YNW Melly Jury Selection Begins This Week, XXXTENTACION Prosecutor Added To Trial

Most of the rappers we keep up with in their 20s are living young, wild, and free, performing at music festivals, attending lavish parties, and shopping at designer stores. YNW Melly, on the other hand, has spent the entirety of his 20s behind bars. Unfortunately even after a mistrial was declared in his double murder trial this past summer. Jury selection for his next fight for freedom is due to begin in Broward County on Wednesday (October 18). There's been a notable change on the prosecution's side of things that could seriously shake the retrial up.

As The Fader reports, Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley is being replaced by a familiar face who played a big part in the XXXTENTACION's murder trial. Prosecutor Alixandra Buckelew will be up against Melly in the courtroom later this year. Broward Circuit Court Judge John Murphy made the call to recuse Bradley last week. The latter decision came after the "Murder on My Mind" hitmaker's defense team filed a motion requesting the county's entire State Attorney's Office be removed from the case.

YNW Melly's First Prosecutor Replaced by Alixandra Buckelew

Last week, Assistant State Attorney Michelle Boutros testified that Detective Mark Moretti (lead investigator on the Melly case) insisted a local deputy "lie about being present when the search warrant" on the accused killer's mother's phone went down. According to the prosecution, these comments weren't serious, but still, the defense had valid reasons to raise their concerns. Buckelew made an attempt to delay the trial's start date. However, thanks to speedy trial rights, Melly will be back in court in the coming days.

As we previously reported, YNW Bortlen's jury description maps being discovered by authorities means that the next batch of people selected to decide his and YNW Melly's fate could potentially remain anonymous. This is, of course, to protect their identities and maintain the integrity of the trial. Read more about that at the link below, and check back later for more hip-hop/pop culture news updates.

[Via]