Kewon Dontrell White, the gunman convicted of killing Dallas rapper MO3, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. State District Judge Chika Anyiam handed down the sentence on Friday, September 4, after the jury's verdict was announced late that evening. The term was the only option available under Texas law because the Dallas County district attorney's office chose not to seek the death penalty.
Details of the 2020 Interstate 35 shooting
Melvin Noble, known professionally as MO3, was fatally shot on November 11, 2020, during a daytime ambush on Interstate 35 near the Dallas Zoo exit. The 28-year-old rapper was struck 13 times and was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterward. Surveillance footage from a dashboard-mounted camera on a nearby Kroger delivery truck captured the moment Noble stopped his sedan in the middle of the highway, got out, and was chased into oncoming traffic by a gunman wearing a ski mask and carrying an assault-style rifle.
White was charged a few weeks later after police released screenshots from the delivery truck footage showing the gunman. Also charged in the case are two men affiliated with White and rapper Yella Beezy: Devin Brown and Jerry Johnson. White was the first of the defendants to be tried; trial dates for the others have not been set, and all three have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecution's case and alleged motive
Prosecutors alleged that another rapper, Yella Beezy, whose real name is Markies Conway, hired White to carry out the murder over a long-running feud. Lead prosecutor Tommy Adams argued that the evidence showing Conway paid for the murder was overwhelming. The beef between Noble and Conway began in 2017 with numerous social media exchanges that later led to multiple violent incidents between the two men and their associates, including one in which Conway was seriously injured in a drive-by shooting on a North Texas tollway.
Adams said Conway viewed White as someone who was “expendable” and “disposable.” Conway was in Los Angeles when Noble was killed and had booked a 27-day stay. He returned to the Dallas area mid-stay after White began complaining about not getting paid and said that the same thing that happened to Noble “will happen to other people.” Conway arrived back in the Dallas area on November 22 and withdrew $40,000 from his bank, Adams said, then flew back to Los Angeles shortly after.
Cell phone evidence and victim impact statement
FBI Special Agent Taylor Page testified Friday about the extensive evidence he pieced together regarding the movements and communications between the defendants by examining their cell phone records. The information showed that White drove a black Camaro to an apartment complex where Noble was staying the night before the murder and remained there for 18 hours while repeatedly communicating with co-defendant Devin Brown, Page said. When Noble drove away the next day, the Camaro was seen following him, and both men's cell phones traveled in the same direction.
On the interstate, the gunman was seen getting out of a black Camaro. Afterward, White's phone traveled to an area where chop shops that break down cars for parts are located, Page said. Immediately after that, White's phone shut down and never came back on, he added. Noble's mother, Nichole Noble, provided a victim impact statement before the sentence was handed down. “I love you,” she told him. “Maybe that's what you needed to hear, and you were looking for love with people that don't love you.”
