Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘He Got Betrayed’: YNW Juvy’s Dad Reacts to YNW Melly Trial, Sheds Light on Double Murders

Episode Date: June 13, 2023

The father of Christopher Thomas Jr., aka YNW Juvy, sheds light on the death of his son and beloved friend Anthony Williams, aka YNW Sakchaser. YNW Melly, born Jamell Demons, currently faces trial for allegedly killing the two aspiring rappers in 2018. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy discusses the high-profile case with Christopher Thomas Sr.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View's Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. That's Christopher Thomas, known as YNW Juvie. The man accused of murdering him. That's Christopher Thomas, known as YNW Juvie. The man accused of murdering him. YNW Melly is on trial accused of killing another man too. Juvie's dad is here with his story. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy and welcome to Law and Crimes Sidebar podcast. Testimony is underway in the trial of Jamel Demons, known by his stage name YNW Melly.

Melly is accused of murdering two members of his group, Chris Thomas, who went by YNW Juv and Anthony Williams, who was known as YNW Sack Chasing. The men were shot to death in an SUV after leaving a late night recording session on October 26, 2018, with Mellie and another group member, Cortland Henry, who went by YNW, Bortland. Portland was driving the SUV. Later that morning, Bortland showed up at the hospital. Juvie and Sack Chaser were dead in the car. Mellie was not with them. Chris, first of all, I know this has been a difficult almost five years now.

How are you doing right now with this trial finally starting? It's kind of overwhelming at times, but doing the best I can at the moment. A lot of people may not know a lot about your son. What do you want people to know about him? We know he was an aspiring rapper. He was part of this YNW group. Chris was a good kid. He's the second of my oldest boys.

He's the oldest of his mom kids. And he loved his whole family. He loved all his friends. And he just got caught up for being too loyal and got betrayed by one of his so-called friends in a sad situation for everybody tell me a little bit about that because you know it's my understanding that juvie was friends with melly and sack chaser for quite some time tell me when when did you first come to know melly i met melly around like 99 like a couple years before chris met him i was friends with with his his mely's mom

best friend at the time and that's how i got to know melody then chris got to know him after that he was they was all good kids coming up just laughing playing joking with each other having fun like to hang out with each other and he loved them boys and he loved them to a fault so he was friends with them since they were little kids then it sounds like yes man they went to elementary middle school high school all together that's i i know his mom as well and his stepdad and the rest of his family, Meli's family. And the music started, I think, around 2000, maybe 13. And they were just all making the music together? Yes. Started from rapping at school until making music together and coming up with the name, the Y&W, and it just went from there. And Sack and Chris and Mellie was

even J. Green was all founded members of the Y&W. Melly was just the face of it. I said, say now that Chris and Anthony is gone, now he just took everything over. Sounds like your son and the other guys had a lot of really big dreams. Yes, ma'am, they did. They love music. They love to perform. And they was on their way like to do big things and it just got cut short. This tragedy, everybody else around still trying to pick up the pieces. Like a lot of families got broken with the situation. Mellie is saying that he is innocent. His defense attorneys are saying the state can't prove its case.

But it's my understanding you believed from the very beginning that Mellie was responsible for your son's death and the death of Anthony. From the day one, I believe that Mellie was responsible for my son's death on October 26 when I first heard the story. Because his explanation, when I finally talked to him in Cortland on a FaceTime, their response and how they were able to react. then they showed no remorse. They didn't act like they was grieving, like they lost the best friend or nothing. They were in my opinion. They were in the best spirits. They never came to town, never came to my son's funeral, never came to a sack funeral.

And these are best friends. He passed straight through the county of Indian River when the Bavard and did a music video, but he couldn't even stop and pay his condolences to his best friend's mom. He even got Jana tattered on his neck. That's why his defense attorney got him wearing turtlenecks and shirts to hide. his neck because he got the jana tatted on his neck that's sack mom's name and he got chris name and sack name and this guy that guy is just i had no words for that guy what was it in particular that was said on that face time that made you think that melly was responsible nothing was said

actually was like the demeanor it was like the body language really like i was just reading them and as i'm telling them and asking them question i got so emotion i started crying they didn't even they wasn't reacting to they had like they didn't they didn't have to take a loss at all that's I that's I that's I took it and then when I was talking to me I still had in the back of my my mind they did something is not right something's not right did they tell you anything about what they claimed happened with the the drive by they claim happened no they had absolutely no explanation like we have to figure it out just like the police Chris why do you think that this happened Why do you think Mellie did this?

Because Melly is on trial. The state has to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed these crimes. Why do you think this happened? I think the story about the $200,000 when Anthony was a true story because it's not reported, but Chris told me the same story. And also with a $500,000 play, and Mellie was going to get $200,000. Sack was going to get $200,000. Chris was going to get $100,000.

And as I'm hearing it from Chris, they was going to sell the Y&W brand. not a record deal or nothing like that it was like for the brand itself and by them being founding members they was going to get a piece of the pie so i think i don't i don't think mely did it on his own i think that manager guy got in his ear and did a little divide and conquer because it was up the sack it would know it would never be a hundred k management they were going to sell the ynw name for licensing or to sell products what do you mean they were going to sell the name for marketing licensing stuff like that i think that I didn't want to go up on a big umbrella just to push them, I think.

Push the brand more global. That's what I'm thinking. And so you think that Melly wanted a bigger cut of that then? I think Melly didn't want to get them guys nothing. He wanted to be the only one to shine. And then they came to town next day and gave the mothers $15,000, the other mother, $10,000. So I thought to myself, if that was going to get $200,000, $200,000, getting $100,000, If we could pay these people $25,000 and keep $275,000, that's how I saw it.

It's just nothing seemed, nothing added up. Melly's still to this day to be in, for me to hear them call them boys, his best friend is an insult. That is an insult. Was there any sign of bad blood before your son's life was taken and before Anthony was killed? Was there any tension there that you knew of? Not with Juvie, not with Chris, but, you know, you heard things about him. Anthony getting into, like, altercations about disputes about money over, over certain situations, and they got in the fight prior to that. And they said, like, you know, the story that they say sack beat him up and not just goals out in front of his girlfriend.

And, like, two days later, I think that's when the incident happened. Chris, I know that something that has to be really hard about this is the fact that there are relatives here, relatives of Cortland Henry, who are also relatives. of the victims. Yes. Chris and Cortland share a sister and she's my daughter. Her and Chris had the same dad, which is me and her and Courtney share the same mom. And she took the side of Mellie. She still to this day screens free Melly all on her Facebook, Instagram, she'll go live with free Melly shirts and they just got her brainwash with the money. They just shouting her with gifts in Portland and got my daughter just brainwashed to the fact that she wishing the killer of her brother was free.

I just don't understand that. That's a heartbreaking feeling, man. For me to see that daily her saying that, that's just heartbreaking. Do you talk to your daughter about this? I haven't talked. We haven't talked. She was living with me up until the time

shortly after the funeral's, and then we went out separate ways. I haven't talked to her in over two years. So it sounds like you've lost two children. Yes, ma'am. And them the two that look like me the most, and it's crazy. Are you hoping that this trial, maybe at the end, things can change with your daughter? Yeah, once you see the truth and then boys get convicted, I'm hoping that her whole demeanor change.

But knowing them, they're going to be like, wait to the appeal. He's still innocent. Wait to the appeal. But just have to wait and see, man. It's going to be a process. be a process. I know you watched a lot of the first day of the trial. How did you feel it was going so far and have you watched today as well? Yes, ma'am. I think it's going pretty good. It's just a long process. Just got to trust the process in my book. And I think she's doing a good job. I think once the ballistic, the forensics, the cell phone, and when it showed that Chris got shot on his left cheek

in the back rear seat got shot from this side of the car in his left cheek with stifling on his face and the burn marks on his face from the gun muzzle all that's going to point in one direction to that guy that was sitting in the back driver's passing aside back driver's side and the christine bradley the prosecutor had said yesterday that the medical examiner is going to testify that before the shots were fired into the vehicle that your son and anthony they were already dead. And when those shots went into the vehicle, they had already been shot

and the fatal shots came from the back seat. That's the testimony that's expected. Yes, ma'am. From my understanding, yes, the shot that Chris left cheek was the fatal shot that took him out. And then when he staged the drive-by, the shots were in the back,

they could tell by the way Chris' body was slumped over how, like, it was staged after the fact. Yeah, I guess that's going to come out. I can't wait. That's going to be, like, breaking news. It was Kristen. Chris wasn't killed in the drive-by. I know that for a fact.

One thing that Christine Bradley said yesterday was that in the days leading up to this, Mellie was learning the oath of loyalty to the G-Shine blood set to a gang. Did you know anything about that? Had your son ever discussed anything with you about this gang that Mellie was allegedly becoming a part of? No, that was something he was doing in his private life on his own, separate from Kristen. And Christine, or the lawyers was always saying that Chris lived in the Miramar. Chris never lived down there. He lived in Gifford, he lived in Giff, Florida.

He might go down there for a day or two, but he always had the same address, same house, same everything, up until the time of passing. Well, I wanted to play some clips from the trial so far. And, Chris, I want to get your feelings on some of what was said in opening statements. This is Christine Bradley, the assistant state attorney, talking about what amounts to possibly a confession in this case. So in summary, the last thing I want to tell you that the evidence will show is that in the Instagram, because the defendant had a moderate social media following at the time of these events, People are reaching out to him. Some fans, some friends, some associates.

You'll see in October 26th, after about 8 a.m. in the morning, Eastern time, multiple messages are coming in. Messages are coming in from individuals checking to see if he's okay, if he's been injured in this drive-by. If it's true that Anthony Williams, who's also sometimes referred to as, Zach and Chris Thomas, who is referred to as Juby, are really dead. One individual, and specifically, sends out, and I want to quote the message exactly that you will hear, and says, right after this, yo, homie, you good?

Let me know something. So ladies and gentlemen, this is where context matters. What does that mean? If you work at Google and you say my whole floor is coding, that's a good thing. If you work at our general hospital and you say my whole floor is coding, that is a bad thing. The context around the messages matters. So in the context of this message, this individual is reaching out, asking if Mr. Demons is good after he's been tagged in multiple social media posts about this drive through, this shooting. And Mr. Demons responds very succinctly.

I did that. Shh. Chris, when you heard that, what did you think? sound like a cryptic confession to me. Like she said, if you take everything in the context, it sounded like he was speaking on the incident that happened, and he admitted to doing it and said, don't say anything about it.

That's how I took it. It sounds like there's going to be some cell phone evidence presented in this case, some other things. Anything you can share with us about that? Cell phone evidence will show that Melly was in the backseat, they got the surveillance camera with him getting in the back seat and they also show with the phone they show him going around the car twice like shooting up the car whatever and then once he gets out the car they have him getting out the car as well and on the side of the road then he made the

face-time phone call to Felicia homes Mariah Helmton's mom and she's going to testify to that that she saw him on the side of the road and the bush is talking about he think that Juveit and Sack was murdered or dead or whatever. And in my opinion, like, at that time, who told him that? So he had to have knowledge of something. So I just think, in my opinion, in my opinion, but me, it was an opening set case. I think Mellie's guilty as charged, and I wish nothing but the death penalty for him. Let's listen to Christine Bradley again talking about Instagram messages and this whole thing about the loyalty oath to the gang.

the Instagram, from the private messages, was that Jamal Demons is a member of the G-Shine Blood Set. This is not a stage personality. This is not an actor that's playing a character. This was his real life. Ladies and gentlemen, you will see that as soon as October 24th, Two days before the homicide, Jamel Demons is learning the oath of loyalty to the G-Shine blood set. You're going to see things in these messages that will be indicative of blood membership. For example, any time a word would normally be spelled with a C, as in Charlie, they don't use that. they replace it with the letter B. So instead of saying, I'm at the crib, they say I'm at the bribe. Why, ladies and gentlemen? Because C is associated with cribs. B is for bloods. So if you

look through all the messages, you will notice time and time again, Jamel Danes is dropping C's and using these. And you're going to see pictures. You're going to see. You're going to see videos of the defendant doing something called stacking, which is a way to show a gang affiliation and to broadcast it to the world. And this is not just in music videos. This is not just in lyrics because we're not going to hit into that. That's artistic expression. That's not why we are here today. So, Chris, your thoughts on what Christine Bradley said there, do you think that your son's death and Anthony's death was in any way related to any type of gang initiation process? On the text message and what I heard her tell me about the text message, I think so

because it's other text messages I don't want to divulge too much information that's going to come out that that's going to support that theory. Let's look at the defense now. Melly's defense attorney obviously saying he's innocent, that they can't prove this. So let's listen to David Howard. That's the first indication that they're just guessing and don't know what they're talking. And that, ladies and gentlemen, by itself is reasonable doubt. Why he would commit such a heinous crime against his own two best friends for no reason. What happened here is that the lead detective, Detective Moray

saw a video of Mr. Demons getting into a car 40 plus minutes before bodies were found in that car. And then he discovered that Mr. Demons was a rising star. And from that point on, he decided he's the only person that could have committed this crime. Because if you're involved in prosecuting a star, you become a star.

This was his big break. And he had tunnel vision. He zeroed in on this person. This young man is the only possible perpetrator of that crime to the exclusion of all other leads and evidence. Chris, what did you think when David Howard said that? It was all just something that made up. I don't believe nothing that he was just saying.

Because, like, that's the same theory that his, managers was pushing on us like, oh, it's not Melly. You know how the white man always trying to take the black man down and this, that and another. He's just a successful black guy. They don't, I don't want to hear none of that. That's not true. If anything, why him? Why Melly? Why just put this on him? Why Melly? It don't make sense. They're just throwing hell Mary's, like throwing stuff to the wall, hoping it stick. David Howard also says that the police botched this investigation. Let's listen to him, talk about that. They don't follow leads.

They have no motive. Investigation was botched. Investigation, as a matter of fact, is still going on as we speak up to a couple months ago. Yet they're here telling you they have proof beyond a reasonable doubt and what you're still investigating for. The job of the state is to prove it beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt. And if you're a reasonable person and you have doubt, that's reasonable doubt.

There's a song called Things That Make You Go, Hmm. If you say hmm, that's reasonable doubt. You do not. Ms. Bradley is charming. She's good of her job in some respects. But this is not a popularity contest. We don't give, hey, good effort. We don't give participation awards.

This man is not. life is hanging in the balance. And if there is a scintilla of reasonable doubt, you must have the courage to speak up and say so. You're not here to judge him. You're here to judge the sufficiency of their case. They have a big task in front of them. You should probably get to it. Wow. So what were your thoughts and do you believe that this investigation was botched? Oh man. I don't think it was botched. I think they did a great job and everything will come together in the end. He's just trying to put a little thought in the jury's minds. Like he wasn't even trying to tell them like he's innocent. He's just like trying to like put a reasonable doubt. Not that he's innocent. He's not trying to prove his innocence.

It's like to me, they know he did it. They just trying to get. I don't know. They just know he did. They're not trying to prove his innocence. I feel like so often you get into the evidence and really the victims get lost in these trials. Just any final words about your son? It's always forever long little Juvie. I miss him and loving the death. You got a lot of Melly fans that be spamming my inbox and all over. Even y'all guys chat to my free Melly. But one of their loved ones was to get murdered.

and imagine the whole world saying free the alleged killer of that guy. It just make you feel some type of way and just want to crash out yourself because, I don't know, they like, first they're trying to make a scene like Chris and Sack was extorting Melly, which is a false narrative that his campaigned. That was never, never true. And Chris never did nothing to nobody. They can't even say nothing he did to Melly, nothing that they can't show anything that made him want to do anything to Chris. And that's what got me the way I'm feeling because Chris never did anything.

And he, he loved that dude. And that dude did that to him. I just, I never, I never accept that. And to everybody that's on his side, it's on the opposite side of me. If he's convicted, would you like him to get the death penalty? Because he's the first person to, you know, have the death penalty as a potential punishment since the law changed lowered the threshold for it. Yes, I-49. old testament I think he deserve it because they show no remorse they still

trying to bad mouth these boys and when it happened Mellie and Christom had Instagram pages he went on his page they went on his page whoever took all the pictures down to Chris and Anthony and made it look like they was never existed if he's so innocent they never put up a reward to find the killer. They never did a tribute. They never did anything. They even pushed Chris funeral back from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. just for Meli can make it and he still didn't show up. And he never showed up to the second frontal. So that's your best friend. And you don't even come to the funeral. I just, I don't know, man. That guy deserves everything coming his way.

And I have no sympathy for him. Him or nobody in his family. Well, Chris Thomas, Sr., thank you so much for joining us. I know this is not easy. We appreciate you giving us some of your time and we hope to see you down there at the trial. Okay, you will. Thank you, ma'am. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Anjanette Levy and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this

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