Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 6 Bombshells Dropped by Lead Detective in YNW Melly’s Double Murder Case

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

The prosecution seeking a conviction against YNW Melly called the lead detective to the stand to summarize all major pieces of evidence against the rapper in his double murder case. Melly stands accused of killing Christopher Thomas Jr., aka YNW Juvy, and Anthony Williams, aka YNW SakChaser, and staging the murders as a drive-by shooting. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy breaks down the top six bombshells dropped by lead detective Mark Moretti with former FBI agent Bobby Chacon.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 JunkieThey 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. Jurors hear from YNW Melly and the two friends he's accused of killing. We were talking about that job. Back in the day, they like, Swifling. They wanted you. They're crazy. Rapper? That's what you want to be. They're going to go get a job.

They also see a video of Mellie and Bortland, hours after the homicide. having a good time. These are just some of the major moments from the testimony of the lead detective in Mellie's double murder trial. Welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. I'm Anjanette Levy. Detective Mark Moretti is the state's final witness in YNW Mellie's murder trial. He spent hours testifying about things that he found as he investigated the murders of Chris Thomas Jr. who went by YNW Juvvi and Anthony Williams, who went by YNW Sack Chaser. Some of the testimony

focused on money, text messages and arguments between YNW members, particularly Sack and Melly. Melly's mom, Jamie King, is also mentioned in these arguments. Sack was none too happy with her in the months before the homicides. Joining me to discuss some of the big moments so far from Detective Mark Moretti's testimony is Bobby Chaconne. He's a retired FBI agent who investigated gangs and the mafia. He's also an attorney, so he knows a lot about criminal cases. Bobby, welcome back to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Good to be back. One of the things, Bobby, that was interesting to me is the fact that Detective Moretti was asked about so-called satchel man purses that both Bortland and YNW. Melly were carrying

when they left the recording studio that night before the homicides were committed. And Detective Moretti was asked about these man purse slash satchels. So let's listen. Were any man purses satchels found in that regie? No, ma'am. Specifically, the beige one that's pictured at 2.1840? No, ma'am, we do not recover that. Continuing forward to 21905, was a black satchel recovered?

No, ma'am. Specifically the one that is seen in the individual in the black and white jacket? Correct. Did Mr. Henry have possession of either of those saddles or man purses at the hospital? No, ma'am. Okay, Bobby, so the big point here is the fact that they leave the studio with man purses, and then Bortland arrives at the hospital in a frenzy with his two dead friends in the car, they seize the car, no man purses.

How significant do you see that? Well, I mean, in a case like this where the, you know, the allegation is they carry out the murder with guns, guns can fit into those satchels very well, and then they're gone, and then the guns are gone, and we can't find the guns. Right. So this is a very, this is a way of the prosecution explaining where the guns were, what happened to them. Lilly, Mellie's not there. Portland arises, it's worse for Portland because he has it in his possession.

You can see it physically on the tape. And then if his story is to have believed, he gets in that vehicle with the two victims and then they're shot, and then he goes to the hospital. So there's no intervening stop that he makes. There's no intervening thing that would remove that satchel from him. Mellie, we don't see at the hospital, so we don't know where and when his story alters from that. But his story is, I got into the car, we were driving, this drive-by happens, and then I go to the hospital. So that the satchel that you see him with in that video should be on him or in that car.

And so, you know, it's, that's where it gets interesting. And clearly, the implication by the prosecution is, you know, they were carrying their weapons in those satchels. You know, when Melly got out of the car and left, he took both then with him. I assume that's what they're going to allege in their closing arguments. It seems like that's where they're going. The next point that was interesting was the fact that we have these cell phones these days that track everything we do, our steps, everything. And Detective Moretti said he analyzed the cell phone records.

And he looked at where Melly's cell phone, which is in dispute. The defense says it was almost like passed around and used by everybody. But the state says no way. It was Mellie's phone. He says he looks at that. The longitude in the last. latitude and it puts Mellie's phone right at the crime scene. Take a listen. So, Detective Moretti, I want to go here in publishing states 90. Once you have your bearings on this,

this point from the 9807 phone. I'm going to switch over to the other side at 403 a.m. What area does this depict? This is the actual crime scene on U.S. 27 in Pembroke Road. And approximately where along Pembroke Road on this map were those casings discovered? It was on the south side of road about 820 meters from U.S. 27. I'm sorry, 820 feet in front of the US 27. And I'll say where the GPS coordinated at. So Detective Moretti is saying that Melly's cell phone was essentially at the crime scene, that intersection of Pembroke Road and U.S. 27 at 4.3 a.m.

That's, you know, 30 minutes before Bortland arrives at the hospital. So how significant is that? Well, it's very significant. And this is how you see a prosecution building a case. So we saw testimony earlier in the trial that. Melly was taking selfies with this phone and doing face-times with this phone and using this phone actively. And like you said, he's trying to allege this was kind of a community phone and passed around. But the prosecution has already put in evidence testimony that, you know,

that ties him pretty directly to this phone. This is his phone. You tie that with the fact that it's 403 a.m. in the morning, you know, how many people are up there and how many people in this so-called community that's using this phone is up at 4.303 a.m. in this rural area where you look at that area of photograph, there's not a whole lot of other things around. This is not a convenience store where a bunch of people are hanging out or anything. So, you know, this phone in that rural area that they've already established through previous testimony he uses and is pretty much his sole exclusive phone. You can see how they're building through different testimony of different witnesses, their narrative and their storyline. And this is

another damning piece. If it's giving credibility, which it should be, this is scientific, kind of scientific evidence. So, you know, it's one of those pieces that tell the story of where Melly was that evening. The defense is basically disputing a lot of this and saying that Detective Moretti isn't even an expert in this and he shouldn't even be introducing this evidence. So it'll be interesting to see what the defense does on cross with this and when they call their own experts. One thing the defense has also said in this case is Melly, Juvie, Sack, They were all best friends since growing up in a kind of a really bad neighborhood in Florida. And, you know, there was some friction, it looks like, between Sack and Mellie leading up to these homicides.

And really, Sack was upset about what he thought was Mellie getting all of the credit for their success. So let's take a listen. Oh, yeah. And I meant to tell you all I told you before, we went to Kelly that me and my and Jubey, CEO, Heso, the artist, because you be moving on this music just because you pop ain't fit and be looking confused all my life. Y'all really, my artist, you ain't doing that part right. I got these N-words right, y'all ain't fit and just keep saying that y'all be on some lifestyle

shit just can't say they, you're artists just to look at, just to look at, just to look could do the same shit I be doing. I'm just under you because I let you be the face, but I'm the CEO. So Sack is saying, look, you're getting all the credit. I'm the one who's behind this, you know, I'm the boss. So there's obviously some friction, despite what the defense claimed in its opening, that these are his best friends, you know, there was nothing going on here. Well, you know, both things can be true at the same time. That's the issue. my issue with the defense's argument, it's like, they could be best friends. I couldn't believe that, that they grew up as best friends and still were. But man, when money comes between friends

and it becomes big money and it's a music career and not only money, but it's notoriety, and it's publicity and fame, all of that really drives people's dark side of their personalities. And that's what you're seeing in some of this. You see the resentment. I buy the fact that they were childhood friends and they grew up very close friends together and still were. But at some point, there was a growing rift between them. And I think these types of texts kind of prove that, or at least lend support to that allegation. It was a rift here. There was some jealousy. There was some resentment about who was getting the credit and who was the face of it and who was really the CEO of it. And so I think that this goes very well to support the prosecution's claims that,

These guys may have been great friends, but, you know, it's been known to drive great friends apart. Fame and money are two, you know, women fame and money are always the things that kind of come between good friends. And here you have the fame and the money aspects of it. And I think that's kind of corroborated in these texts. And there's a lot of discussion about money in a lot of these text messages that we haven't put up because this is very tedious as the detective reads through all of it. But there's a lot of talk about money and Mellie needing to get money from track, his manager. He needs to get a new card. There's Sack wanting money and talking about the police coming to his house looking for Mellie's money.

I mean, there's all this talk about money and 10,000 changing hands here, 10,000 there. So money seems to be a big factor in this case. We're going to look now at some text between Sack and Mellie where they talk about Mellie's mom, Jamie King. And it sounds like Sack felt like Jamie King was trying to break up YNW Melly to break them up and have Melly kind of be the star even though he was the front man. So let's look at these texts. I'm good. It's just somebody telling me, y'all, up to something.

You don't owe me nothing. We is the same person. But how you let this shit keep going this far, what if it was the other way around? My mom wouldn't be doing no shit. like this next message at 1240 p.m. from the 981. I'm bullying and say I was I was beefing with you before I let something happen to me or played with my family everyone will die shit like that duck with my blood. The response from the 907 phone number um 1240 41 830 20 i don't consider her my mama no mo fuck that bitch bro i know

i feel yeah that shit weird bro august 30th 2018 from the 981 phone number at 1241 30 keep telling people shit about me, and I'm not even worried about her, bro. I'm trying to bulldo me. Why, MS always worry about me, and what the fuck you're talking about how you're going to leave, and we can't even get in the gate without you be on some crazy, on some crazy shit. What page is that? For you, Mr. Howard. And the response on August 30th, 2018, 1241 p.m. from the 9807.

Like, I don't even be knowing what the fuck to say. No-mo, she do shit out of the blue. She, the devil, for real, shit crazy. I don't got shit to do with it, no-mo. If you all kill her, fuck it, bro. She ain't my mama. She sold her soul. So Sack is obviously upset with Jamie King.

Melly is saying basically his mom's awful and she's sold her soul. It sounds like this is again about money. So but then the allegation is that Mellie kills his friends. So what do you make of this? Well, I think he's trying to smooth things over with his friend. I think that, you know, he's kind of trying to say, yeah, she's crazy. You're right. Like I think he's kind of given into him a little bit.

Even if he doesn't believe that, I'm not saying he doesn't or he does. I don't know. But, you know, this could be one of those situations where to calm him down. He's trying to kind of agree with him or go down that road, you know, to distance himself from what the mother's doing, even though, you know, it's benefiting Melly what she's doing, right? So he could be, it's possible he's using her as the scapegoat, right? Even though he's enjoying the fruits of the, of her labors, basically, but he's going to take the face of it and say, look, I'm not with that. I'm not, you know, she's doing that on her own. I don't agree with it, but at the same time, he's benefiting from it.

So it's hard to put too much credence into what he's saying back to this guy. His friend is clearly upset. He's trying to, I think, talk him away from the ledge by agreeing with him and distancing at least by words distancing himself from his mom. And now there was a video that was played in court that basically shows Mellie and Portland having a really good time, hours, literally hours, after his friend. are murdered. They're at a video shoot. So we'll take a quick look at that. Okay, so Bortland and Mellie, Mellie's dancing around 12 hours after his friends have been murdered, his best friends.

Yeah, this is a tough one for me because I, I, people, people respond to grief and, and death differently. So this is not, this is not a slam dunk for me. Like, oh, my God, he's, he's, he's dancing around. He clearly is guilty. He's got no remorse or he's got no grief for his friends. I think that if this was a planned video shoot and included the whole group, two of which are now dead, they probably should have canceled it or would have postponed that at least. So you do think it is kind of odd a little bit.

But I don't think it, for me, it's not like an oh my God moment where look at him dancing around 12 hours after his friend. You know, it's tough to me because I've dealt with a lot of people in grief grief is really, especially in the early stages. It's very, it's different and different people, depending on how you're raised and your feelings for the other people. But certainly it does support some of the allegations in the prosecution's theory of the case that here they are. Now they've eliminated two of the bands, basically, so they could share so that each of their shares are going to be bigger. And now they're doing a video shoot where it's just the two of them. And I don't even know if the video shoot was for that particular group, their band and stuff. But I do think it's odd.

But I also have been around enough people who have just learned about the death of friends or love. to see a lot of different types of reactions. Could be in shock. I mean, sometimes what's happened doesn't hit you for a while. The final one we're going to look at is something Detective Moretti said really piqued his interest on December 4th, 2018, when he saw a documentary published on Mellie's YouTube page, in which it says Mellie and his friends were the targets of a drive-by. So Detective Moretti said basically the last 20 seconds of that piqued his interest.

interest. And I think it's because it basically says Mellie and his friends were the targets of a drive-by. And Mellie's saying he wasn't even in the car. Yeah, that is interesting. I wonder if they trip themselves up about that because obviously, look, we both know very enterprising defense attorneys will say that when he says they were victims, you know, Mellie didn't have to be in the car to be a victim, right? It was against three of his close friends and the four of them were a group. So any attack on any one of them is attack on all of them. As a defense attorney, that's what I'd get up and say to kind of smooth over this mistake that they made. It seems like they stumbled over themselves here in saying that because I think he forgot that his

allegation or his defense was I wasn't anywhere near the car when it happened. Now he puts that on, you know, so I think that that's probably caused a little bit of a headache for his defense attorney, but I'm sure he'll have some way of explaining that as an attack on one of them as attack on all. And so even though Melly wasn't in that car, as, you know, this is going to be the claim of the defense, even though Mellie was in that car, he feels he was also a victim of that drive by. Because his two good friends would kill. You can always explain that away, but it does look to me like they stumbled over themselves here and they kind of forgot what their defense was going to be at trial. And so they included that in this very self-serving documentary.

And I think what's the important point, at least for the detective's testimony, he's saying, I saw that and it interested me. It got me kind of thinking about this. However, the defense could say, Melly's a big star. He doesn't put that stuff up on the screen. Somebody else typed that. You know, that's not his. He didn't do that. Well, Bobby Chacon, thank you so much for your time. As always, we appreciate it. And, you know, thanks for having me. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, by Google and wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel.

I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.