A jury in YNW Melly’s trial on Saturday (July 22) failed to bring forth a verdict in the case that accused the rapper of murdering two of his friends in 2018.

According to the Associated Press, the 12-member panel couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict after three days of deliberations.

Broward County prosecutors will likely choose to retry the case with a new jury. A unanimous verdict is required to convict or acquit a defendant charged with murder.

Circuit Judge John Murphy had twice asked the jurors to keep deliberating after they said they were deadlocked. But the jury came back a third time without a different result.

In July, 2022, a Florida judge removed the death penalty as a possible sentence option for Melly. The rapper remains behind bars on double homicide charges.

Prosecutors say the rapper, born Jarnell Demons, fatally shot his friends, 20-year-old Chris “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr. and 21-year-old Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams, in October 2018.

Melly and a second man, YNW Bortlen (born Courtland Henry), are accused of killing the victims and then attempting to stage the crime scene to resemble a drive-by shooting. Melly pled not guilty to the first-degree murder charges in March 2019. He would then go on to address his arrest in a since-deleted Instagram post that same year.

Ballistics tests show the victims were shot from inside the Jeep, according to prosecutors. But defense lawyers point to the fact that a gun was never recovered and assert Melly had no apparent motive for the crime.