Opening statements and witness testimony began Tuesday morning in Dallas as rapper Yella Beezy went on trial for the alleged 2020 murder-for-hire killing of fellow recording artist MO3. The proceedings at the Frank Crowley Courts Building started one day after attorneys spent more than eight hours screening potential panelists to seat a jury.

Yella Beezy, whose legal name is Markies Conway, faces a first-degree felony capital murder charge alleging murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration, according to CBS News. Prosecutors accuse the 35-year-old artist of orchestrating and funding the fatal highway ambush of 28-year-old Melvin Noble, who performed professionally as MO3. Conway has pleaded not guilty to the charge and denies hiring a gunman. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison. State District Judge Chika Anyiam, who is presiding over the court, expects the trial to last between two and three weeks.

Competing Theories in Opening Statements

After the court seated 12 jurors on Monday afternoon, according to FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth—with CBS News noting that three alternates were also selected from the pool of 75 potential jurors—attorneys presented sharply contrasting narratives on Tuesday morning.

During opening statements, prosecutor Tommy Adams described Noble’s death as an orchestrated murder-for-hire plot driven by a multiyear feud between the two North Texas music figures. According to live courtroom reporting from FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, Adams told the panel that the state will introduce text messages, travel logs, and surveillance footage, asking jurors to connect the pieces of evidence linking Conway to the shooter. Meanwhile, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reports that prosecutors allege Conway paid $40,000 to have Noble killed.

Defense attorney Toby Shook countered that the prosecution's case relies on assumptions and evidentiary gaps. Shook directly challenged the state's financial evidence, telling jurors that while Conway's bank withdrawal consisted of crisp, large-denomination bills, the cash later recovered from the gunman was made up of mixed, smaller-denomination bills. The defense also pointed to alternative suspects and motives, highlighting co-defendant Devin Brown’s alleged personal animosity toward Noble.

First Responders and Family Take the Stand

Following opening arguments, prosecutors called their initial witnesses to reconstruct the events of November 11, 2020. Around noon that day, Noble was driving northbound on Interstate 35E near Clarendon Drive in Dallas when an armed man approached his vehicle, chased him on foot as he fled down the highway in broad daylight, and shot him 11 times. An innocent bystander sitting inside another vehicle was also wounded during the gunfire and survived, according to Dallas News.

Noble’s mother, Nicole Noble, served as the prosecution's first witness. She testified that on the day of the ambush, she believed her son was in California filming a music video until she saw multiple missed calls alerting her to the shooting. She told the court she waited for hours at the hospital before police and doctors confirmed her son had died. Following the killing, she advised investigators to look into four individuals, including her son's manager, Brandon Rainwater, as well as fellow rappers Trapboy Freddy and Yella Beezy. During cross-examination, defense attorneys emphasized the separation between Noble’s aggressive stage persona as MO3 and his personal life as a devoted father of three known to his family as "Bubba."

Jurors also heard testimony from two women who were driving on I-35E during the ambush. One motorist testified that she rolled down her passenger window to ask if Noble was alright, only to see a masked man exit his vehicle with a firearm and curse at her to leave. Prosecutors played her 911 audio alongside delivery truck dash-camera footage that captured the shooting. A second witness testified that Noble collapsed in front of her car, and prosecutors displayed photographs she took after the gunfire ended. Dallas Fire-Rescue Captain Chris Bloodgood testified regarding emergency efforts to save the artist, while retired Dallas County medical examiner Dr. Jeffrey Barnard reviewed the 2020 autopsy findings with the jury. Defense counsel did not cross-examine the two motorists or Captain Bloodgood.

Co-Defendants and Rap Lyrics in Court

Conway's trial follows the conviction of the gunman, 27-year-old Kewon White. In September 2026, a separate Dallas jury found White guilty of capital murder for fatally shooting Noble, and Judge Anyiam sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Conway's legal proceedings were delayed by approximately one month so his defense team could obtain and review the official transcripts from White's trial and accommodate an expert witness's schedule. While White's guilt has been adjudicated, his conviction in a separate proceeding does not legally establish Conway's guilt.

Conway was not indicted by a grand jury until 2025. Local outlets differ slightly on the total scope of the remaining prosecutions: Dallas News reports that Conway is the second of four defendants set to stand trial in Noble's killing, whereas NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth describes Conway as the second of three men to stand trial in the alleged plot. Prosecutors have charged Devin Brown, 33, with helping track Noble prior to the ambush, and Jerry Johnson, 34, with acting as a middleman in the scheme. Both Brown and Johnson have pleaded not guilty.

Before testimony began, the court also addressed the perennial legal debate surrounding the use of hip-hop music as criminal evidence. Both Conway and Noble had achieved national commercial visibility prior to the shooting. Conway broke through with his 2017 single "That's On Me," collaborated with Chris Brown, Quavo, and Gucci Mane, and previously opened for Jay-Z and Beyoncé, though he also survived being shot multiple times on the Sam Rayburn Tollway in Lewisville in 2018 and had 2021 Collin County felony charges later dismissed. Noble built a dedicated following through his 2018 hit "Errybody," "Outside," and the posthumous 2021 release "Shottaz 4Eva."

Defense attorneys argued prior to trial that introducing violent rap lyrics could prejudice the panel and be misinterpreted by jurors as a factual confession. Judge Anyiam ultimately barred the majority of the lyrics prosecutors sought to introduce, though she ruled that a limited selection of musical lines can be presented to the jury during the course of the trial.

Sources