Law&Crime Network will be covering the following four trials this week. You can watch trials live on our website and YouTube page.
Table of Contents
FL v Jamell “YNW Melly” Demons
YNW Melly (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Opening statements for the murder trial against rapper YNW Melly — born as James Demons — begin Monday morning. The young star has collaborated with Kayne West and Kodak Black — and is best known for his hit, “Murder On my Mind.”
In October 2018, Melly’s best friend, Cortlen Henry, showed up to a Miami area hospital claiming his friends were hit during a drive-by shooting. He said they were bleeding out inside his car, according to the rapper’s arrest affidavit. First responders and investigators found Anthony Williams, 21, and Christopher Thomas, 19, with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso. Both were dead.
Kodak Black and YNW Melly attend CAA Grammy Party at Beauty & Essex in Hollywood, CA on Saturday, February 9, 2019 (Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages) via AP Images
Henry told detectives he had just left a recording studio with Williams and Thomas in Fort Lauderdale when a car pulled up and started shooting, police say. Henry said he was able to duck from the bullets, but Williams and Thomas were hit.
When officers showed up to the “scene of the crime,” police found no evidence that there had been a shooting, detectives confirmed. As officers continued to investigate, surveillance video showed Melly, Henry, Williams and Thomas together in Henry’s car when Henry claimed the shooting happened, according to Melly’s arrest report. After looking at phone data and blood spatter evidence, detectives said it was clear the group were together the night of the crime and the victims had been shot in the car, not shot at.
Police arrested Melly for two counts of first-degree murder in February 2019.
FL v Scot Peterson
Scot Peterson (AP News)
Former school resource officer Scot Peterson is on trial for allegedly not following active shooter training during the Parkland school massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018.
Peterson — dubbed “The Broward Coward” — has been criticized for his actions after surveillance video showed him remaining outside the high school while shots were fired inside killing 14 students and three staff members.
Peterson faces seven counts of felony child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury. He and his defense team believe the once “dedicated officer” did nothing wrong.
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The state continues to question its witnesses — mainly Parkland survivors — about the day of the deadly shooting, providing first-hand accounts for jurors. The trial is expected to wrap in August.
CO v Joel Hollendorfer
Joel Hollendorfer
Joel Hollendorfer is accused of killing 19-year-old Kara Nichols in 2012.
Investigators said Nichols had been an escort at the time of her death, posting photos of herself online looking for work. Her father had reported her missing that October.
Cell phone data allegedly showed Nichols had made several calls on Oct. 9 between 10 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. to one specific number. That number traced back to Hollendorfer, authorities said. When police investigated him, he admitted to chatting with Nichols after responding to her online advertisement, but they never met up, officers said. The case went cold.
Kara Nichols
In February 2022, detectives spoke to one of Hollendorfer’s family members who told them Hollendorfer confessed to the crime years prior, stating he hired an escort and during sex, he accidentally strangled her then buried her on his parents’ property above an old horse’s grave.
Opening statements in Hollendorfer’s trial begin Tuesday. He’s facing multiple charges including second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
MI v Megan Joyce Imirowicz
A Michigan woman is on trial for murdering her father after he died from injuries she allegedly caused by throwing drain cleaner all over his body.
Megan Imirowicz is accused of creating a deadly mixture of drain cleaner — using lye and water — throwing it on her father, leaving him unconscious, and ultimately killing him in Groveland Township back in October 2019.
A neighbor found her father with burns all over his body. She was originally arrested for assault and domestic violence, but when her father died from his injuries in March 2022, she was indicted on murder charges.
Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday.
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