Dee Jay Daniels thought he’d lost everything when he faced trial for murder in 2012 – until an important figure from his past returned for a strong showing of support.

“I was going to court, and the correctional officers gotta direct you to court, and they were like Daniels, did you know D.L. Hughley is here?” Daniels recalled in “Child Stars Gone Violent,” the latest installment in Investigation Discovery’s new docuseries, Hollywood Demons, which premieres on Monday.

Daniels, whose real name is Dorjan Lyndell Daniels, played Michael Hughley, the youngest son of the famed comedian’s kindly patriarch Darryl Hughley on The Hughleys throughout its four-season run on ABC and UPN. The former child star was arrested in 2011 following an altercation outside Chitiva’s Bar and Grill in Stockton, Calif. that led to the stabbing death of a man named John Joseph “J.J.” Lewis. Daniels and two friends who were also involved in the altercation, Marcus McCliman and Djuane Nunley, were charged with street terrorism due to witness testimony that they shouted gang-related terms, as well as premeditated murder, and attempted premeditated murder, due to a woman sustaining critical injuries that she later recovered from.

The Hughleys star said he’d somewhat fallen out of touch with his on-screen dad, so was shocked when Hughley appeared as a voluntary character witness on his behalf. “I felt esteemed, honored, that I haven’t talked to my pops in so long and the fact that he’s still my pops, and that we still have that pops/son relationship, because I didn’t know we had that,” he said.

Though McCliman was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, Daniels was ultimately acquitted of his charges, an outcome for which assigns a good deal of credit to Hughley. He stills grows visibly emotional over “the fact that he actually came down and spoke for my behalf, let people know, ‘Hey, bro, he’s like this, and he’s like this, and he’s like this. He’s not that guy you are trying to pin him out to be, like stop that s—.'”

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The Hughleys chronicled the humorous exploits of the fictional Hughley family, made up of the titular comedian, Daniels, as his son, Elise Neal as matriarch Yvonne Williams-Hughley, and Ashley Monique Clark as daughter Sydney. The series ran from 1998 to 2002, meaning it had been a full decade since Daniels and Hughley had worked together.

The TV father and son reunited again 2021 for an interview with VladTV, in which they discussed the trial.

When asked how Hughley’s decision to testify as a character witness came about, he shared, “I would have come anyway… but I had been in contact with his parents, and then I talked to his lawyer, but I knew – I was going to see my son!”

Laughing, Hughley stated, “I was so glad to see him, but I swear to god I wanted to choke the s— out of him. That was the first thing. I think I remember one of the first questions they asked was what do you feel, and I said, ‘I feel like hugging him and choking the s— out of him.'” Hughley explained that while he “[loves] this kid, and he’s a good kid, every time you see a Black family in this situation, they gotta say, ‘No, it’s not like that, its like this.’ So it just dehumanizes a lot of people that you know are good.”

Daniels currently releases music under the moniker Boi Truth, and Hughley most recently served as the guest host on four episodes of The Daily Show in 2023, following former host Trevor Noah‘s stepping down the year before.

“Child Stars Gone Violent,” the second episode of Investigation Discovery’s new series Hollywood Demons, premieres Monday, March 31 from 9-11 p.m. ET on ID and streams on Max.