After pleading the Fifth last week, Yella Beezy’s childhood friend admits that he lied in grand jury testimony that eventually led to the rapper’s indictment in his murder-for-hire case.
On Monday (Nov. 2), during Day 4 in Yella Beezy’s murder-for-hire trial, the Dallas rapper’s friend and rap associate, Theodore Thomas, aka rapper Jose Bodega, took the stand as a hostile witness under an immunity agreement to address statements he previously made to a Dallas County grand jury in February of 2025. Days before, Thomas repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer any questions.
However, under duress, Thomas answered questions from both the prosecution and defense about which of his statements were truthful and which were allegedly false. As reported by WFAA (ABC8), prosecutors presented transcripts of Thomas’ previous grand jury testimony, in which he talked about Beezy’s alleged involvement in Mo3’s murder. But the 34-year-old rapper said that his previous statements to the grand jury were not true.
“I told you I lied already, so asking me questions from a paper, it’s like you making me re-lie,” Thomas testified.
The prosecutor questioned Thomas about his previous testimony that Kewon White, the gunman who shot and killed Mo3, was paid $40,000 to carry out the hit by Yella Beezy and Trapboy Freddie.
“Y’all talked about the money, how much Kewon paid to do this, and your answer was supposedly $40,000? That was your answer,” the prosecutor said.
“Yeah,” Thomas responded.
The prosecutor then pressed Thomas on whether he remembered testifying that the payment came from Yella Beezy and Trapboy Freddie.
“That was a lie,” Thomas said.
During his testimony, Thomas revealed that the threat of serving time in federal prison led him to giving false statements to the grand jury.
“You learned that they were threatening you with RICO and VICAR and a life sentence, right?” defense attorneys asked on redirect, adding that he fabricated details to gain entry into the federal STEPS diversion program.
“Right,” Thomas confirmed.
Thomas also described Kewon White as an aggressive and unpredictable individual who was driven by a need for street credibility, instead of abiding by the rules in Beezy’s rap crew Get Rich Cartel (GRC). Thomas testified that he never saw White get paid and insisted that he didn’t know that Mo3 was going to be killed on Nov. 11, 2020. White was convicted of murdering the late rapper and sentenced to life in prison in September.
The prosecutor would later suggest that Thomas recanted his grand jury testimony not because he lied, but because of his lifelong loyalty to Yella Beezy, and then presented photos of the pair together in high school, at baby showers, and taking private jet trips to Miami.
The judge issued another instruction to jurors, cautioning that previous grand jury statements could merely be evaluated to assess Thomas’ credibility and not be used as direct proof of Beezy’s guilt.
Yella Beezy’s trial will resume tomorrow (Nov. 3) in Dallas.
Check out Theodore Thomas’ (aka Jose Bodega) full testimony in Yella Beezy’s murder-for-hire trial below.
Watch Yella Beezy’s Childhood Friend Jose Bodega Testify in the Rapper’s Murder-for-Hire Trial
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