FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida prosecutors have charged rapper YNW Melly with witness tampering ahead of his retrial on double murder charges even as his attorneys accused them of conspiring to hide evidence that the lead detective may have lied in a related investigation. Prosecutors charged Melly this week with making sure a key witness didn't testify at his first murder trial, which ended in July with a hung jury that voted 9-3 for conviction. Jury selection in the retrial of the 24-year-old rapper is set to start next week with opening statements anticipated in early November. Boutros said Moretti told Gorel that if anyone asked, “You need to say you were here when I served the search warrant.” She said Gorel didn't reply. She said Moretti told investigators he was joking — something she said wasn't true.

---

Persons: YNW, Prosecutors, James Benjamin, Daniel Aaronson, Harold Pryor “, Pryor, Kristine Bradley, John Murphy, Christopher “ YNW Juvy ” Thomas, Anthony “ YNW, ” Williams, Thomas, Williams, Bortlen ” Henry, ”, Benjamin, Aaronson, Bradley, Mark Moretti, Moretti, Michelle Boutros, Boutros, Melly's, Jamie King, King, Adam Gorel, Gorel, Moretti's Organizations: Prosecutors, Bloods, Associated Press, Broward, “ Young, Miramar Police Department, Miramar Police Locations: FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla, Florida, Broward County