The Yella Beezy trial is finally in front of a jury, and after three days of testimony in Dallas the biggest moment did not come from a cop, a doctor or a forensic expert. It came from a man who barely said anything at all. Theodore Thomas, the Dallas rapper known as Jose Bodega and described in court coverage as Beezy’s childhood friend, took the stand Thursday and answered almost every question the same way: “I’m going to plead the Fifth to that.”
Back in September we broke down why the delay helped the State more than Beezy and the verdict we saw coming. We are not going to rehash all of that here. This is about what the jury actually heard in week one, what changed, and how our call is holding up.
Where The Yella Beezy Trial Stands
Markies “Yella Beezy” Conway is charged with capital murder in the November 11, 2020 killing of Melvin “Mo3” Noble on I 35E. He has pleaded not guilty. The jury was seated Monday, October 26, and Judge Chika Anyiam swapped in an alternate Tuesday morning after one juror had a child care conflict, according to FOX 4. The judge has said the trial could run up to three weeks.
Prosecutor Tommy Adams opened by calling it a murder for hire that grew out of a feud lasting several years, and promised to lay out surveillance, travel logs and texts piece by piece. Defense attorney Toby Shook told jurors the State’s case is built on “gaps,” and went straight at the money. His point: the cash Beezy pulled from the bank was crisp large bills, while the cash tied to convicted shooter Kewon White was mixed small bills that look more like street money.
Day One: Mo3’s Mother Names Names
Nicole Noble was the first witness. She told the jury she thought her son was in California filming the day he died, and that when investigators asked who might want to hurt him, she gave them four names, including Yella Beezy, Trapboy Freddy and Mo3’s manager Brandon Rainwater, XXL reported. On cross, the defense drew a line between the rapper the streets knew and the family man she called “Bubba.”
Then came Jocylynn Jackson, the woman Mo3 had been dating, who also has children with co defendant Devin Brown. She testified that Mo3 stayed at her place the night before the shooting and that Brown kept calling their son’s phone that morning. That lines up with the State’s theory that Brown confirmed where Mo3 was so the shooter could wait on him. The defense spent its time on Brown’s history, which tells you exactly where Shook wants the jury looking.
Day Two: A Surgeon In The Line Of Fire And A Hidden Glock
Dr. Randall Graham, a neurosurgeon who was driving on the highway that morning, told jurors he saw an unarmed man run past his car followed by a masked gunman with a rifle. A bullet came through his windshield and left shrapnel in his neck, and he still did CPR on Mo3 for about 25 minutes. “I thought my life would probably end that day,” he said, per NBC 5.
The detail people will keep talking about came at the end of the day. An ATF agent testified that during a targeted search in October 2023, years after the killing, a dog alerted on Mo3’s car at the city impound lot and agents found a Glock “deliberately concealed” inside, AllHipHop reported. The first search of that car turned up jewelry and $17,960 in cash, but no gun. Prosecutors also showed surveillance of Mo3’s Honda Accord leaving Ledbetter Drive with a black Camaro about 40 seconds behind it.
Day Three: 44 Shell Casings, One Gun Nobody Has
Thursday got technical, but one line matters. A DPS firearms examiner testified that all 44 cartridge cases came from a single firearm, and that none of the guns tested in this case matched, FOX 4 reported. On cross, the defense got him to agree that none of the guns shown in court have been tied to the murder. The murder weapon has never been found. That does not clear anybody, since White is already convicted, but it is one more “gap” Shook can point to.
FBI digital forensics experts walked jurors through phones and home surveillance systems, including one phone that took about six months of brute force work to crack, and a home DVR whose clock ran almost an hour fast. Expect the defense to keep pressing on timelines built from equipment like that.
Why Jose Bodega Pleading The Fifth Is A Problem For The State
Here is the part most coverage is skipping. Thomas was not a random witness. Prosecutors confronted him with more than 140 pages of his own February 2025 grand jury testimony about GRC, the feud between Beezy and Trapboy Freddy, and where he and Beezy were in California in November 2020, Baller Alert reported. According to testimony at an October hearing, Thomas pleaded guilty in a federal case in North Texas and has a plea agreement that requires his cooperation against Conway. The defense expert called that deal a “huge benefit.”
So the State brought in a cooperator and he went silent. When the defense tried to ask whether he had taken back things he told investigators, he pleaded the Fifth to that too. Judge Anyiam stepped in, kept him at the courthouse and ordered him back Friday morning with his lawyer, XXL reported. Whether he is allowed to keep refusing, and what that means for his federal deal, is the question hanging over week two.
How Our Call Is Holding Up
In September we said the judge would grant the delay and the trial would land in October or November. That happened. We also said the State would use the extra time to make a hard run at Devin Brown, and that the case would come down to whether anybody could prove the payment. Based on the coverage of the first three days, Brown has not testified, Kewon White has not testified, and no witness has walked the jury through where the alleged $40,000 went.
That is what made Jose Bodega so important. He was a person who could put Beezy’s own circle on the record. If he stays silent, the State’s case leans even harder on phones, video and the money trail, and that is exactly the ground where a jury can decide it believes Beezy was involved but cannot find payment beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the path to a murder conviction instead of capital murder, and in Texas that difference is life without parole versus a sentence with parole on the table.
Friday morning could change all of it. If Thomas talks, this trial gets a lot scarier for Beezy. If he does not, Toby Shook just picked up his best week yet.
Yella Beezy, born Markies Conway, has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Co defendant Devin Brown is also charged with capital murder and his case is pending. This is reporting and commentary, not legal advice.