Gloves off: YNW Melly lawyers accuse prosecution of felony obstruction of justice

Lawyers for the Broward State Attorney’s Office, including top prosecutor Harold Pryor, committed felony obstruction of justice when they withheld crucial information from the defense in the Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons murder case, defense lawyers said in court Friday.

“Maybe they should get their own lawyers,” said defense attorney Jamie Benjamin. “Maybe they should plead the Fifth … This is a serious matter. We need to ferret it out.”

Benjamin and the rest of Demons’ defense team are trying to get the Broward State Attorney’s Office thrown off the case.

The hearing is ongoing and prosecution attorneys have yet to directly respond.

Demons’ attorneys are relying heavily on the testimony of Assistant State Attorney Michelle Boutros, who says she overheard Miramar Police Detective Mark Moretti show a willingness to lie about his seizure of a phone belonging to Demons’ mother, Jamie King, during a Fort Lauderdale courthouse interview last October.

That was information that could have been used to discredit Moretti during Demons’ recent murder trial, which ended in July with a hung jury. But prosecutors never disclosed it to the defense. Now they’re being accused of prosecutorial misconduct.

Boutros is testifying about the incident on Friday morning.

The allegation surfaced because three months ago, Demons’ mother filed a complaint accusing Moretti of using excessive force when taking her phone. Miramar’s internal affairs unit reviewed the complaint and found in Moretti’s favor — Moretti had a search warrant and took the phone forcibly to prevent King from turning it off.

Defense lawyers say Moretti had no right to take the phone because he was outside his jurisdiction. Had a deputy been in the room at the time, the seizure would have been legal, they say. “If I had known about it, I would have said it would be better to wait for BSO to be there,” Boutros said on the stand Friday.

After King and her lawyer left the room, Moretti asked a deputy to pretend he was there all along, according to Boutros. “You need to say you were here,” Boutros said, quoting Moretti.

Prosecutors say the exchange was a joke between Moretti and the deputy — King’s own lawyer, Robert Trachman, was in the room at the time and did not raise any objection about jurisdiction. But Boutros took it seriously and reported it to her supervisor.

“I vividly remember what was said,” Boutros said. Boutros immediately reported the incident to her supervisor and asked not to work with Moretti again. “I do not work with detectives who solicit lies,” she said on the stand Friday.

In his own statements to investigators, Moretti denied asking anyone to lie about being in the room. The deputy’s account supported Moretti’s, and Moretti’s official report about the incident named everyone in the room — it did not mention the presence of a Broward deputy.

Whether prosecutors had an obligation to report the incident to the defense is legally questionable. Under Florida law, the defense has to prove that the evidence was deliberately withheld, that it would have been useful to the defense, and that it was “material,” meaning it was relevant to the murder case.

Tensions between prosecutors and the defense in the Demons case have been escalating ever since a jury failed to reach a unanimous agreement in July on whether he killled two of his childhood friends, fellow rappers Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas.

A retrial is scheduled to begin this month.

Prosecutors have added a witness tampering charge against Demons and co-defendant Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry, who is accused of driving the Jeep where the murders took place after a late-night recording session in October 2018.

Investigators say Henry and Demons staged the crime scene to make it look like a drive-by shooting had taken place. Both are accused of working together to persuade Demons’ girlfriend not to cooperate with investigators or prosecutors.

Defense lawyers say the tampering charges are an effort to distract from the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.