Murder trial in Young Dolph case begins on Monday

Three men accused of planning and carrying out the murder of popular Memphis rapper Young Dolph will go on trial Monday.

Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith Jr. are accused of shooting Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr. Hernandez Govan was accused of hiring them. All three have pleaded not guilty.

A fourth man, Johnson's half-brother Jermarcus Johnson, pleaded guilty last year to helping his half-brother elude police after the shooting. Prosecutors have not said whether Jermarcus Johnson will testify against the other men, but he has not yet been sentenced.

A jury was impaneled last week. The jury was drawn from outside Memphis — mostly from Nashville — after defense attorneys argued that it was impossible for the men to get a fair trial from Memphis residents because Dolph was so popular in the city.

Dolph, then 36, was buying candy at Makeda's Homemade Cookies on November 17, 2021, when two men got out of a stolen Mercedes and opened fire on the building, killing him.

Investigators identified the two men as Smith and Justin Johnson. Smith was arrested on a warrant for stealing the Mercedes, while Johnson evaded arrest for nearly two months before police arrested him in Indiana in January 2022. Both were charged with first-degree murder.

About a year after the murder, Govan was arrested and charged with organizing it. Prosecutors have not publicly disclosed what information led them to Govan or how they plan to build the case against all three men. Any motive for the murder remained unclear before the trial.

“We want everyone involved to get what they deserve,” Dolph's older sister Carlisa Brown told the Associated Press. “It was a very senseless murder.”

Although Dolph was born in Chicago, his family moved to Memphis when he was a child, and he was proud to represent the city. His debut album was titled “King of Memphis,” and after the shooting, he was honored with a street name and murals throughout the city.

With News Wire Services