4:40: The prosecution has rested and court ended for the day after a recess.
After three days and 10 witnesses, prosecutors believe they have presented enough evidence to convict Justin Johnson for the murder of rapper Young Dolph.
Johnson’s attorney asked the judge that he be acquitted. The judge denied that rrequest and said it is up to the jury.
Investigators claim the true mastermind of the crime was Anthony Mims, aka Big Jook, who was with CMG records, a rival of Young Dolph and brother of rapper Yo Gotti.
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4:10 Update: Justin Johnson briefly took the witness stand, then got up. A court liaison said it was a miscommunication and Johnson would not be testifying at this time.
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3:12 Update: MPD investigator testifies Justin Johnson’s call history showed him calling Anthony Mims aka “Big Jook,” the second high-up at CMG records, at 12:25 p.m., minutes after Young Dolph’s death.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Testimonies continue Wednesday morning in the case of one of the men charged in connection to the death of Memphis Rapper Young Dolph.
The first witness was Ma’Hajj Abdul-BaaQee, who works in the Memphis Police Department Homicide unit. He’s described as an expert witness who was called to clear up what the prosecution called their “mistake” from Tuesday. They explained when one of the videos should’ve been time-stamped.
Michael Garner was the second witness called to the stand. Garner now works for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, but at the time of Young Dolph’s murder did digital forensics with Memphis Police.
During court, he goes over cellphone usage around the time of Young Dolph’s death. He also goes over Justin Johnson’s and Cornelius Smith’s phone records on Nov. 17, 2021, and the towers pinged in key spots the day of the murder. Data shows that Justin called Cornelius twice within minutes of the homicide, 12:02 p.m. and 12:04 p.m.
Experts say data showed Justin’s phone was accessing towers providing coverage in the areas of Crosstown Concourse where he lived, the Valero gas station where he picked up the stolen white Mercedes to commit the murder in, the murder scene, and the apartments where he changed clothes after the murder.
On Tuesday, prosecutors played a series of videos with a countdown to Young Dolph’s death in court showing Justin Johnson in the same clothes he had on leaving Crosstown Concourse apartments in Midtown that were seen in the Makedas surveillance video during the fatal shooting.
One of the people called to the stand was his half-brother, Jermarcus Johnson. Last year, Jermarcus pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
According to Jermarcus, Justin allegedly called him about giving him a rental car not too long after the deadly shooting. Once the two met up Justin allegedly gave him a white Chrysler and a phone to post on his behalf to his social media accounts and to check his emails for him.
Jermarcus says he was supposed to post videos online for Justin but he didn’t know why and he didn’t know Justin was leaving town. Following that meetup, he says he would get in touch with Justin, letting him know when people were trying to contact him.
He says he would also help Justin have three-way phone calls from a person under the contact “C”, which he later learned was Cornelius Smith. Jermarcus also says the conversation had a lot to do with getting money from someone named “unc” later discovered to be CMG’s Big Jook.
On Monday, prosecutors said the shooting came after a $100,000 hit was ordered by Big Jook, the older brother of rapper Yo Gotti, who was with rival record label CMG.
According to Smith, he and Justin were hired to carry out a hit against Young Dolph — but never got their full payment.
The contract hit on Dolph was allegedly arranged by a third man, Hernandez Govan. Investigators say Govan would seek out new talent for CMG, and also provided drugs to Smith.
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