Key witness in Yella Beezy trial ordered to return

The first week of the murder-for-hire trial against rapper Yella Beezy wrapped up today. Marquise Conway, better known as Yella Beezy, is accused of orchestrating a plot that killed rapper Moe 3, also known as Melvin Noble. Conway's friend and collaborator Theodore Thomas, also known as Jose Bodega, was called to the stand Thursday, but he invoked his Fifth Amendment right for nearly every question he was asked. Today, Thomas did not take the stand, but prosecutors Prosecutors say they are still discussing how they're going to proceed. They asked the judge to swear in Thomas' attorney as a witness and asked for the two to return to court on Wednesday. The court also saw body cam video of convicted gunman Kiwan White's arrest inside his car. Law enforcement found guns, drugs, and lots of cash. These denominations, especially the lower level ones, are those common with drug purposes for street drugs or street purposes. Smaller denominations usually are. However, the amount, I've never seen that before. The amount of? Five dollar bills. I've never, in my 20 years, I've never seen a drug dealer have 354. Parts of today's testimony also focused on serial numbers of dollar bills that Yella Beezy withdrew from the bank as the prosecution continues to build its case that the rapper paid to have his rival killed. Fox 4's Stephen Dial spoke to an attorney not associated with this case to break down the latest developments. 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, you know, 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 there 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. Thanks Stephen. Thomas was told by the judge to return to court next week. You can listen to the trial online at fox4news.com, on the Fox Local app and our YouTube channel. Just scan the QR code on your screen to get started.