Yella Beezy trial day 6 | Dallas News Live

So we are covering and following the trial against rapper Yella Beezy. He's accused of murder for hire in the death of rapper Moe Three. Also his legal name, Melvin Noble. He was killed in 2020 on a Dallas highway. The shooter, the person who actually shot and killed him, Kiwan White was found guilty of his murder last month and now Yella Beezy is on trial. Yesterday was a big moment because a childhood friend of Yella Beezy, Who goes by the rap name Jose Bodega. His real name is Theodore Thomas. Last week, he pled the fifth. He came back this week, took an immunity deal, and was a little cooperative. The judge just came back in the courtroom. They were on lunch break. And so we'll see what happens there. But I want to bring in attorney David Finn. David? All right. Yes, last week, Jose Bodega wouldn't talk. Yesterday, he gets on the stand. Signs this immunity deal, still not saying much, but saying that he lied about everything to the grand jury. Do you think that helped the prosecution or hurt the prosecution? Steve, I think it was a mixed bag. Before this trial, I described Theo Thomas or Jose Bodega, his rap name, as being the Joker's wild. He's a wild card. He could cut either or both ways. I think the jury tuned out on him relatively early on that he's a liar. He's lied then. He's lying now. Um, and I'm And I think the jury pretty much remember Charlie Brown and the teacher, the Christmas hole sound. I think that the jury just thought, you know, you can't believe this guy. The judge gave a limiting instruction where she said, members of the jury, you can only consider Mr. Thomas's testimony for impeachment, but not for the truth of the matter asserted. And that is whether or not Yella Beezy is guilty of this crime. But limiting instructions, it's sort of like telling the jury, disregard what you just heard. Right. So they heard that in the grand jury and with the feds. Mr. Thomas, Jose Bodega, clearly implicated Yella Beezy, and now he's backed off of that, he's retracted that, he's changed his tune, and I think both sides have left some meat on the bone. I think Toby did a good job, Mr. Shook, of talking about the federal RICO ramifications that Mr. Thomas was looking at. Juries don't like to hear about people singing for their supper because they're afraid of a lifetime RICO case. On the other hand, I thought that Tommy Adams could have on redirect said, Mr. Thomas, about the second or third question I asked you today under oath with this jury before you found religion and got pious on us all and swore up and down on your mother that you would not lie under oath, which you've already indicated you've done to a grand jury at least once before. I asked you, were you still in the rap game? And you remember your answer? Your answer was no, I'm out of the rap game. Mr. Adams could have then easily pulled off any number of interviews available to your viewers online that Jose Bodega, Theo Thomas, has been promoting a new rap album, his rap album. So right out of the gate, right after you took the oath and swore that you were going to tell the truth, you lied. To protect your childhood friend, who's a big time rapper, who's got a lot of money. So I think that the jury is basically gonna disregard what the flipping flipper, the joker Theo Thomas had to say. David, you said an interesting point and I wanna expound on that. So the judge gave the jury yesterday instruction saying, hey, don't take the grand jury testimony as evidence, listen to this testimony. Everyone's human, and so they heard what they heard. And so as the prosecutor, Tommy Adams, is saying, so you didn't tell the grand jury this? Yeah, I did, but it was a lie. The jury being humans, I mean, aren't they liable to still put that in the back of their head as to, okay, he said this to a grand jury. And now, years later, he's saying, oh, it was a lie. Yeah, it's sort of like throwing a skunk in the jury box and saying, ignore the smell. That's what a limiting instruction is. Legally, it's required, and Mr. Shook was right asking for it, but the jury heard it. Now, is the jury going to convict anyone on the basis of anything this witness said? Heck no. I mean, you wouldn't buy a used car from this guy. So he's all over the board, and he lied when the truth would have been easier. Thank you. I just really think that the jury tuned him out. Now, here's something that was either genius on the part of Tommy Adams or a lucky break. You may recall, I believe Tommy asked him, who do you trust the most, you flipper, Mr. Theodore Thomas? Who do you trust in this world the most? Remember what his answer was? What was his answer? Detective Barnes. Okay, Detective Barnes is the prosecution's rock star witness. He is Freddie Mercury at Wembley, dropping the microphone at Live Aid. Detective Barnes is a rock star. And here you have this flipping flipper, liar's liar, basically saying, of all the people that I've been involved with in this case, there's one guy that I could count on. And to tell the truth and be straight up with me, and that's Detective Barnes. So if Tommy did that, if Mr. Adams did that on purpose, it's genius. If he lucked into it, it's lucky. But this whole case is gonna come down to Detective Barnes. The jury's out, it's election day, we're waiting for the results, that's the hardest part. Jury hasn't started deliberating yet. If Detective Barnes hits a double or a triple or a homer, the state's gonna win. They're gonna prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. If he strikes out, which is highly and likely or hits a single, it's going to be a horse race and you may wind up with a hung jury. But all eyes are on Detective Barnes and I think Mr. Shook knows that. Everybody knows that. Yeah, Detective Barnes, definitely the prosecution's star witness. He was very pivotal in the testimony last month, well, now two months ago, it's November now, when Kiwan White was on trial, the person who shot and killed Melvin Noble went by the rap name Moe Three. So, okay, us being in week two of this trial, today they spent some time talking about things Things that they talked about during the last trial of circulation of phone. And pinging off of towers and things like that. Do you think, with the judge saying this trial is expected to go three weeks, we're technically in week two. So would Detective Barnes come up tomorrow, you think, or definitely before the end of the week, right? Well, I think whenever this case on the state side is about to end, you can expect Detective Barnes on the stand for a day or maybe even two days. It's going to be a long direct and a long cross, long redirect. They're going to fight over rap lyrics, what's admissible, what's not. There's rumors that 50 Cent's going to come in and testify for the defense. Now, hold on, let me cut you off. What would 50 Cent add to this conversation? Well, if the state, through Detective Barnes, is, you know, allegedly an expert witness on all things rap, rap music, vendettas, bounties, things like that, I think that would open the door for Mr. Shook and Mr. Gustio to say, well, instead of Detective being the expert, let's call somebody who has actually produced rap records, who's familiar with the hip-hop community and these blood feuds and wherein... chains and that sort of thing and maybe shed some light on whether or not these rap lyrics that they're going to try to use against Young Beezy in a limited fashion i believe I believe. you know what's it all about can you really put any faith or confidence as a juror on rap lyrics that threaten somebody and mention vendettas or is it just artistic license and remember A week after the Kiwan White trial, a famous rapper in LA federal for capital murder, Lil Durk, was found not guilty in federal court, which never, ever, ever happens, in large part because of the discrepancies in the testimony on rap lyrics. So this thing's going to heat up, and if your viewers are going to watch any part of this trial, it would have been yesterday with the Flipping Flipper, the Joker. That was a big day. The battle of the experts on rap lyrics and then certainly Detective Barnes. It's all teed up for him. We'll continue to see how this trial unfolds, unravels, and if there will be any celebrity witnesses. David Finn, attorney, thank you for your time. Thank you.