Dallas has spent six years waiting for this week. On Monday, September 14, Yella Beezy is due in a Dallas County courtroom to answer a capital murder charge over the November 2020 killing of Mo3, the city's biggest street-rap export of that era. He has pleaded not guilty. The man prosecutors say pulled the trigger has already been convicted.
What happened on September 4
A Dallas County jury needed about three hours to convict Kewon White, 27, of capital murder, per theGrio and CBS News Texas. Because the state did not seek the death penalty, Judge Chika Anyiam handed down the only sentence available: life without parole. NBC DFW carried the sentencing.
Mo3, born Melvin Noble, was shot on I-35 in Dallas in 2020 after being chased down on the highway in broad daylight. The case became the definition of a Dallas rap story: a beef everybody in the city knew about, a killing everybody in the city saw on their phone, and a prosecution that took years to reach a courtroom.
The murder-for-hire theory
The state's position has been consistent since it charged Beezy: White was the shooter, and Yella Beezy paid him. That is the claim Beezy has denied from the start. White, for his part, has said publicly that Beezy never paid him a dime. XXL reported his post-conviction denial, which is the odd wrinkle here. The convicted shooter is, in effect, a defense witness for the man the state says hired him.
The two trials share nearly the same witness list, which is why Beezy's lawyers asked for more time. HotNewHipHop reported that the defense argued ten days between the end of White's two-week trial and the start of Beezy's was not enough to prepare. As of Friday, no ruling on that motion had been reported. If the judge holds the date, jury selection begins Monday morning.
Why this one lands differently
The culture just watched Lil Durk walk on a murder-for-hire case in Los Angeles. That verdict was a reminder that "hired" is the hardest word in the indictment to prove. A shooter is a shooter; a payment is a paper trail, a text thread, a witness who flips. White's refusal to say Beezy paid him removes the easiest version of that proof. What the state has instead is the case it built for the first trial, and the jury that heard it did convict.
Dallas rap has been living under this case since before "That's On Me" was a Billboard record. Beezy's career never fully recovered from the arrest; Mo3's catalog has grown into the city's anthem book in his absence. Whatever happens in that courtroom, the city is not going to treat it as a headline. It's going to treat it as the end of a chapter it never asked to read.
Yella Beezy is presumed innocent. The trial is expected to run at least two weeks.
## Sources - Yella Beezy Wants Delay In Mo3 Murder Trial Following Shooter's Conviction — HotNewHipHop, Sept. 11, 2026 - Kewon White convicted in Mo3 murder — theGrio, Sept. 7, 2026 - Jury deliberations in Kewon White trial — CBS News Texas, Sept. 4, 2026 - Kewon White sentenced to life for murder of Dallas rapper Mo3 — NBC DFW, Sept. 4, 2026 - Mo3's Killer Insists Yella Beezy Did Not Pay Him — XXL (@XXL), Sept. 6, 2026