Prosecutors rested their case on Monday, November 9, in the Dallas capital murder trial of Markies Conway, the rapper known as Yella Beezy, and the defence opened its case the same afternoon after Judge Chika Anyiam refused to throw the case out. Conway has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege — as an allegation he denies — that he paid Kewon White to kill fellow Dallas rapper MO3, whose real name was Melvin Noble Jr., on Interstate 35E in Dallas on November 11, 2020.

Source: WFAA via Kazi Magazine, Nov. 10, 2026

The state rested just before 4 p.m. Central time, after more testimony from the lead investigator, Dallas Police Detective Eric Barnes. The defence then asked for a directed verdict — described by WFAA as a routine request for a directed verdict and by FOX 4 as a motion to dismiss for lack of evidence — and Judge Anyiam denied it, both outlets reported. Earlier that afternoon, the judge also ruled that a jailhouse call from White would not be admitted into evidence.

The allegation at the centre of the case

Prosecutors claim White was paid $40,000 by Conway and by Trapboy Freddy to kill MO3. That remains an allegation against Conway, who is presumed innocent unless a jury finds otherwise, and Trapboy Freddy has not been charged in connection with this case. White himself was convicted of capital murder on September 4, 2026, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A third defendant is also charged with capital murder in the wider case, WFAA reported.

Source: XXL, Nov. 10, 2026

A star prosecution witness who took his story back

Much of the fight on Monday was about credibility. Defence attorney Toby Shook challenged Detective Barnes over his calls with witness Jose Bodega in 2025 and 2026, including one call lasting 82 minutes and another lasting 70 minutes at 4:48 a.m., and Barnes acknowledged he had kept no written notes of them. The defence suggested Bodega had received improper guidance and support; Barnes denied a personal friendship with him and said the witness felt isolated and threatened after being identified online, adding that he had never spent so much time talking with a witness.

Source: AllHipHop, Nov. 10, 2026

Bodega, born Theodore Thomas, is Conway's childhood friend. He testified under immunity on November 2 and recanted the account he had given a grand jury on February 13, 2025, telling jurors he had fabricated his earlier claim that Conway and Trapboy Freddy wanted MO3 dead. He had invoked his Fifth Amendment rights outside the jury's presence on October 29, and had agreed to cooperate through a separate federal drug case. Judge Anyiam allowed prosecutors to question him as a hostile witness, and limited the jury's use of his earlier statements: jurors may consider them when judging his credibility, not as proof that the events he described actually happened.

The defence's first witness: 'I'm a marketer'

The defence's first witness was Lynn M. Scott, a veteran marketing executive who worked closely with Conway at Hitco Entertainment, the label founded by L.A. Reid, in 2020. Questioned by defence attorney Johnny Gussio, she testified that her marketing plans required Conway to travel to California for meetings in November 2020, that Hitco regularly covered his travel costs, and that the label arranged a typical three-day promotional run to California beginning November 10, 2020 — the day before MO3 was killed.

Scott said those plans changed drastically after the November 11 shooting: label higher-ups advised Conway to stay on the West Coast to complete additional promotional shoots and for his personal safety. He made a brief trip back to Dallas on November 20 to visit his mother, then flew back to Los Angeles, where he remained with his girlfriend and children and spent Thanksgiving at Scott's home. She also testified that Hitco, not the artist, controlled song release schedules, including songs about the feud with his rap rivals such as 'Keep It in the Streets,' which was recorded before its official release.

Under cross-examination, prosecutor Tommy Adams pressed Scott about a text she sent Conway and other team members after news broke that MO3 had been shot and killed on Interstate 35, in which she said they needed to 'strategize' and 'craft a response' to what had happened in Dallas. 'I'm a marketer,' Scott testified. 'I thought he should be prepared.'

Source: WFAA via XXL, Nov. 10, 2026

Why a Dallas courtroom fight matters on the highway

The killing at the heart of this trial happened in daylight on Interstate 35E, one of the main north-south freight and commuter corridors through Dallas — a route long-haul truckers, including many Punjabi drivers working Texas lanes, use every day. The case has also become a test of how far prosecutors can take a murder-for-hire theory built heavily on a cooperating witness who later recanted, phone and payment claims the defence disputes, and a convicted gunman whose own jailhouse call the judge kept away from this jury.

What happens next

Testimony was set to resume at 9 a.m. Central time (10 a.m. Eastern) on Tuesday, November 10, with the defence continuing its case in Judge Anyiam's courtroom. Conway's lawyers are expected to keep attacking the alleged payment and the credibility of the witnesses who described it. When the defence rests, the jury will decide whether prosecutors have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Conway paid for MO3's killing — a capital murder charge that carries life in prison without parole if he is convicted. No verdict date has been set.