A judge ruled two of the rapper’s songs can be presented as evidence in his capital murder trial. Beezy, whose real name is Markies Conway, is charged with hiring a hitman to kill rapper MO3.
By Jane Harper
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Many of the violent lyrics and songs that prosecutors had hoped to present at Dallas rapper Yella Beezy’s upcoming capital murder trial will not be allowed into evidence, according to a judge’s order.
The ruling by State District Judge Chika Anyiam also strictly limits testimony about prior shootings and assaults that prosecutors allege led up to the November 2020 death of Melvin Noble, a fellow Dallas rapper known as MO3, who was gunned down during an ambush on Interstate 35E.
Yella Beezy, whose legal name is Markies Conway, is charged with hiring a hitman to kill Noble after Noble instigated a yearslong public feud with him. Conway has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The accused shooter, Kewon White, was arrested after investigators released video footage showing a gunman armed with a high-capacity rifle firing at Noble. Conway, 34, wasn’t charged until last year, when he was indicted by a grand jury. Two of Conway’s associates have been charged as co-conspirators. All three of his co-defendants also have pleaded not guilty.
Lead defense attorney Toby Shook declined to comment on the judge’s ruling Tuesday. Claire Crouch, a spokesperson for the Dallas County district attorney’s office, also declined to comment.
The defense argued during a two-day motions hearing earlier this month that Conway’s lyrics were an artistic expression and could wrongly be interpreted by jurors. Prosecutors argued the evidence was needed to prove Conway’s motive, intent and state of mind.
Anyiam’s ruling allows three of the 10 songs that prosecutors had sought to introduce to be presented at trial. They include the MO3 song “2 Nineteen” in which he appears to suggest that the 2018 slaying of his friend, comedian Roylee Pate, was orchestrated by Conway.
The judge also agreed to let Conway’s songs “Keeping it in the Streets,” which warns against talking to police, and “On Ya Head,” which talks about placing a bounty on someone’s head, to be offered into evidence.
Among the violent prior incidents that Anyiam determined are admissible are the 2018 shooting and subsequent death of Pate, and a highway shooting just hours after Pate died that left Conway seriously injured.
The feud between Noble and Conway began in 2017. Conway’s lawyers have argued Noble initiated the beef with the better known and more successful Conway in an effort to raise his own profile. The beef escalated in 2018 after Pate was shot. He died a couple of weeks later from complications of his injury.
Anyiam said Friday that White will be tried first. Jury selection in his case is scheduled to begin Aug. 24. Trial dates for Conway and the other defendants have not been set.
Jane Harper is the senior courts reporter for the Dallas Morning News. A native of Port Arthur, she earned her journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has covered the courts beat for newspapers in Texas, Maryland and Virginia. In 2021, she was named Outstanding Journalist of the Year by the Virginia Press Association.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
