One of the three men charged with plotting and carrying out the murder of beloved Memphis rapper Young Dolph confessed on the witness stand Monday and claimed Yo Gotti’s brother had put out a hit on Dolph.
As video of the shooting played in the courtroom, Cornelius Smith described how he and Justin Johnson jumped out of a Mercedes, unleashed a hail of bullets on Dolph inside a cookie shop and sped off.
“This is me,” Smith said as the video showed a masked man with a semi-automatic rifle spraying bullets into the shop.
“That’s Justin,” he said as a second man got out of the car and opened fire with a handgun.
Smith further described how he and Johnson called Anthony “Big Jook” Mims and told him they had killed Dolph. According to Smith, Mims — the brother of Memphis rapper Yo Gotti — put a $100,000 bounty on Dolph’s head.
Mims said the third suspect in the courtroom on Monday, Hernandez Govan, had informed him and Johnson about the bounty.
“I wasn’t feeling nothing at the time. I was just trying to get some money,” Smith testified. “I saw [Dolph] standing by the window. I just got out of the car and started shooting.”
Marcus Thornton, Young Dolph’s brother, returned fire on the two men at the scene and wounded Smith, who said he got medical treatment at Johnson’s cousin’s apartment.
Prior to Monday’s shocking courtroom confession, Smith had entered a not guilty plea. Prosecutors revealed in opening statements that he would testify against Johnson.
Smith said he hadn’t been promised anything by prosecutors but “had a conscience” and wanted to tell the truth. Defense attorneys claimed he was lying.
“I ain’t even know Dolph,” Smith said. “Never met him a day in my life.”
Johnson and Govan had also pleaded not guilty, though defense attorneys said Govan would testify against Johnson. A fourth person, Johnson’s half-brother Jermarcus, pleaded guilty last year. He has not yet been sentenced.
According to authorities, Dolph, whose legal name was Adolph Thornton Jr., and Gotti had disagreements prior to the shooting. Dolph was previously shot at in Charlotte, N.C. in February 2017 and in Southern California in September 2017.
AP Photo/Adrian Sainz
A woman enters Makeda’s Homemade Cookies in Memphis. Tenn., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. The cookie shop is where rapper Young Dolph was fatally shot in a daylight in Memphis, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
In January 2024, Big Jook was shot and killed in Memphis outside a restaurant. No suspects have been arrested in that case.
Smith testified that he was never paid in full for the hit, only receiving $800 and a letter from Big Jook. However, he later admitted Big Jook and Yo Gotti’s record label, CMG, covered a $50,000 payment to his original defense lawyer.
Smith said he did not know whether Johnson got paid and was hardly in contact with him after the murder.
