Law&Crime Sidebar - 7 Major Developments on Day 1 of Young Thug’s RICO Trial

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

After nearly a year of jury selection, the trial for rapper Young Thug, whose birth name is Jeffrey Williams, and several co defendants, is underway in Atlanta. Williams is accused of running a criminal enterprise under the guise of his record label, YSL. But things did not get off to a smooth start. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber walks us through some of the biggest updates from the first day of trial.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:SPECIAL OFFER: Save 20% OFF on your entire order of POM Pepper Spray with code "Takeover20" ONLY on Nov 28 at https://bit.ly/TAKEOVER20-BFHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Did I have a rule on that issue? You said that you would do it later as it came down. Okay, well, here's the thing. Later is now. I got a jury in a box, so you could have asked me that an hour. I mean, we had time this morning.

I could have gone through that this morning and made clarity on it for both sides. I wish that the court would just follow their own instruction. Well, I'll follow my instructions when you all bring to my attention what you need to in a timely manner. Day one of the Young Thug criminal trial was smooth sailing, went off without a hitch. I'm just kidding. It was a bit of a mess. We're going to dive into seven developments from the start of this major RICO pace. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Well, folks, we are finally here. The first day in the Young Thug RICO trial out in Georgia, pretty unbelievable, right? I mean, almost a year of jury selection. We did a sidebar previously about all the twists and turns in this case, the jurors, the attorneys, the defendants, all getting in trouble with the court. Nine defendants took plea deals. One defendant still on the run. Twelve defendants' cases were severed from the rest. And after all of this, this trial has now begun for six defendants.

And that includes rapper Young Thug, real name Jeffrey Lamar Williams. Now, he and his co-defendants are charged under Georgia's RICO or racketeering act, namely that they are all part of this criminal enterprise, that they're engaged in murder, robbery, assault, and so forth. Young Thug himself, he faces eight charges, and he is considered by prosecutors to be the leader of this criminal enterprise. And according to prosecutors, that criminal enterprise or gang is known as YSL or Young Slod. lime life. Now, the prosecutors allege that young thug started YSL back in 2012. It's also known as

Young Stoner Life and is the name of the artist's music label. But now we are in day one. Actually, I should tell you, we started an hour late because a juror had car trouble. But as you'll see, that wasn't the only delay in court. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. And the start of this trial, what do we always have? We have opening statements, right? The opportunity for each side to lay out their case for the jury. This came after the judge provided jury instructions. Okay, so let's start this up. And of course, we're going to start with the prosecution.

Their burden, it's their case. So we hear from Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adrian Love. And I got to first highlight how she started off her opening statement with a poem. Now, this is the law of the jungle. As old and as true as the sky. And the wolf that shall keep it. may prosper. But the wolf that shall break it must die. As a creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law running forward and back. For the strength of the path is the wolf. And the

strength of the wolf is the path. Well, that's right, a little Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book for you. Unique way to start off a criminal trial. The idea, of course, is that YSL operated as a pact. And that's going to be an important theme in this case, right? That the actions taken by the YSL members was not to benefit themselves as individuals, but rather the collective gang with Williams at the top. That's how you prove the main RICO charge.

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You can learn more at pompeperspray.com and use code takeover 20 for a special 20% off. From there, Love got into more of her opening state. And what I expect the evidence to show in this case is that YSL, the group made up of the defendant sitting before you today, along with other both indicted and unindicted co-conspirators, the group calling itself young slime line, dominated, dominated, dominated, the Cleveland Avenue community of Fulton County. They created a crater in the middle of Fulton County's

Cleveland Avenue community that sucked in the youth, the innocence, even the lives, some of its youngest members. Jim's line life came about and consisted of three or more people when it began. Three or more people who were willing to and who did commit Criminal Street gang activity, that is crimes, that were intended to further the purposes and advance the directives of YSL itself.

So YSL, as the evidence was shown, they didn't move individually. The members and associates of YSEL, they moved like a pact with the defendant, Jeffrey Williams, as it hit. Their members commit crimes on behalf of the They commit crimes such as armed robbery, hijacked, motor vehicle theft, theft by receiving, stolen firearms, so many stolen firearms, possession of a machine gun, and narcotics, and last one, certainly not least, murder. You're going to hear that this game stole at least three lives from this community over the last 10 years, at least three that are referenced in this indictment. You'll find that as a result of this game's activities, a young woman who had nothing to do with either YSL or any of their opposition was gunned down by people trying to get back at YSL for what they did.

You'll hear evidence that after the murder of Donovan Thomas, no less than 50 shootings occurred over the course of the next several months. Now, that is part of her opening statement, laying out what all of this means, and it kind of gives you a summary. But what Love also did was she took the time to explain what RICO is. What is RICO, racketeer, influenced, and corrupt organizations. And the reason she did this is because RICO cases are very complicated. We know most of them when we talk about the mafia, but they've been applied to other collective criminal enterprises too. So Love focused in on her opening statement with highlighting how there was an unspoken agreement between the different. defendants. An agreement to break the law, steal things, commit crimes, exert dominance and

control through this pattern of illegal activity. There's no written contract or bylaws. It's rather an unspoken agreement. And in order to prove a racketeering conspiracy, you not only need an agreement, but you also need overt acts to further that conspiracy. And this trial will show what those overt actions or steps or things are that were done to further the criminal conspiracy. I believe there are 191 overt acts that prosecutors are going to try to prove in this case. By the way, those overt

acts, they don't necessarily need to be crimes, by the way. They could be a phone call or flashing a hand sign or a conversation. That's what prosecutors are going to do in this case. Now, during the prosecution's opening is when we saw the first signs of trouble. I mean, I wasn't expecting this trial to run

like a well-oiled machine after everything we've seen so far, but this drama started right at the beginning. Love's opening statement had to be stopped. And their actions during the dates that are listed in this indictment are what we are asking that you pay close attention to and you evaluate. You have an objection? Yes, sir.

Basis. Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of our breaks. I'm going to need to probably ask you to retire your headquarters of Druddle Abration Room. And we'll call you back in just a minute. All right, Mr. Steele, what's your motion, sir? Your Honor, last week, two weeks, three weeks ago, you ordered the parties to share all of their displays in opening statement to the others so we don't have to have these interruptions. I did that. The state shared with me four attachments. That's all they had. That's what I got. What you just saw on your screen, if you don't remember, I'll ask the state to put it up and I asked for it to be marked as an exhibit is what you already excluded. It states that Mr. Ryan was confirmed. convicted of murder, and I represent the co-defendant who's not on trial, on the appeal. How did that not get sent to me so I could bring it to the sound of court's attention?

One, and two, how do we just violate court order? So, yes, I have a serious motion for a mistrial because it's intentional misconduct. Yeah, okay. So Brian Steele, who represents young thug, Mr. Williams, says Love just showed slides that he never saw, and there was something in her slide that wasn't supposed to be in. there, namely that he's representing Rodalius Ryan in another case. The jury shouldn't have seen that. It says this is grounds for a mistrial.

The jury can't unsee what they saw. Well, Judge Uro Glanville, he denied the motion, and he said, look, I'll provide an instruction to the jury that will correct the record. Seems fine, right? Not so simple. Because then other defense attorneys stood up and said they noticed there were mistakes in the state's PowerPoint. All right, Mr. Matthews?

Yes, sir. attention to the slot 15, the slide 15 of the third bullet point. Number two, the quote in the indictment is different from the quote in the hurdle. So that's two errors in slide 15 pertaining to Marquay's view. In the state's opening presentation, the date they have is October 1, 2020, but in the indictment, that particular, over at, it's November 16th, 2020. So that's the third error in the, of, this opening slide presentation, so those need to be corrected to mirror the in fact. On behalf of Mr. Stilwell, slide number 47, it suggests that Mr. Stilwell, it suggests that Mr. Stilwell, is still committing crimes on behalf of the gang even after being indicted on these charges.

And my understanding was that anything that you had not ruled upon, we were not supposed to reference or discuss in opening statements. So those are clear references to unindicted charges that we did not get a ruling on its admissibility yet. Do I have any further objection? Are there any further objections to the state's PowerPoint? Your Honor, I was unaware that there were changes. I apologize. No one told me that and getting the mail to that or text. I told you all to do that during lunch. That was my last conversation with you all before I went ahead and broke for lunch. You know, you all don't listen to the court, and it's going to get you all in a lot of hot water. You need to listen to me when I tell you

something, and don't rely upon your own understanding. These jurors are waiting back there. We are dallying out here. So, you didn't follow my instructions. Mr. Steele. I mean, that's what I asked you all to do. I asked you all to share each. We're already behind to begin with. Any further objections? And on slide 10 and 13, they misquoted the Instagram post. Again, they misquoted him? Yes, they did. It says, I bet Ys L.L. McDonnell make the news tonight. That's not what the Instagram post says. Your Honor, we actually copied the Instagram post into slides 10 and 13. And it does not say tonight. I'm sorry. Okay. I'll take out the word tonight. Oh boy. So Judge Glanville clearly upset. The jurors are waiting.

Judge Glanville actually said at one point that one of the attorneys was hijacking his bench by bringing up an issue at the 11th hour. You have the various defense attorneys. They're saying they didn't get the appropriate copies of the state's presentation. But they also didn't apparently follow the judge's instructions on how to review the state's PowerPoint for any issues during the court break. But there were apparently mistakes in the presentation to begin with. So at one point, Judge Glanville gets so fed up, he threatens that no one now can use PowerPoints in their opening statements. But defense attorneys are like, we did nothing wrong. We sent our PowerPoints over to the state well in advance, and we need them.

We're not prepared. So finally, in the end, the judge did allow edited, redacted versions of the slides in PowerPoints. And after over two hours, the jury finally came back in to hear the continuation of the opening statements. This is day one, folks. Okay. My opinion, just a mess. just a mess. Not unexpected when you're dealing, though, with six defendants, multiple charges, RICO, over a hundred over at acts. This trial is scheduled to last three to six

months. Could it be longer? I don't know. Let's go back to prosecutor love. So she continues on with her opening statement after this very long break. And here is where she focuses again on the leader of this alleged criminal enterprise, Jeffrey Williams or Young Thug. The evidence is going to show that the defendant Jeffrey Williams' words and actions also betrayed his participation in the conspiracy. He rented a car, which happened to be a silver infinity sedan, that other YSL members, among them, DeMonte Kendrick and Shannon Sewell,

used when they openly and notoriously gunned down Donovan Thomas on January the 10th of 2015. I expect yet another YSEL associate will come in here and tell you that Jeffrey Williams paid the money, gave the money to go to Miami and lay low in the wake of the Donovan Thomas Mert. To Nickyenne Garlington, who isn't before you for your consideration today, but who is in fact a YSL associate and co-conspirator of these defendants. He posted a video of the defendant, Jeffrey Williams, looking into the camera and saying these words. So, I've been lied to their mama, lies to their kids, lied to their brothers and sisters, and then get right into the courtroom and tell the God's honest truth. Don't get it.

Y'all need to get killed, bro. That's from me and why itself. The defendant's words tell you that there is an enterprise. Okay, next in prosecutor, Adrian. And Adrian Love's opening statement in day one of the Young Thug RICO trial, she moves on to this controversial piece of evidence in this case, rap lyrics, specifically Williams and co-defendant Diamante Kendrick's lyrics, to be precise. Now, the judge previously ruled that 17 sets of lyrics can be used as evidence.

Now, this didn't come without a lot of blowback from First Amendment advocates and defense attorneys. Does this stifle or violate someone's freedom of speech and artistic expression? It's a fair question. I mean, there's already been criticism that rap lyrics in general are predominantly used against black defendants and trials. Fulton County DA Fannie Willis, who is overseeing this prosecution, has said, quote, I believe in the First Amendment. It's one of our most precious rights.

However, the First Amendment does not protect people from prosecutors using lyrics as evidence if it is such. And that idea was echoed by Prosecutor Love. When she told the jury that they weren't chasing the lyrics, they were chasing the lyrics. they were chasing the murders and found the lyrics. Lyrics that have an uncanny similarity to very true and very real and quite specific he is, as the evidence will show. Jeffrey Williams' words that he promotes through songs with beats behind them, they aren't random.

He tells you, as the evidence will show, take this to my trial. I rep my life for real. For slimes, you know I kill. Trial, I'm defeated twice, tendrils. I'm underfeited like feds came and snatched me. I don't know. No point in asking. I was on what?

Believe it. Stuck like a magnet. I shoot at your man you need to stand down. I up my stamina. Take it to try. Get an appeal. Take it to try. Yeah, you're going to whack them.

Pay for that casket. That's just if we whack them. My young s' pulling up. Bentley's, Austin Martins, Rar as a Tesla's, strapped with an F-N. You're going to hear a lot about their things. Wash me whack that. Problem like a cyst. Glop with the assist.

Incidentally, the gun at the home of Jeffrey Williams on May of 2022 that had been modified with that switch, it was a bar. He tells you, we committing them crimes. hop out and shoot roll one up for the game he is not using gang colloquially the evidence will show he's telling you they are again okay so again that's part of the prosecution's opening statement then we heard from the defense let me clarify that a bit we heard some of the defense opening statement from one attorney obviously with the delays in court that is not surprising in day two We will hear more from the opening statements from the other defense attorneys representing other clients.

But here we have defense attorney Max Schart, who is representing Shannon Stillwell. Stillwell is accused of not only Rico, but other charges, including murder. Now, Schart talks about Stillwell's past, trying to be a rapper, struggling to make money to fund that rap dream, and how he ultimately entered the drug trade. But, and this is very important, Schart says what Stillwell was doing was to benefit himself, not YSL. The state has alleged in their over acts, okay? These are acts that they claim prove that there's some RICO conspiracy of foot. You'll hear that on August 23rd, 2013, Jenner was charged with possession of marijuana

with intent to distribute approximately one ounce over 10 years ago. And you'll hear that he played guilty and did his time. You'll hear that in September 25th of 2019, he was arrested in charge of possession of firearm. And he took responsibility and he did his time. We're not hiding from the fact that Shannon Stilwell has low drugs. We're not hiding from the fact that he's been in possession of marijuana.

We're not hiding from the fact that he's been found in possession of a firearm, which is always synonymous with selling drugs. These are his path, his past, this truth. And they were his decisions. His motivation was to make money for him to live, to pay rent, to eat. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not hiding from the past. But the evidence will show that Shannon's decisions starting over 10 years ago

had nothing to do with YSL or any other organization. You won't hear evidence that Shannon was selling marijuana and then calling someone from sales saying, hey, I got some money to support the organization or calling Jeffrey Williams and saying, hey, I got some money for you, man. No, it was for him. He was a drug dealer. He played guilty. He did his time.

That is an important theme, trying to distance yourself away from the alleged gang. Talking about important themes in this case, this for the defense, I imagine we will hear that more from other defendants. Now, Sharp also focused upon the state's case and particularly the murder charges and how informants cannot be trusted, that they are looking to make deals and say whatever they have to say to prosecutors and to law enforcement to make that happen. And he highlights one particular situation that is very interesting concerning the murder of Donovan Thomas.

Detective Thorne, is the Atlanta Police Department detective that was a sound. this case in January 2015 and you'll hear that he that he gathered the evidence from the crimes there was no DNA there was no fingerprints of value and there were no eyewitnesses on January 10 2015 on October 19th 2015 nine months and nine days after the Donovan Thomas shooter man named Nicholas Robinson was arrested on the streets of the Atlanta brought to Fulton County Jail for various pending charges. And you will hear evidence that Mr. Robinson decided he needed help.

We'll hear that he contacted Atlanta Police Department and got in touch with Detective Thorpe. And Detective Thorpe came out in an interview with this Nicholas Robinson. That Nicholas Robinson told Detective Thorpe that he saw it all, that he saw the people that were inside the car. And he gave names. Nicholas Robinson said, I saw Antonio Sledge. He came out of the sunroof, shooting.

I saw Kenneth Copeland. He was in the front passenger seat. I saw Dermitia on Garlington. He was the driver of this car. When there is, Zachary, he wasn't there, but he supplied the gun to Antonio Sledge. And yes, I saw Shannon Stillwell, my client. in the back passenger side shooting at Handville.

You'll see, you'll learn that during this interview with Nicholas Robinson, it wasn't only Detective Thorpe. There was another investigator there, an investigator, Gather. And while Detective Thorpe was talking to Nicholas Robinson, Detective Gathe was doing some investigation of her own and looking into Nicholas Robinson and who this guy was who had just been arrested. and after Nicholas Robinson

picked out all these people, including my client, Dr. Gaither had to tell Detective Thorpe. Detective Gaither had to tell Edithor that guy in there just signed those photo lineups

that just signed her case. He isn't really Nicholas Robinson. He lied to us about his name. The name is actually Spencer Wright. So, it was solved by someone who lied about their name. So, what was Detective Thorpe's testimony? Well, this is what the evidence will show.

The Detective Thorpe completely overlooked the lie about the name. And he said to Nicholas Robinson, or he said to Spencer Wright, oh, yeah, I've come to learn that your name is not actually Nicholas Robinson, as special right. Would you look at these photo lineups again, and instead of writing a fake name, Nicholas Robinson, could you actually sign a real name, Spencer Wright? And Spencer Wright did. The surveillance video that you will see, it's interesting.

And know who's in the barbership, know who's in the park bench, the bus, Marta bench across from the barbershop? No one. It was all fabricated. It was all makeup. It was all a lot. Those are some interesting points right there. Now remember, of course, opening statements, what the attorneys say here.

It's not evidence. It's just a roadmap, a guide, a preview of what to expect in this trial. We'll see what the exhibits and witness testimony tell us. But for now, there you have it. That is day one. Can't wait to see what happens in day two. That's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.