MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Wednesday, the prosecution rested its case against Justin Johnson, one of the men charged with the murder of Young Dolph.
After just three days in court, both sides are now preparing for closing arguments.
The famed Memphis rapper was shot and killed at Makeda's Cookies on Airways Boulevard in November 2021. The 24-year-old Johnson, also known as "Straight Drop," is pleading not guilty to several charges, including first-degree murder.
Johnson took the stand towards the end of the day, telling Judge Jennifer Mitchell that he would not be testifying.
Defense attorney Luke Evans called for an acquittal on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence that Johnson conspired to commit murder, but Judge Mitchell brought up Cornelius Smith’s testimony that he and Johnson went out to find and kill members of Young Dolph’s record label, Paper Route Empire.
She ruled the prosecution presented sufficient evidence to avoid acquittal.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Hagerman’s final arguments started with a correction to video evidence from Tuesday. He said the video showing Johnson leaving his apartment complex was incorrectly labeled 11:51 a.m. about a half hour before Young Dolph’s murder.
Hagerman said it was mistakenly labeled as the original time codes had to be removed when they edited all the videos together. Memphis Police Officer Ma’hajj Abdul-Baaqee, who recovered the video, testified Wednesday and the original video with the proper time code was shown.
Evans questioned Abdul-Baaqee about how he could be sure the original time stamps were correct.
“Because you don’t know if the system was rebooted, malfunctioned, something happened,” Evans said.
Then, the prosecution called Michael Garner with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to the stand. Garner is certified in digital forensics and went over the call detail records for the cell phones for Johnson and Smith the day of the murder.
Garner’s presentation showed how, at 9:56 a.m., Johnson’s phone is shown accessing a cell tower near his Crosstown apartment complex. At 12:09 p.m., his phone is shown pinging off a cell tower just east of the murder scene. Then at 12:22 p.m., Johnson’s phone hits off a cell phone tower in the area of the murder scene.
Young Dolph’s shooting happened between 12:21 and 12:24 p.m.
During cross examination, Evans brought up how at 12:23 p.m., Johnson’s cell phone is shown hitting off cell towers near I-240 and the Memphis Airport.
“When you’re saying someone’s using or servicing a tower in the area of Makeda Cookie at a particular time, that could give or take three miles in different directions, obviously,” Evans said.
“Absolutely,” Garner told him.
The prosecution also showed cell phone records for Smith, the other alleged shooter. They showed Smith’s phone making two calls to Johnson around noon. They also showed it accessing a cell tower at 1:47 p.m. near Bradly Street in Orange Mound, where the white Mercedes used in the shooting was found.
Memphis Police Investigator Jesse Browning showed cell phone data in court from Johnson’s phone, showing that the phone had a Facetime call with Anthony Mims, better known as “Big Jook,” after Young Dolph was killed. Big Jook allegedly put out the $100,000 on Young Dolph.
ABC24 crews asked Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy why Hernandez Govan, the man who allegedly organized the murder, was not called as a witness. He said they didn’t need him.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail but not every potential witness that we might have is necessary in a case,” Mulroy said. “It’s not always necessary to bring everything you have to bear in order to prove everything beyond a reasonable doubt.”
D.A. Mulroy confirmed that there are still pending cases against Govan and Smith.
When court ended Wednesday, attorneys were reviewing the charges with Judge Mitchell to see if any changes need to be made.