A Dallas County jury on Wednesday, November 11, convicted Dallas rapper Markies Deandre "Yella Beezy" Conway, 35, of capital murder for commissioning the 2020 freeway shooting death of his rival, Melvin Abdul "MO3" Noble Jr. Judge Chika Anyiam sentenced Conway immediately after the verdict to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The verdict came exactly six years to the day after Noble was killed on Interstate 35 in Dallas on November 11, 2020.
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Jurors deliberated for about six hours after hearing 11 days of testimony. Conway, who had been free on $750,000 bail during the trial, pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement in the killing. His lawyers told reporters after the verdict that they will appeal the conviction.
Source: Legal Affairs and Trials
What happened on Interstate 35 in 2020
Noble, 28, was shot 13 times at about noon on November 11, 2020, after, prosecutors said, gunman Kewon White stopped traffic on Interstate 35, got out of a black Chevrolet Camaro and chased Noble on foot after Noble left his car. Three motorists who witnessed parts of the attack testified at trial, including a neurosurgeon who tried to save Noble's life with CPR on the freeway. Interstate 35 through Dallas is one of Texas's busiest north-south freight corridors, and the broad-daylight killing on it drew national attention at the time.
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The payment trail prosecutors laid out
Prosecutors said Conway was in Los Angeles when Noble was killed, but returned to Dallas nine days later, withdrew $40,000 and met associate Jerry Johnson at Johnson's home in Frisco. Investigators believe Johnson then paid White $20,000 as a middleman for Conway — a sequence the state supported with text messages in which Conway told associate Devarious "Trapboy Freddy" Moore to "connect me with your people" while, prosecutors argued, White was demanding to be paid. White was arrested on November 23, 2020, after speeding through Mount Pleasant, Texas; police seized $9,670 in cash and an AK-47 he had bought after the killing. The gun used to kill Noble was never found, the trial heard.
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A separate jury convicted White himself of capital murder in September 2026, and he was also sentenced to life in prison without parole. A longtime friend of White, Cedric Bradley, testified that White had admitted carrying out the freeway killing and had threatened that someone else would be next if he was not paid — testimony the defence challenged by pointing to the sentencing benefit Bradley hopes to receive for cooperating.
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A feud the jury heard in songs, video and interviews
The 11 days of testimony retraced a long feud between the two Dallas artists. Jurors heard that an associate of Noble shot Conway as he drove on a tollway in Lewisville early on October 14, 2018, hours after another Noble associate, Roy Lee Pate, died of a gunshot wound sustained in a gas-station shooting 18 days earlier. Prosecutors played a recorded interview in which Conway vowed revenge — "I'm gonna get my lick back" — and surveillance video of Conway and rapper Theodore "Jose Bodega" Thomas assaulting Noble's manager, Brandon Rainwater, outside the V Live nightclub in Dallas on January 26, 2020. Songs by both men, including Noble's "2 Nineteen" and Conway's "Keep It In The Streets" and "On Ya Head," were also put before the jury as evidence.
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Krystal Biggins, the chief felony prosecutor in Dallas County, told jurors in closing that Noble's murder "was for the world to see," and Dallas police Detective Eric Barnes testified that Noble had spoken of hearing rumours that there was money on his head. Prosecutor Tommy Adams rejected any suggestion that the case targeted rap music itself: "I'm not prosecuting rap. I'm prosecuting actions. That's what I'm about. Justice and truth," he said.
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Conway and White have now both been convicted. A third defendant, Devin Brown, is still charged in connection with the killing and is awaiting trial, according to the Associated Press. The charges against Brown are allegations only, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
How this case reached Wednesday's verdict
This newsroom reported on November 9 that the state had rested its case and the defence had begun in Conway's trial. Because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, a capital-murder conviction carried a mandatory sentence of life without parole, which Judge Anyiam imposed minutes after the verdict was read. "Mr. Conway, it is the judgment of this court that you should be taken by the sheriff, handed over to the agency of the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where you will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole," she said. Before he was led away, Conway asked if he could kiss his son, who was in the gallery; he left the courtroom with bailiffs after speaking briefly to supporters.
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What happens next
Conway's legal team has said it will appeal, a process that will move to Texas's appellate courts and typically takes many months. Devin Brown's separate case remains pending in Dallas County. White, now 27, is already serving his life sentence from his September conviction.