postponed until 2027, replacing them with a famed hip hop criminal defense attorney who\u2019s previously repped Cardi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[818,3413,7,6618,2528,342,6617],"class_list":["post-7544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-delayed","tag-fires","tag-lawyers","tag-melly","tag-murder","tag-trial","tag-ynw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}