Man who stabbed Nicki Minaj manager to death convicted

A man has reportedly been convicted in the 2015 fatal stabbing of Nicki Minaj‘s stage manager De’Von “Day Day” Pickett.  Last Friday (Feb. 28), a Philadelphia jury convicted Khaliyfa Neely of third-degree murder for stabbing Pickett outside of a bar in Germantown, Pa, XXL has confirmed with the Philadelphia District Attorneys’ Office. At the time, Pickett was working as Minaj’s stage manager and had previously worked with Pusha-T, Fabolous and Rihanna as well.  According to the report, Neely was also convicted of aggravated and simple assault, and possession of an instrument of crime. The incident happened almost exactly five years ago in February of 2015. A previous trial for the same incident resulted in a hung jury in 2019.  Pickett’s friend, Eric Parker, was also stabbed and severely wounded in the incident, but he was able to survive. Parker was also working on Nicki’s Pinkprint Tour at the time.  At the time of Pickett’s death, both Pusha and Fabolous spoke out in tributes on Instagram.  “It’s killing me to talk abt you in the past tense,” Push wrote. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone as selfless as you. No one as humble and for the team as you. I hired you as my road manager simply because I knew you were more honest than me.  Pierce Boykin, another man who was involved in the incident, was initially blamed for the murder but that charge was later dropped and he was instead charged with aggravated assault once evidence pointed toward Neely as the man who stabbed Pickett. Boykin pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2016, and was sentenced to 23 months in jail.

Khaliyfa Neely is set to be sentenced on April 24. XXL has reached out to Nicki Minaj’s team for comment.