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Lil Durk with the help of Brian Steel, Drew Findling and other lawyers, won a case many thought he couldn’t beat. Now, Findling is heading to Florida to see if he can keep the momentum up as he takes on one of Hip Hop’s most prominent cases.
Findling and associates will serve as the defense for YNW Melly’s upcoming death penalty trial in Florida.
On the Lawyerforworkers podcast, he said Melly is not getting a fair chance by the criminal enforcement system.
“A total injustice down in Florida,” Findling said. “A kid that’s been in solitary confinement for three and a half years. He’s been in [jail] since he was 19. There’s no way that this young man of color should be looking at the death penalty, sitting seven and a half years in jail, waiting for his time to prove his innocence,” Drew added. “There’s no way that this young man of color, in 2026, should be in solitary confinement for three and a half years. Nobody can explain that to me. There’s nothing to rationalize it.”
Melly has a retrial scheduled for January, 6, 2027. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.
YNW Melly's attorney Drew Findling says nothing can rationalize Melly being in jail for over seven years fighting his murder case.
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) September 25, 2026
On Thursday (Sept. 24), Findling, who is fresh off securing an acquittal in the Lil Durk murder-for-hire case, sat down for an interview with lawyer… pic.twitter.com/B36j6Oewmo
Melly Still Locked Up
Melly has been incarcerated since 2019 while fighting a high-profile double-murder case. His initial murder trial ended in a mistrial.
The rapper is accused of killing his childhood friends Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams back in the fall of 2018, then staging the scene to appear as a drive-by shooting.
