MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Trial continues for the man charged in the murder of Memphis rapper Young Dolph on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith Jr. are both charged with first-degree murder, among other felonies, in the death of Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr.
Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy said Johnson is the only one currently on trial and expects the trial to be done by Sept. 26. Johnson is pleading not guilty. Smith testified against him on the first day of the trial.
Johnson's attorney, Luke Evans, said he anticipates Hernandez Govan, who prosecutors say ordered the hit on Young Dolph, will testify as well.
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Case officer, who worked Young Dolph's death case, takes the stand
The jury entered the courtroom just before 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, and Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman called upon Terrance Dabney, a case officer who worked the Young Dolph death case.
Dabney worked with the Memphis Police Department for 26 years and is now retired.
Dabney said the scene at Makeda's Cookies on Airways Boulevard on Nov. 17, 2021, was like no other scene and brought many bystanders.
“There was a lot of people down there,” Dabney said.
Dabney said he interacted or delegated other officers to talk with witnesses, including Marcus Thornton, the brother of Dolph, as they worked to gather details about what happened.
The prosecution presented scene photos of the cookie shop to Dabney, who described them.
When he had arrived at the scene, Dabney said Dolph was already dead.
Hagerman then showed photos of the crime scene to the jury on the courtroom's screen monitor.
Dabney proceeded to describe the calibers of the bullets found on the scene, including 40 calibers from a handgun, 7.62 caliber from an assault rifle, and 422 caliber from Marcus Thornton.
Looking at another photo, Dabney also described the clothing of the two suspects on the scene, one with an assault rifle and one with what looked like a handgun.
He also described their white Mercedes Benz vehicle, which appeared to have damage on the right side. Dabney said they used these details to find the suspect as their faces were not viewable from cameras.
Dabney confirmed that investigators can connect bullets to weapons if they are able to find the guns. However, Dabney said they were never able to find the weapons that matched those casings found on the scene.
Hagerman then changed course, and showed video of the Haven Court Apartments, where Johnson's cousin lived, on the same day of Dolph's murder. The video showed his cousin approaching a white Ford Expedition, out of which two men exited, who were the suspects.
Video then showed one of the suspects walk out to a Dodge Charger that had just arrived at the apartments. Dabney described the suspect taking a yellow hoodie and two white bags from the Charger, going back to the apartment and later stepping into the white Expedition, wearing the yellow hoodie and driving away. The other suspect left in a Chevy Trax. Dabney said investigators were interested in talking to all three people.
Dabney next examined photos of a scene three days after the homicide: a white Mercedes parked near an abandoned house in Orange Mound. Hernandez Govan, who prosecutors say ordered the hit on Young Dolph, lived on the other side of the street. The Mercedes had an Illinois tag.
Hagerman showed the photos of abandoned house scene to the jury, who could see the white Mercedes parked beneath trees near the vacant house. The car had damage on the right side of the car, which helped investigators connect the car to the murder scene.
Dabney said the car had been taken in a carjacking prior to the day of the murder, but Justin Johnson was not a suspect in the carjacking, according Hagerman. Dabney agreed.
Dabney said investigators were able to lift prints from the Mercedes, belonging to Cornelius Smith, Treon Ingram and one other person, who all became people of interest. Dabney confirmed they were not able to find blood or DNA from inside the car, becoming aware that the car may had been cleaned.
The case worker said police found one of the people with prints on the Mercedes, which led them to a Valero gas station, where they obtained video of the white Mercedes. The video, presented to the courtroom, showed the two people — excluding Smith — who had prints on the white Mercedes at the gas station, where a car trade with an Infiniti and the Mercedes appeared to occur, Dabney described.
After a 15-minute break, the prosecution proceeded to show videos from the night before Dolph’s murder of a white Ford Expedition at a parking garage and Concourse Apartments, where Justin Johnson lived on the eighth floor, according to Hagerman. Dabney agreed.
Video from just before 3 a.m. on the day of Dolph's murder showed a man, wearing similar clothing to the suspect with a handgun at Makeda's Cookies, going into an elevator and leaving the building at 2:41 a.m. Dabney said the man was Johnson.
Videos throughout that morning showed Johnson with who Dabney said was his daughter on an elevator at the apartment, along with the white Mercedes Benz arriving at the parking garage.
Dabney confirmed the distance from the apartment to Makeda's Cookies is about a 10-minute drive.
This story will be updated with the latest information as the trial progresses.
Background: What you need to know
The shooting death of Memphis rapper Young Dolph sent shockwaves throughout the Bluff City and nationwide nearly three years ago.
Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith Jr. are both charged with first-degree murder, among other felonies, in Dolph's death.
The two were originally set to head to trial June 3, 2024, but in May, the D.A.’s office said the defense counsel asked for more time for everyone’s experts to review information, and prosecutors agreed.
The trial was reset previously from March 11 to June 3, 2024. Judge Jennifer J. Mitchell took over the case after the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Judge Lee Coffee to recuse himself from the Young Dolph case.
Hernandez Govan, who prosecutors said ordered the hit on Young Dolph, is also set to stand trial Monday, Sept. 23, in Judge Jennifer Mitchell's courtroom.
This all comes after a Shelby County Judge has granted a motion for a change of venue for the trial in February. That meant an outside jury is being brought in to Shelby County to hear the case, which received heavy media attention here.
Prosecutor Paul Hagerman said the change of venue would not pose an obstacle for prosecutors.
Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr., was fatally shot at Makeda's Cookies on Airways Boulevard on Nov. 17, 2021. Police said at the time two men got out of a stolen Mercedes-Benz and fired shots into Makeda’s Homemade Cookies, where Young Dolph was making a purchase. Police released photos taken from surveillance video that captured the shooting, which they said led to the arrests.
Another suspect, Jermarcus Johnson, pled guilty to three counts of accessory after the fact in October 2023, and he faces six to 12 years in jail.
If convicted, the suspects could face life in prison without parole, which, according to attorney Leslie Ballin, is now 51 years in the state of Tennessee.