Music

YNW Melly's Former Lawyer on Why He Turned Down Offer to Join Defense Team

The Florida rapper's ex-attorney believes Melly's case is a losing battle.

YNW Melly's former lawyer is speaking out about why he turned down an offer to re-join the Florida rapper's legal team.

In an interview with Law & Crime, which you can watch in the video up top, Bradford Cohen, who currently represents Kodak Black and previously served as Melly's attorney, shed light on his lack of involvement in Melly's double-murder trial.

“I was originally on the case with an individual whose name is Jason Williams, who’s an excellent attorney from New Orleans,” Cohen shared. “And he represented another rapper named Boosie in a murder case, which he walked him on. He ended up becoming the state attorney for New Orleans, and Mr. Demons wanted to move in a different direction. He wanted to hire other attorneys, and I was OK with that.”

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Cohen continued by revealing that he was asked to join Melly's defense team, but opted out due to the case being a losing battle.

“I always look out for the best interest of the client,” Cohen said. “And I treat it just like a doctor-patient relationship. If you guys aren’t—if you don’t get the same vibe or you’re not vibing together, I have no hard feelings whatsoever. I was called six or seven months ago to come back on the case. But I’m not a fan of jumping off and jumping back onto cases … I didn’t get back on the team but that doesn’t mean I don’t think the case is good. I think the case is a great case.”

Melly is charged with killing two of his YNW crew members, Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams, in the early morning hours of Oct. 26, 2018. Prosecutors claim that Melly and Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry drove Thomas and Williams out to a deserted area, where Melly shot and killed them. Henry, they say, then drove the bodies to a nearby hospital and falsely claimed that the crew had been the victims of a drive-by shooting.

Earlier this week, Broward Circuit Judge John Murphy denied defense attorney David Howard's motion after he disagreed with the lawyer's claim that the prosecution "tainted" the jury after Felicia Holmes, the mother of Melly's ex-girlfriend, was questioned.

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