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Jury to Begin Deliberations in Yella Beezy Capital Murder Trial Over 2020 Killing of Dallas Rapper MO3
After three weeks of testimony, a Dallas jury will begin deliberating Wednesday in the capital murder trial of rapper Yella Beezy, accused of orchestrating the 2020 freeway shooting death of fellow Dallas artist MO3. Prosecutors allege a murder-for-hire plot; the defense says the case is built on speculation.
A Dallas County jury is set to begin deliberations Wednesday morning in the capital murder trial of Markies Conway, the Dallas rapper known professionally as Yella Beezy, who is accused of orchestrating the 2020 daylight killing of fellow artist Melvin Noble, known as MO3.
Jurors are scheduled to start weighing the evidence at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, after three weeks of testimony and closing arguments delivered Tuesday. Conway has pleaded not guilty to capital murder. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Noble was shot and killed on Interstate 35 in Dallas in November 2020, in an attack that unfolded in broad daylight on one of the city's busiest freeways. Witnesses throughout the trial described the chaotic scene.
Prosecutors allege Conway hired Kewon White to kill Noble, following a feud between the two rappers that dated back to 2017. White was convicted of capital murder in September and sentenced to life in prison.
The prosecution rested its case Monday, Nov. 9, and Conway's defense team began calling witnesses before resting Tuesday afternoon. Attorneys then delivered their closing arguments.
Defense attorneys Toby Shook and John Gussio challenged the prosecution's case, arguing that prosecutors had failed to establish Conway's involvement in Noble's killing.
"It's not your job to put the pieces in the puzzle. It's not your job to interpret language and texts. It's not your job to speculate," the defense told jurors.
Defense attorneys also disputed the prosecution's suggested motive, arguing that both rappers were financially successful.
"They were making money. There's no motive to do anything to each other they were making money," the defense argued.
Prosecutors maintained that the evidence pointed to a coordinated effort involving multiple people to carry out Noble's killing.
"We know that in order to carry out this successful execution of Mo3 that there had to be multiple people. Multiple players, multiple roles," a prosecutor told jurors.
Prosecutor Tommy Adams Jr. argued that investigators had followed evidence connecting Conway to the alleged plot.
"Who had the motive, who had the money, and who had the man," Adams said.
Adams also pushed back against suggestions that the case centered on Conway's career as a rapper.
"I'm not prosecuting rap. I'm prosecuting actions. That's what this is about," Adams said.
The defense maintained that the prosecution's case relied on speculation and interpretations of evidence rather than proof that Conway arranged the killing. Prosecutors argued that the evidence established Conway's involvement in the alleged murder-for-hire scheme.
Conway left the courtroom quietly Tuesday as the case moved toward jury deliberations.
The trial has drawn intense attention in Dallas, where both men were prominent figures in the local hip-hop scene. The case now rests with the jury, which will decide whether prosecutors have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Conway arranged the killing.