The Yella Beezy trial saga took a dramatic turn this week as a Dallas jury delivered a verdict against the man accused of pulling the trigger in rapper MO3’s 2020 murder.
On September 4, 2026, jurors found Kewon Dontrell White guilty of capital murder in the shooting death of Melvin Noble, the Dallas artist known professionally as MO3. A judge sentenced White to life in prison without the possibility of parole. White is the first of three men to face a jury in a case prosecutors describe as a murder-for-hire plot.
That plot, according to Dallas County prosecutors, was orchestrated by Markies Conway, the rapper known as Yella Beezy. Conway has not yet stood trial himself. He remains free on bond, awaiting a proceeding that will determine whether he played the role prosecutors allege.
Who Is Yella Beezy, and Why Is He Facing Capital Murder Charges?
Markies Conway built a name in Dallas hip-hop before signing a major-label deal and opening shows for Jay-Z and Beyoncé. He also built a reputation for run-ins with the law, including a 2018 shooting that left him wounded on a North Texas tollway.
Conway’s legal troubles escalated far beyond anything he’d faced before in March 2025. Dallas police arrested him on a charge of capital murder while remuneration, the Texas legal term for a paid killing. A grand jury indicted him shortly after, alleging he hired White to kill Noble following a bitter, public rap feud.
Conway posted a $750,000 bond after a judge reduced it from an initial $2 million. Since his release, he has lived under house arrest with electronic monitoring while his case wound through pretrial hearings.
The Killing That Started It All
MO3 died on November 11, 2020, in one of the most brazen daytime shootings Dallas has seen in years. Driving north on Interstate 35E near the Dallas Zoo, Noble found himself pursued by a gunman in a black Chevrolet Camaro.
He abandoned his car and ran. The shooter chased him on foot down the freeway and opened fire. A bystander was also struck and survived. Noble was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 28.
Investigators arrested White and a second man, Devin Maurice Brown, within weeks. Both initially faced only federal firearms charges. It took years, and a deeper investigation into financial records, phone data, and social media, before capital murder charges tied directly to the killing landed on all three men, including Conway.
Why White Went to Trial First
Defense attorneys for White pushed hard to delay his trial until after Conway’s case played out, arguing that evidence in Conway’s proceeding could help their own client. A Dallas judge rejected that request in July 2026, ruling that White would face jurors first.
Prosecutor Tommy Adams told the court that the victim’s family deserved resolution and that nothing from Conway’s pretrial hearings had changed the case against White. Jury selection began August 24, 2026, and testimony stretched across nearly two weeks.
What Jurors Heard in the White Trial
Testimony painted a detailed picture of the days surrounding Noble’s death. A Dallas detective walked jurors through security footage and cellphone records. Forensic examiners discussed ballistics tied to the shooting scene.
One of the most striking pieces of evidence involved money. Prosecutors showed jurors a $40,000 withdrawal slip pulled from Conway’s bank account, arguing the cash matched an alleged payoff exchanged in Irving just days before the shooting.
Prosecutors also played several of Conway’s songs for the jury, pointing to lyrics they said supported a bounty theory against Noble. A witness testified that White admitted to the shooting. During closing arguments on September 4, Adams told jurors: “There was a hitman on the highway, and that hitman was Kewon White.”
White’s defense conceded a killing occurred but disputed the murder-for-hire framing. He did not testify in his own defense. Jurors deliberated and returned a guilty verdict the same day, followed swiftly by the life sentence.
Where Yella Beezy’s Own Case Stands Now
Conway has pleaded not guilty to capital murder and denies any involvement in orchestrating Noble’s death. Court filings earlier in the case pointed to a February 2026 trial date, though pretrial motions pushed proceedings well past that window.
A pretrial hearing in July 2026 tackled one of the case’s most contentious questions: whether Conway’s own song lyrics could be used against him at trial. On July 28, a Dallas judge ruled that most of those lyrics cannot come in as evidence, a decision that First Amendment advocates had closely watched.
The judge also barred a Dallas police detective from testifying as an expert witness regarding rap lyrics in Conway’s case, a ruling that could further complicate prosecutors’ efforts to tie his music to the alleged bounty. As of early September 2026, no confirmed date has been set for when Conway will face a jury of his own.
A Timeline of the Case
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| Nov. 11, 2020 | MO3 (Melvin Noble) shot and killed on I-35E in Dallas |
| Late 2020 | Kewon White and Devin Brown arrested on federal gun charges |
| March 20, 2025 | Yella Beezy (Markies Conway) arrested on capital murder charge |
| March 28, 2025 | Conway released on $750,000 bond, placed under house arrest |
| July 24, 2026 | Judge rules White will be tried before Conway |
| July 28, 2026 | Judge limits use of Conway’s rap lyrics as evidence |
| Aug. 24, 2026 | Jury selection begins in White’s trial |
| Sept. 4, 2026 | White convicted of capital murder, sentenced to life without parole |
What Comes Next
Devin Brown still faces capital murder charges and has not yet gone to trial. His proceeding, along with Conway’s, remains pending in Dallas County Criminal District Court.
The White conviction gives prosecutors a courtroom win heading into Conway’s eventual trial, though it doesn’t automatically determine the outcome of a separate case built on different legal arguments. Conway’s defense team has already signaled it will continue fighting to keep his music and public statements out of evidence.
For now, Conway remains free on bond and under house arrest while the legal process continues. Dallas County has not released a new trial date as of this writing.
The case has drawn national attention, both for the high-profile rap feud at its center and for the broader debate over using song lyrics as courtroom evidence.
Keep an eye on this case, because the next chapter could shape how prosecutors use rap lyrics in criminal trials nationwide, so drop your thoughts in the comments below.