MO3 murder trial opens in Dallas with testimony from the rapper's mother

The trial of the man accused of killing MO3 opened in Dallas with the rapper's mother on the stand. Kewon White is charged with capital murder over the shooting of Melvin Noble, who recorded as MO3, on Interstate 35E on Nov. 11, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors told jurors the killing was arranged and paid for. White is the first of three men they say were involved, and they allege that the rapper Yella Beezy paid him to carry it out. Jurors were shown video of a gunman chasing MO3 along the interstate, and heard from drivers who watched it happen.

Nichole Noble described her son as he was at home rather than on record. She said he was a family man who loved his family and his mother, that he was called little Melvin and Bubba at home because it was never about rap there, and that he was the one who made everybody laugh.

Dallas homicide detective Eric Barnes, a 14 year veteran of murder investigations, testified that this was not a random road rage incident. He said someone had waited roughly 18 hours for MO3 to leave an apartment complex before opening fire with an assault rifle, and that the evidence from the highway and the hospital pointed to an intent to kill.

Barnes said he recognised the name immediately when it came through homicide headquarters, and that he already knew MO3 as a figure in ongoing conflicts between Dallas rappers, including with Yella Beezy and Trap Boy Freddy. He instructed hospital staff not to announce the death, expecting retaliation.

Later testimony put money in front of the jury. Barnes named Yella Beezy and DaVarius Trapboy Freddy Moore as the people who made payments for the killing, and prosecutors presented records showing Beezy withdrawing $40,000 in cash on Nov. 20, 2020, days after the shooting. Cellphone records, they said, indicated White was paid $20,000.

A separate witness, Cedric Bradley, told jurors White confessed to him days afterward. Bradley said White described pulling alongside the car, firing to make it stop, then chasing the victim, and complained about not being paid. White's trial was expected to last about two weeks, with Yella Beezy tried next; both face the death penalty. Dallas hip-hop has been through several of these cases, including the Drakeo the Ruler proceedings, where a security guard said YG had a knife in a fatal brawl and the Lil Durk trial, where the defence asked for scholars to explain drill to jurors.