Yella Beezy trial day 4 | Dallas News Live

The first week in the trial against Yella Beezy ends later. Today, big news happened yesterday with a witness pleading the fifth to every question asked by the state. We're talking about Jose Bodega. That's his rap name. He came back today. Nothing really shook, but the judge told him and his lawyer to come back next week. Now, there was big testimony about serial numbers found on money by investigators. We're talking about the murder of Moe 3, Melvin Noble. He was killed back in 2020, and a gunman, Kiwan White, shot and killed him on I-34. Five, Kiwan White, last month, was found guilty. Now, the person who the state says paid him, Yella Beezy, is on trial. For more, we want to bring in attorney Anthony Farmer. Anthony, okay, let's first start with a witness pleading the fifth. You see it on TV, but I don't think a lot of people typically see it, especially not being in a jury. What does that mean if a key witness continues to plead the fifth, came back today, and still nothing came out of it? Well, I don't think it's good news for the state if they anticipated him being a strong witness for the state. It definitely affects his credibility. It makes him seem as if he has dirt, unclean hands, and so it's not good for the state's case. Yeah, I'm sure the jurors were probably thrown off by one, him coming on the stand, then continuing to say I plead the fifth, say come back today, nothing really happens. Another part that has happened in this trial, the state has the burden to try to prove that Yella Beezy paid Kiwan White to kill Melvin Noble. Kiwan White was found guilty last month. Now, they had someone from the Federal Reserve, I believe, testifying talking about serial numbers on money that was found by police. How could that loop back into them trying to tie Yella Beezy to this case? Well, certainly if the money that Yella Beezy allegedly withdrew from the bank, Has the same serial numbers as the money that Kiwan White had in his possession when he was apprehended. That seems to suggest that there was a payment because he had the same bills. However, as the defense argued, if these bills did not match, and they were larger bills that Yella Beezy extracted from the bank. Whereas when he was apprehended, if Kiwan White had Smaller numerations of bills indicating drug sales, then again, that's not good for the state. And so that's how they try to connect it up. Anthony, can you talk about how the state, this is the end of the week. And so the jurors are going to be at home for two days. Things aren't going to be as fresh on their mind when they come back on Monday. So is it on the state to really? Put something in their minds before the trial ends this week that will stick with them until Monday? Sure, you always wanna leave a good impression on the jury. I agree. This case really may come down to those calls that allegedly Yelabizi made and the lead detective. I'm afraid if that's not positive for the state, it's not positive for the case. A lot of people heard the testimony from the lead detective. He's going to definitely testify in this case. At some point, you have Jose Bodega, who is pleading the fifth. Cedric Bradley is someone in custody who was a big person who gave testimony. And he was the one in last month's trial that said, allegedly, that. Money was exchanged between BZ and Kiwan White, and so we'll have to see when that comes up. For a case that is to last multiple weeks, what do both sides have to do? Put on your prosecution hat and your defense hat, and where do you think both sides are at this point in this case? So as was stated by the defense in opening arguments, the defense sets out to poke holes in the state's case, the circumstantial case that the state has. If they can be successful in poking holes in that circumstantial case, for example, Toby Shook raised the issue of the mismatched money. If they can continue to raise reasonable doubts Such as the mismatched money, the defense likely will be successful without any prevailing powerful evidence from the state. And the state needs to connect up those dots. They have a circumstantial case. There's no direct evidence. There's no eyewitness said, hey, I saw him give money to him or I was with him when he promised this. There's no, you know, strong direct evidence. It's a circumstantial case, so therefore the state it's incumbent upon the state to try to connect up those dots and make a strong case. And Anthony, just lastly, I mean, I know a lot of people spend a lot of time this week talking about, okay, why is the state taking so long to prove the murder? In the state's defense is it, I mean, this jury, they have to believe that the murder happened first by Kiwan White. Even though he's not on trial and then have to make a decision on if they believe Yelabizi paid him for the murder. That's correct. That you would be correct. Um, that is exactly how the statute works and we will see if they get there. All right, attorney Anthony Farmer. Thank you for your perspective.