Six years to the day after MO3 died on a Dallas freeway, a jury finds Yella Beezy guilty of paying for it

One of Dallas’s biggest rap names will spend the rest of his life in a Texas prison. A jury found Yella Beezy guilty of capital murder on Wednesday afternoon local time, about 4.30am AWST on Thursday, for hiring the gunman who killed rapper MO3 on Interstate 35 in November 2020.

The verdict was unanimous and fell on the sixth anniversary of the killing. Jurors began deliberating at 9am and reached their decision at about 2.30pm Central time. Conway, who had pleaded not guilty and denied any part in the killing, was booked into the Dallas County jail.

What did prosecutors say happened?

MO3, real name Melvin Noble, was chased and shot dead in the middle of the day on a busy Dallas freeway, in front of stopped motorists. A doctor caught up in the attack was hurt by shrapnel and broken glass, then tried to save him with CPR.

Prosecutors told the jury Conway put a price on Noble’s head over a long-running feud and offered $40,000 for the killing. They described a planned operation with a shooter, a tipster and a middleman passing on money, and pointed to cash withdrawals, phone records, iCloud messages, DNA and testimony from a man who said the gunman had bragged about the job and demanded payment. They also played Conway’s own songs to the jury to show the feud.

Prosecutor Tommy Adams said after the verdict: “I think that they got it right today.”

What did the defence argue?

Conway’s lawyers, Toby Shook and John Gussio, said the case rested on assumptions and unreliable witnesses. They argued phone data placed Conway at home in Frisco rather than at a meeting prosecutors described, that his large cash withdrawals were for family expenses, and that another man had his own dispute with Noble.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” Shook said, adding that the defence has “excellent appellate points”.

Why is the sentence automatic?

In Texas, an adult convicted of capital murder faces either death or life without parole. Prosecutors did not seek death, so the conviction carries life without parole by law, with no sentencing hearing needed to set the term.

Who else is in the case?

Kewon White, the man convicted of pulling the trigger, was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to life in September. Devin Brown is charged with capital murder and is awaiting trial; he is presumed innocent.

Why does it matter beyond Dallas?

MO3’s death became one of the starkest examples of rap rivalries spilling into real violence, and the trial put an artist’s lyrics in front of a jury as evidence of motive. That practice is fought over in courtrooms across the United States, and this verdict will be cited on both sides of the argument.

VNN will update this story as more is confirmed.