If YNW Melly’s double murder trial starts as scheduled in January 2027, it will kick off just under eight years after the rapper was first arrested on murder charges, accused of killing two of his childhood friends. Throughout the entire process, the once-rising rapper has sat in jail.

In the land of presumed-innocent-until-proven-guilty, how does that happen? According to legal experts, it’s partly due to the case’s unique factors, including a mistrial, a death penalty appeal and delays requested by his own lawyers. But they say it’s also less unusual than you might think.

“While the … circumstances may be unique, an eight-year pretrial detention reveals a standard feature of our system,” says Kellen R. Funk, a professor at Columbia Law who has written extensively about bail and pre-trial detention. “Despite our paper commitments to the presumption of innocence and speedy, neutral trials, our system tolerates a great deal of punishment before trial and without trial.”

Melly (Jamell Demons) rose to fame in the late 2010s with gritty trap hits like “Murder on My Mind,” which reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 and spent 20 weeks on the chart. His debut mixtape I Am You, released in early 2019 by Warner Music Group’s 300 Entertainment, ultimately spent 55 weeks on the album chart.

But in February 2019, he was arrested in Broward County, Fla., on first-degree murder charges over shocking accusations: That he and another rapper, Cortlen “YNW Bortlen” Henry, had shot and killed Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas, Jr., two of Melly’s closest companions.

Prosecutors say Demons and Henry carried out the killings inside a car after an Oct. 26 recording studio session in Ft. Lauderdale. They then allegedly staged a drive-by shooting to make it look like the pair of friends had been murdered by others, including driving around with the bodies, before Henry took them to an emergency room. Melly has long maintained his innocence and has pleaded not guilty.

Since he was arrested, the rapper has been incarcerated without pre-trial release — a typical outcome in many states when a defendant is accused of pre-meditated murder. His lawyers have sought to have him released several times, including initially in May 2019; again in April 2020 on the grounds that he was sick with COVID-19; again in 2023 after a mistrial; and again this May — each time without success.

Regardless of whether a defendant is held in jail or released on bail, the U.S. Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantees all Americans the right “to a speedy and public trial.” Under Florida law, that means an accused felony defendant must be brought to trial within 175 days.

But the devil, as always, is in the details. Judges typically have wide powers to push back that deadline, including for appeals, procedural delays and the unveiling of new charges. A defendant’s attorneys can also waive the speedy trial right if they need more time to prepare for trial, or judges can sometimes simply deem it waived through their actions.

“While there are rules here, most rely on the discretion of the judge,” says Funk, the Columbia professor. “A lot turns on how much the judge wants to push the government to move forward, and judges who see defendants engaging in or tolerating delay are generally reluctant to push the government to move faster than even the defendant seems to want.”

Since the beginning, Melly’s case has faced many, many such delays. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, courthouses around the country were shut down — and in-person jury trials didn’t start back up again in Broward County until April 2021. A trial was later set to go in 2022, but then the case became bogged down in a long-running appeal over whether Melly could face the death penalty. (Florida appellate courts eventually ruled that he could.)

In June 2023, more than four years after he was first charged, the trial finally kicked off in a Broward County courtroom. Prosecutors told the jury that the rapper had essentially confessed to the killing, citing texts to another rapper in which he wrote “I did that” and “Shhh.” They also pointed to cell phone locations and evidence that gunshots came from within the car.

Defense attorneys countered that the state lacked a murder weapon and had failed to provide a motive for the killings. “After four years of investigation, the state comes and says, ‘Hey, he killed two of his best friends,’” Melly’s attorney said. “And you’re wondering why, and their answer is, ‘Uh, I dunno.’ That’s the first indication that they’re just guessing and don’t know what they’re talking about.”

But after six weeks of testimony and three days of deliberation, the jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. On two occasions, the judge asked the jurors to keep deliberating after they said they were deadlocked, but he eventually ordered a mistrial when they failed a third time.

Following the mistrial, prosecutors confirmed that they would proceed with a retrial, which was quickly scheduled for just a few months later in October 2023. But that new trial date has been repeatedly postponed ever since.

Why can’t Melly just invoke his speedy trial right? He has, on numerous occasions, according to court records — including a hand-written filing from jail in January 2022 and then a filing by his lawyers in May 2022. But he’s also sometimes withdrawn such requests, and in December 2023 he formally waived his speedy trial right as a retrial loomed because his lawyers needed more time to prepare.

This past February, Judge Martin S. Fein expressed frustration at the prospect of another delay over scheduling issues on the prosecution side. “Mr. Demons has now been in custody for 2,202 days,” the judge said. “If one state attorney is not available, maybe one of the other two assigned to this case can stand in, and if all three are not available, maybe one of the 150 state attorneys upstairs might sit in.”

The latest delay began earlier this summer. With a trial date scheduled for September, both sides were still pursuing appeals over what evidence would be admitted at the trial, so they asked Judge Fein to push back the date. When he refused to do so, both sides asked Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal to force him to.

The appeals court granted that motion last month, prompting Judge Fein to postpone the trial yet again — this time until January 2027. Though Melly’s attorneys had asked for a delay to accommodate their portion of the ongoing appeal, they told Billboard at the time that they didn’t need or want it to be pushed back by 17 months.

“Mr. Demons is ready for trial,” said his attorney Raven Liberty, “and we do not expect he will need to wait until 2027 to secure his freedom.” She said that she would file a formal speedy trial request as soon as the appeals court rules on the case; under Florida law, that starts a new 60-day timer for a trial.

“Every American should be concerned about this abuse of the justice system and basic Constitutional rights,” Liberty said. “While we expect Broward prosecutors to continue procedural tactics to delay a trial, my client is still guaranteed a speedy trial once jurisdiction is relinquished back to the trial court by the appeals court.”

After so many years of waiting, whether that results in an actual trial, and an actual verdict, remains to be seen.

“The Constitution guarantees a right to a speedy trial, but courts have often found that years of incarceration do not violate this right,” says Funk, the Columbia professor. “Loopholes and exceptions … are so numerous and broad that the speedy trial right is effectively a dead letter in practice.”