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Thread: Justin Johnson, Cornelius Smith And Hernandez Govan Charged With First Degree Murder In 2021 TN Murder Of Rapper Young Dolph

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    Justin Johnson, Cornelius Smith And Hernandez Govan Charged With First Degree Murder In 2021 TN Murder Of Rapper Young Dolph


    Young Dolph


    Justin Johnson


    Cornelius Smith


    Hernandez Govan


    Prosecutors Could Seek Death Penalty for Suspects in Young Dolph’s Murder Case

    Prosecutors could seek the death penalty against the two men accused of killing Young Dolph at a Memphis bakery.

    Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith went before a judge Wednesday morning for the first time on the murder charge.

    The pair were initially supposed to appear in court on Tuesday, but the arraignment was rescheduled for undisclosed reasons.

    Both suspects appeared in court on Wednesday without legal representation and requested that the judge give them another week to hire attorneys.

    32-year-old Smith and 23-year-old Johnson are facing several charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder (for shooting at Young Dolph’s brother who was with the rapper when he was killed), employment of a firearm during a dangerous felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm and theft over $10,000.

    Both suspects are being held without bond. If convicted, the murder charge alone would allow the state of Tennessee to file a notice to seek the death penalty or face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    https://balleralert.com/profiles/blo...phs-murderers/
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    Men accused of killing Young Dolph appearing in court this morning

    By FOX13 Memphis News Staff

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two men accused of killing Memphis rapper Young Dolph appeared in court Thursday morning.

    Cornelius Smith’s bond hearing was reset to today’s date to allow Smith’s attorney to gather witnesses to testify.

    Smith and Justin Johnson’s attorneys had been waiting to receive video evidence and other discovery.

    Attorneys for both men have been busy gathering information on the case.

    Smith’s bond hearing and Johnson’s report date will be this morning.

    Juni Ganguli has been representing Johnson in an unrelated case involving Johnson’s sex offender registration violation.

    Judge Lee Coffee appointed Ganguli to represent Johnson after he failed to hire an attorney by the deadline.

    “Justin has another matter pending in federal court dealing with his supervised release, so he’s being detained in federal court,” Ganguli said.

    Ganguli said there is one drastic possibility that may change the course of this case for both defendants.

    “When you have codefendants there is a danger or threat that one codefendant may testify, and I am not sure how that is going to play out,” he said.

    Attorney Michael Scholl is representing Smith; he was hired before Smith’s last court appearance.

    He requested a bond hearing previously for Smith.

    The request came while Young Dolph’s family watched in the courtroom.

    Smith faces several charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and theft.

    “Under Tennessee law everyone is entitled to a bond unless it’s a capital murder offense someone had been noticed that they will be seeking the death penalty,” he said. “We have not received such notice in this case.”

    Both men were indicted in Young Dolph’s killing in January.

    The rapper, whose real name was Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., was gunned down outside Makeda’s Cookies on Airways Boulevard in November 2021.

    An autopsy report revealed he suffered 22 gunshot wounds.

    Two other men, Devin Burns and Joshua Taylor, have been named as persons of interest in the murder of Young Dolph.

    https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/lo...outputType=amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  3. #3
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    Third suspect indicted in Young Dolph’s death

    Courtney Anderson, Autumn Scott, and Bria Jones

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A third suspect has been indicted in connection with the death of Memphis rapper Young Dolph.

    43-year-old Hernandez Govan was indicted by a grand jury Thursday. He was indicted for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.


    The indictment lists the victims as Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., and Marcus Thornton.

    Govan is the third person to be indicted on murder charges in connection with Young Dolph’s death. Young Dolph was shot to death at Makeda’s Cookies on Airways Boulevard on November 17, 2021. Two other suspects, Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith, were arrested soon after.

    Johnson and Smith were also charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder earlier this year.

    According to Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, they believe Govan ordered the hit on Young Dolph.

    “Mr. Govan has been indicted and is in custody for being involved in the Young Dolph murder. He played the role of the person who solicited the murder,” Mulroy said.

    We asked Mulroy if Govan paid the other two murder suspects.

    “What we are alleging in our indictment is that he asked for the murder to take place,” he said.

    The DA also told WREG that he couldn’t go into details about evidence in this case. We asked if more arrests could be expected, but that was a question Mulroy said he couldn’t comment on at this time.

    In court last week, Johnson asked a judge to be transferred from the pre-trial detention facility at 201 Poplar to the Shelby County Division of Corrections at the Penal Farm in East Memphis due to security, safety concerns, and conditions of confinement, according to his attorney.

    So far, a decision about the transfer has not been made.

    Smith and Johnson are expected to be back in court on January 20.

    Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley who fought to rename a street after Young Dolph says the news is bittersweet.

    “We’re talking about someone who literally changed the lives of almost everyone he came in contact with,” he said. “That kind of impact I don’t think it’s any kind of way you can satisfy people.”

    Smiley, like so many others, is hoping everyone involved is brought to justice.

    “There’s nothing we can do to bring Dolph back but what we can do is deter violent crime and we also can punish those individuals involved in this matter,” he said.

    Another man, Shundale Barnett, is accused of acting as an accessory after the fact in the case. Barnett was in custody in Indiana and was supposed to be extradited to Shelby County, but officials in Indiana said he was released on Jan. 21. He is wanted by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.

    https://wreg.com/news/local/young-do...phs-death/amp/
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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    Judge in Young Dolph murder case removes himself based on appeals court order

    By Adrian Sainz
    Associated Press

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A judge removed himself from the Young Dolph murder case Friday after he was ordered to do so by a Tennessee appeals court, which questioned whether he could be impartial to a man charged with killing the rapper two years ago.

    Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee asked the court clerk to assign a new judge in the high-profile case. The Tennessee Court of Appeals issued its order Sept. 28 after Coffee refused to step down at the request of the lawyer for Justin Johnson, who is charged with two other men in the fatal shooting of Young Dolph in November 2021.

    The lawyer, Luke Evans, had argued that Coffee could not be impartial after the judge failed to inform him about an order limiting Johnson’s ability to communicate with people outside the jail other than Evans.

    Johnson and Cornelius Smith have pleaded not guilty in the killing of Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr. The rapper, producer and independent music label owner was gunned down in a daylight ambush at a Memphis bakery, where he was buying cookies while back in is hometown to visit a sick relative and hand out Thanksgiving turkeys.

    Coffee had set a March 11 trial date for Johnson and Smith, but it was not immediately clear how Coffee's recusal would affect that.

    A third man, Hernandez Govan, has pleaded not guilty to organizing the killing, which shook Memphis and the entertainment world.

    Evans asked for Coffee’s recusal after the judge restricted Johnson’s visitation privileges and did not allow Johnson to communicate by phone or in writing with anyone outside the jail but his lawyer, including family. Johnson was accused of using a phone call from jail to record a rap song, media outlets reported.

    The judge didn't contact the defense or hold a hearing before issuing the order, which Evans called “punitive.”

    Coffee said he issued the order for Johnson’s safety and he denied the accusations that he was not being impartial. Coffee said he had not made any judgments about Johnson’s guilt or innocence.

    The judge also discussed the issue of jail recordings and their release with a law enforcement official in a phone call that the appeals court said was improper because it was not in the presence of Johnson or his lawyer. Coffee said he made the call “in court, on the bench, with another case before the Court,” according to the appeal ruling.

    Even though the conversation “did not bear upon the alleged facts of the charges against the Defendant, it would appear to a reasonable person that Judge Coffee has a prejudice” directed at Johnson, the court said.

    The appeals court reversed Coffee's denial of the recusal motion and said that a new judge should be reassigned.

    Evans said Friday that he is pleased with the ruling and Johnson is looking forward to having his day in court.

    https://www.timesunion.com/entertain...d-18453112.php
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