Law&Crime Sidebar - 8 Outrageous Moments from Young Thug’s RICO Trial: ‘I’m So High Right Now’

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

The trial against rapper Young Thug, real name Jeffrey Williams, is crawling along in Atlanta. In addition to delays and early dismissals, the court is also having to deal with bickering between attorneys, witnesses who refuse to talk, and never ending motions. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down some of the most outrageous moments.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo 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.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. You know, my mother would tell me that I have a lot of nerve if I would raise those issues. I don't know how right now you got, I'm about a ghost shooting out there. Stop. Just stop. I made my ruling. Lawyers yelling at the judge, the judge yelling back, possible a misconduct in front of the jury, defiant witnesses, and controversial rulings.

We have some of the biggest recent moments in the RICO case against rapper Young Thug and several co-defendants as it drags on in Georgia. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. It's been a while since we've talked about the Young Thug trial out of Atlanta. here on Sidebar. And if you haven't been following the case, there have been fireworks over the last few weeks that we're going to get into. So you might remember, though, that young thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, he was indicted on a laundry list of RICO or racketeering charges that

accuse him of leading a criminal organization known as YSL or Young Slime Life. And when we talk about the main underlying charge here, conspiracy to violate the RICO statute, violate the racketeering statute. There has to be an agreement to break the law, and there has to be overt steps or acts that were taken in furtherance of that agreement. That's what we mean by a conspiracy. So overt acts don't have to be crimes. They just have to be certain actions that were taken by the co-conspirators. The idea here is that Williams and others had an agreement to participate in gang activities, and there were 191 overt acts taken in furtherance of the YSL gang. That's the key there. It has to be in furtherance of the gang. Not that these people committed crimes to benefit themselves as

individuals, but that it was to benefit the gang, the criminal enterprise, as a whole. Now, there were more than two dozen other men that were charged alongside Young Thug, but that number dwindled down by the time we got to the start of trial. That was for various reasons. Their cases were severed. They took plea deals, but now we have the current defendants and we have Mr. Williams. So the defense is suggesting that YASL though is merely a record label. and that there is no gang here, that there is no criminal activity afoot. Now, with all of that in mind, let me be clear about something. This trial has become a spectacle in my mind.

I can't feel like I'm the only one that believes this because between the courtroom pack with defendants and their attorneys to the notoriety of Mr. Williams, to the absolute incredible amount of time this trial has taken and is going to take. Sometimes I know, I ask myself, what is going on right now? It took almost a year just for jury selection. The trial finally started last November, but since then, we've had, what, less than 60 days of actual court? And while it is certainly entertaining on one hand, we can't forget that these are real

lives on the line here. These are very serious crimes that are being alleged. And we have real defendants, Williams and his co-defendants. They could face years in prison if they're convicted. Now, for now, I should tell you that Mr. Williams is actually locked up in Fulton County Jail as this trial progresses. But what we want to do is we want to take you through some of the recent fiery moments from inside that courtroom, as well as some big rulings that have impacted the case.

And let's start this out with a blow-up over a motion to suppress some evidence. We're talking about how Doug Weinstein, he's representing Diamante Kendrick, also known as Yak Gotti. And Weinstein wanted to suppress a 2015 police interrogation video of Kendrick because he claimed that the investigators violated his client's rights by asking him more questions after he had requested a lawyer. Now, on March 14th, the judge watched this police interview outside the presence of the jury and made a decision.

Take a listen to Judge Jero Glenville. During the course of page two, page two, during the course of over two hours of the initial interview, defendant did not ask to speak to an attorney. At some point during the interview, Detective Joe Galpin, who was investing in a separate homicide incident, enter the room. defendant then indicated he wanted to talk with his attorney and questioning style that so judge

baberman i can't tell whether or not he took into account what i heard on the video which was i need to talk to my lawyer i don't want to talk no more that is equivocal to this court me judge glanville that he invoked his or withdrew his consent at that point in time and did not wish to speak to the law enforcement officers anymore. I understand the state's argument about parsing it out, asking for clarification. But I think that once he's, you know, the appellate case law that I've looked at, you know, in Poldo and others,

he is invoked his right at that point in time. And it's this court's opinion that anything thereafter would be inadmissible. Your Honor, the court also found that he reinitiated. And that was what we did. But that's their, that's their issue. That's not my issue. Your Honor, with respect to the statements that were made after that time,

we do have, as I stated, Investigator Thorpe to tell the court, on the record, present under oath that it was not Detective Thorpe. It was the defendant that reinitiated the conversation with Detective Thorpe. Our representations to the court are not evidence. And since the state has the burden of proof... Okay, but I've heard, I've seen the video at this point in time. The video does not encompass when the defendant... to actually initiate it, re-initiated contact.

But the problem is he invokes, and then we don't know what goes on in the last, in the 45 minutes, but we come back afterwards, and at that point in time, you don't get to eat your cake, have your cake and eat it too. Once he invokes, that's it. It's over. They should not be bringing him back at that point in time and asking, well, let me just clarify a little bit about whether or not these statements were made to these set of detectives or to golfing.

that you all are just annoyed more so that your detective did something that he probably regrets now and that you all probably would not have told him to do don't interrupt this particular investigation or this particular hearing because what you did is you just now created a wrinkle that that now i got to deal with or whether or not he's whether or not the defendant has invoked his right to counsel he has once you initiate your right or you revoke your right to uh to to to to to be examined and to have counsel and to have counsel present at that point in time. The courts are very, let's to say, cautious about reinitiation

at that point in time. And you all presented to me what was the salient point of this particular issue is. So if I believe at this point in time that he's invoked unequivocally his right to counsel at this point in time, the question is supposed to stop. You're not supposed to go out and get cigarettes and do everything else.

It's supposed to stop. I mean, that's this court's opinion. And that's my rule. The thing is, is that, Your Honor, we did not. You're arguing with me now, Ms. Love. So can we stop at this point in time? Your Honor. If you have other evidence, independent of this,

I'll consider it the appropriate time. And we do. And that is what I was asking. So if the court will permit me to actually introduce the evidence that we have, as the court in State v. Poldo, 309, Georgia 130, where it says a suspect who asked for a lawyer at any time during a custodial interrogation may not be subjected to further questioning until the suspect re-initiates the

conversation. And in that, they are citing Dozier versus the state 306, Georgia at 35, Your Honor, Edwards versus Arizona. And, Your Honor, this is a 2020-2020, Georgia. Georgia Supreme Court case. Your Honor, at some point, Your Honor, I'm sorry, I'm talking. Your Honor, at some point, I am being interrupted. I will not stop. Hey, hey, hey. I was speaking.

Ms. Loeb. I'm sorry, I was speaking. Both y'all can't talk at the same time. I know. I was speaking and I think I'm allowed to speak when I'm speaking. Hey, both you all need to just take it down a notch. And so, Your Honor, if I may finish, because I was the one speaking before Mr. Weinstein interrupted.

But you have, you have, you have, you continually engaged in this pattern of behavior. Ms. Love. You don't want to accept my ruling. Your Honor, and I know you've been an advocate, but at some point, stop. Just stop. I made my ruling. Good, bad, or indifferent to you. You're going to win some, you're going to lose some. I do it.

Accept that fact. No, you don't. No, you don't. Your Honor, we have just not been able to present the evidence. No, you do. I get it. And I get it. And if you have an independent basis to introduce statements that may not

that may be not subject to the fruit of the poisonous tree or any other thing or any other issue related to evidence that may have flown out of this particular um interview then I'll hear it at that point in time yeah I couldn't believe that the bailiff had to get involved in that but look it is an important issue the idea of a suspect asking to speak to counsel the question has to stop so it's an interesting legal issue if his statements could come in if he initiated the conversation once again. The judge was not persuaded by the prosecution's argument said that once he requested that attorney, that's it. It felt law enforcement, you know, softened him up and improperly got him to say stuff. Well, a few minutes later, Doug Weinstein,

again, the attorney for Mr. Kendrick, got to have the last word for the time being. And what a word it was. Your Honor, I apologize for interrupting the state earlier, but the state can talk the ears off a donkey. This continued filibustering has got to stop. so that opposing counsel can speak the your rulings at some point have got to be final your honor whether you hear from detective thorpe or not is irrelevant he requested his lawyer he invoked his right to not speak anymore and i don't care what schmoozing detective thorpe did out at the sally port taking my client off camera i don't know what went on down there i don't know what self-serving well i have some idea i don't know what's self-serving well i have some idea i don't know what self-serving statement, Detective Thorpe, could possibly give to this court that would cause the court to change their order. This continued going back whenever the state loses in this case has got to stop at some point, Your Honor. Thank you. But this certainly wasn't the only explosive moment over the last few weeks or that the tense moments only were between Judge Glanville

and the prosecution team. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because on March 20th, there was a moment between Judge Glanville and William's attorney Brian Steele. It's hard to hear because the audio is so bad, but what ends up happening is the judge accuses Steele of kind of being unprepared and almost seems to berate him in front of the jury. Steele points out that the jury needs to be dismissed, and then he goes to the podium to address his grievance with the court. This is the second time that this honorable court in front of the jury has addressed me

inappropriately and wrongly. Second time, the first time I gave the state discovery of a song from a Super Bowl. Weeks before, there was an objection. You assumed that I didn't give it to the state. I didn't want to embarrass the court. So you were yelling at me and saying, do you understand me? Do you understand me? And instead of saying, do you understand that you're wrong, I sat here and I said, yes, your honor.

That was to protect the integrity of this courtroom and the court. Now you say in front of the jury how unprepared I am. I am not unprepared for anything. Okay. No, no, no, I need to make a record. Your Honor, I need to make this record. When you keep delaying, okay, and that's what's happening to the court, you keep delaying and elongating and pushing out these particular ability to present a seamless case in front of the jury.

Now, I asked you those two particular questions because if you've, If they turned over the audio to you in Discovery, and you've listened to them already, then you either have an objection or you don't have an objection. And I was trying to solicit from you whether or not we could just go ahead and just hear it. So you can imagine my frustration because all these little delays just elongate out the whole our presentation in front of the jury. That's for your benefit, not for mine, Your Honor. So that's why I keep, that's why I've told you all at various times during this particular case. It's not because I want to embarrass you, Mr. Steele.

It's just that I'm trying to kind of keep this thing presented in a way that the jury can listen to it. And the court is wrong. This is a second time. And you know what it does to me? I don't care. I'm hurt because you're a court, but I really don't care. But what does it do to Mr. Williams? Mr. Steele, I'm not trying to.

personally insult you or hurt your feelings, okay? You are a grown professional advocate. I am a grown professional jurist. And people say things to me that border on the lines if I could take action or not. You have certainly said some of those things to me during the trial of this case. I have let them go.

So, sir, you know, that's just the trial, that's just the trial of the case, okay? But that man's life is here. And you know, you're doing a fine job. been representing him. But you know what? That's that's just the way we are right now. I make a motion to ask you to please refuse yourself. I know it has to be in writing within five days. If you want me to do that, I'll do it. And that's to go to another judge. But this is what's going on. Your Honor, whether you see it or not, you're yelling at me in front of a jury for

nothing. And then you won't apologize. And I did nothing wrong ever. I get it. You don't want the jury looking you that way. What the court says, sometimes juries really hone in on. So if a put Steele or Mr. Williams in a bad spot, I get it. But again, Judge Glanville denied that motion on the spot. But Mr. Steele, oh, he wasn't done yet. But I'm asking for a mistrial. Okay, now, Ms. Love. I don't think it's a fair forum for Mr. Williams.

And I don't want to ask for a mistrial. But I have no choice when the court is saying what it said, that I'm not going to repeat it in front of a jury. That's hurtful. And I'm not saying me. I mean, regardless of what I think of it, it's hurtful to Mr. Williams getting a fair trial. And the judge denied that as well.

And everybody, so I want to thank Morgan and Morgan for sponsoring this episode of Sidebar. Always love talking about them. Now, here is the incredible thing about Morgan and Morgan. And one of the reasons why I like talking about them so much. Hey, say something about our big wins. I'm not supposed to come on camera. The reason, Morgan and Morgan, America's largest personal injury law firm, is so big, and I'm sure you can guess it, is because they win a lot.

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What Jesse was getting at is if you've ever been injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan and Morgan. You can submit a claim in eight clicks or less. To start your claim, just visit for the people.com slash LC sidebar. You came a little too close to me. It hurt me a little bit. I'm probably actually going to have to hire you guys now, but that was well said. That was well said. Well, we have had some very interesting witnesses in this trial, to say the least.

And one of the witnesses that we've seen a lot over the past few weeks is a man named Adrian Bean. And just to give you an idea of how slow this trial has been going the snail's pace of this trial, Bean first got on the stand on February 29th and finally finished up on March 19th. But he was actually really on the stand for, I think, five days. The prosecution brought Bean in to talk about a shooting that happened more than a decade ago in Atlanta. Prosecutors wanted him to establish that Williams was present at the scene of that drive-by. Bean was allegedly the getaway driver, but Bean, he wouldn't do it. No, he didn't give the prosecution what they needed.

He said he was doing so many drugs in 2013 that he doesn't really remember the shooting or the car crash that happened after. That shooting is one of the prosecution's overt acts that I mentioned before, that they want to tie Williams to the scene to show his participation in apparent gang activity. But going back to Bean, several times over the course of his testimony, we heard these taped interviews and phone calls after Bean was arrested following the shooting. According to retired detective David Quinn, Bean was one of the first people to even mention Williams during that investigation. This sounds like the truth. You're the driver. you and you really cleared something up for me and thug and I got to go out here

and find a picture this Joker because it's important because he I don't think he should get away with it if he was in the car you're not making this up

Thug was in the car all right okay let me I can't testify I can't get none of that now you know all right you ain't got to testify that's on you I'm going to put me on blast the front of you

well that's not not what I do. What I do is I'm trying to go slow and get all the information I need in relation to you, right? That's all I'm talking about. But the other people involved, I mean, it sounds to me like thug got you all involved with me. I know you're

a grown man in that thing, but he came down here with an easy way to make money, it sounds like, and it went who knew the police were going to be there? So much for not having to testify, but when prosecutor Adrian Love tried to question her witness, this pretty much sums

up what happened. My statement is that I don't remember anything from 2013, man. Despite that, in a win for the state, prosecutors were able to get these recorded interviews and written transcripts introduced into the record. So even if Bean doesn't remember, they have it on tape and the jury hears it. Okay, so was Bean's testimony helpful for the defense? It's an interesting question because in January of 2023, Mr. Williams' attorney, Brian Steele, he sat down with Bean, recorded their conversation, and in that interview,

Bean says Young Thug was not there, said the police were the ones who wanted to connect the rapper to the crime. I'm interested in Jeffrey Williams, Young Thug. We see in around a participant, given direction, anything involved in that event that we're talking about, about the dirty red in September, 2011, 2013. No, sir. Okay. My guys, but, you know, wait. You know, all that occurred, everything took place. You know, every day was, you know, trying to force him in on something that he wasn't even meant.

Like I said, I'm not going to lie on the brother. You know what I mean? You know, he wasn't with as John Thubb, but not in the club. They don't even know how his name really got mentioned. Maybe it was a lot of hype. You know, I might have was uncomfortable talking to said his name, but I, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? Him and then to say that he was with us, you know what I'm saying?

And when you said that they pointed. him in the communication or whatever your words were who is that Now saying he was kind of You know people that was in crime You know what I'm saying? I don't know what the police The authorities

Or whatever prosecutes the police Yes sir Okay Now saying he was kind of forced by authorities To give them young thug But it wasn't true Adrian being Look just doesn't seem like the most reliable

Witness he says one thing here Another thing there Then tells the prosecutor or he actually doesn't remember anything from that time. And during some of his testimony, being lashed out, questioned why he was even in the courtroom. All this is going on right here on this, got me up on this stand, to my dis and then third, all this time of extra stuff that's going on, Yonah.

I'm on trial, Yon. Sir, you just have to answer the questions, unfortunately, at this point in time, okay? That's all I can tell you. I'm on trial. No, sir, you're not on trial. But you do have to, but you have been properly summoned here. as a witness and your subject to examination until I release you. I never consent to do none of this, sir.

I ain't signed nothing. My name ain't on nothing. They come give it. They, y'all don't threaten to lock me up. Hey, I got a family too. And after all this time on the witness stand, it seemed like Bean was pretty much fed up with being there. I mean, just listen to what he said right in the middle of questioning

toward the end of his testimony. You explained, you just heard that you explained that they, we qualified that, you qualified it, as the detectives and police, and I asked you the authorities, the police, the prosecutors, I just made it broad, that they wanted, they forced Jeffrey Williams into it. Did you hear you say that? Man, um, can I get the water or something? I'm so high right now, y'all, I'm about to go to sleep on y'all, man.

I ain't going to tell you no life. He's so high right now, he is about to pass. ass out. I have covered trials for a while now, and I can tell you right now uncategorically. Can't say I've heard a witness say that one on the stand. No, that is amazing, to say the least, amazing. All right,

let's move on to another witness who was actually not shown on camera, only identified as A, B. In fact, this person didn't come to court at first, defied a subpoena that she says she never received. So this witness was allegedly the victim of an armed robbery

back in 2013, reportedly involving Mr. Williams, which is apparently not in the indictment, but prosecutor Love told Judge Glanville that she has spoken with the witness several times about the court needing to hear her testimony and said that the witness indicated she did not want to come to court. So she ended up telling Love that she was in the hospital, couldn't come in, but the DA's office says that officers found her at home actually arrested her on a material witness warrant. But if the prosecution expected her to be particularly cooperative once she was on the stand or to give some bombshell incriminating testimony against the defense, they were wrong.

Learned after asking that it was a friend of your child's father, known to you as Thug, who was at the door. No. Do you recall telling the police that you opened the door and let Thug inside your home? No. Did you ever say to the police that Thug's brother was also with him? No. And do you recall telling the police that you turned your back on Thug, Thug's brother and a person you called D.K. after letting them in your home?

No. Do you recall telling the police that you turned your back on them to walk into the kitchen to make your baby a bottle? No. Do you recall telling the police that when you went to the kitchen, Thug's brother, put a silver 9 millimeter to the back of your head? No. And my baby didn't even drink bottles. My baby were breastfed, so no. Did you tell the police that the two suspects along that thugged his brother and D.K. demanded money from you and your gun? No. Hmm. Not a lot to say there. Well, the following day, A.B. was cross-examined by Keith Adams.

This is another member of Williams' defense team. Listen to this bombshell that was dropped. you will ask some questions by the assistant district attorney, Ms. Love. Is that right? Yes. You remember her asking you at one point, are you afraid of Jeffrey Williams? Do you remember that question? Yes. And she may not have said Jeffrey Williams.

She may have said, are you afraid of thug? You remember that? Yes. Okay. And your answer was no. Is that right? Yes. You have no reason and had no reason to be afraid of Jeffrey Williams.

Is that right? No, I don't know. Okay. In fact, when you testified yesterday, you were on edge. Is that fair to say? Yes. You were, you didn't want to be here. Yes. And part of it is because of the interactions, and your reaction yesterday was based on the interactions you had had, not with Mr. Williams or anyone over here, but with the district attorney's office. Isn't that true? Yes. You told us when you were back there that they had been, quote, harassing you for a number of months. Is that true?

Yes. And in fact, you said that prior to coming out and testifying that the only person you were afraid of you didn't want to be around was investigator Hamilton from the district attorney's office. Is that true? Yes. Mr. Hamilton had contacted you prior to yesterday. Is that right? Yes. Mr. Hamilton had harassed you. Is that correct? Yes.

In fact, you told us when you were back there that you didn't want to come out and see him because he had sexually harassed you. True? Yes. You felt like, and you told us, that you were really concerned about coming out of here. I would like to object as the relevance.

I'm a little objection. You told us that the times when he would contact you, It seemed like he was trying to date you. Yes. He wanted to meet you supposedly to talk about the case. Yes. You didn't feel comfortable going to meet him by yourself? No.

Because you didn't feel comfortable going to meet him by yourself, you brought your 20-year-old son with you. Yes. Was that before or after you met with Mr. Hamilton and he told you, And he told you, don't talk to nobody else. That was after. He told me before that I came in. I seen Ms. Love. And that's when I told y'all yesterday that me and Ms. Love,

we only discussed for a brief because they was like trying to tilt me. Quite the revelation, right? Well, A.B. was back on the stand again a few days later and explained more about her accusations against investigative. Hamilton as the defense showed text messages on a large screen now how about the next one that same night Wednesday February 7 645 p.m. where he says hit me up if you're bored later we're not going to talk shop remember that text message yes did you talk to him later on yes did you all talk shop Yes.

What are you want to talk about? Going out. Going out? Going out? Going out is walking out the door or going out on a date? A date. And this is February 7th of 2024 this year when the investigator for the DA's office is supposed to be talking to you about a case, but in fact it's calling you talking

you about going out on a date. Is that true? Yes. Did the fact that this employee of the district attorney's office was trying to date you come into your mind as you're thinking about whether you have to come in here and testify online? Yes. This is really not a great look for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office to say the least, but the drama did not end there. No, another big witness in this case called by the state was Walter Murphy, and he took the stand on April 10th. to give you a little bad idea who we're talking about.

So Murphy, also known as D.K., he took a plea deal in which he entered a guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit RICO, and he would be required to testify in this trial. Another important witness for the prosecution, right? Murphy, childhood friends with Williams, who he knew as Lil Jeff. But he says after he got sent to prison, he and Williams didn't reconnect. What is your current relationship with Mr. Williams? I have a relationship with him. When did that relationship cease?

It never ceased, it just, I went to prison. And while you were in prison, you do not maintain your relationship or friendship? When you're in prison, you don't retain no relationship, all that end. And since you got out of prison, did you not rekindle your friendship when you got out of prison? I had more important relationships to worry about than friends, like my kids. The prosecution asked Murphy about some of his tweets from 2012 that included terms used by gangs, including the tendency to change the letter C to the letter B in words to show support for the Bloods gang. Murphy testified he did a lot of things like this when he was just young and dumb.

And I want to go down to August 25th, 2012. Can you read that tweet on August 25, 2011? That's the song. What does it say? It's been a long time coming, baby. I just called to see how you've been doing it later. Now, you just said it's been a long time coming. Is there a bee or a seed never coming?

It's a bee. Okay. Why would you tweet as a bee? This is what I was doing. I did a lot of stuff without meaning or purpose. I was childish, young, dumb. Again, not really giving the prosecution. what they needed. What did prosecutors do? Well, they walked Murphy through his plea deal and

what he admitted in those documents. Murphy is allegedly a co-founder of YSL, which he formed around 2012. Did you ever create a group called YSL? A group, yeah. Okay. Was it something else besides a group? Not to my means or knowledge. And what does number one say? why I said otherwise known as young slime life began as a neighborhood group but evolved into a game

okay and did you initial number one yeah those are your initials right yeah okay so when I just asked you was why I sell a game why did you tell you don't know did you not acknowledge that

in this document yeah but it's like evolve I don't know when it evolved into a game I know when when we made it it was a neighborhood group it was a group of guys from the neighborhood I made a music group and in this acknowledgement that you initial you said it involved into a game that's what you initial yeah okay so I don't know when it involved in a game though I didn't ask you when I just asked you did why I sell become a gay yeah all right and that would happen a lot him being confronted with statements he made to law enforcement or the state versus what

he's saying or maybe not saying on the stand about what he knows regarding YSL, young thug and others. He was on the stand under direct examination for a couple of days, cross-examined by the defense attorneys that started on Friday with more cross-expected on Monday. And that brings us to something that we know you're all thinking. Is this trial ever going to end? It is a fair question to ask. Well, the defense attorneys, they are certainly worried about the pace and the sheer number of witnesses left to go. So far, they've made it through the testimony of about 40 witnesses. We are losing our jurors.

We are losing our jurors. I look over there at them, and they are trying their best. They are trying their hardest. Often they are taking notes, but other times, they have just tuned out. In fact, Doug Weinstein, who represents co-defendant Diamante Kendrick, I mentioned it before, filed a motion back in March to put a limit on the number of witnesses. that will be called. Well, Judge Yeroglanville is none too happy with the pace of this trial and even suggested he might have a remedy that not everybody would be excited about.

I have spoken with our sheriff and consistent with court if I need, if necessary need be, we'll start having court on Saturday and Sunday. Yeah, well, that's my call. So if you don't want your Saturday and Sunday sucked up, I think we need to work a little harder in terms of being able to streamline and that goes to both sides. And look, I don't want to work that way too because it's me and my staff and my team and the sheriff and his team and everything else. But we will do it because we're going to have to recap some days.

I don't want to be in 2027 trying this case. Or as Mr. Steele said, I want to be here next Super Bowl trying this case. I do have the, I have power of contempt. I don't want to use that. I don't. But it's come down. We've been in trial a long time. I think I've been very clear with everybody about my expectations which serve you all and your ability as advocates in this case to be how to try the best case you have.

The judge ordered the prosecution to provide him with an updated witness list, which seems now to have been whittled down to 150. But to be fair about that, that's down from around 700 at the start of this trial. Just remember that. That's just for the prosecution's case, by the way. Not even who the six defendants want to call. I do have some concerns about 120 days of trial time. That's going to take almost four months. And, you know, I'll remind the state you told me, or Ms. Hilton told me,

it's going to take about six months. At this rate, it's going to be 12 months, and that doesn't include anything that the defense may choose to, I'm concerned about your case to achieve this point in time. Defense will present whatever they wish to do with, and I'll deal with it accordingly. but um you know we did we were trying to

we were trying to be changed by Jim frankly as I told the court earlier yes you can't control cross determination and that has extended our estimation of the time that we'd say well like I said

if you disclose things if you don't disclose everything and we don't disclose things timely then I have then what I'm doing is I'm taking up more time what I want to do is I don't want to take up two, three hours. I can't do that anymore. So I'm telling you, you need to make very sure that you've disclosed the evidence and you'd be able to tell me what day you did, because if you

can't, I'm going to exclude it. That's my remedy at this point in time. We will see, of course, if the court is able to keep things on track, but between late starts, early dismissals, long comfort breaks, days spent arguing motions, vacation time, and more we really could be talking about a case that is really years, takes years. And I feel really, really bad. for that jury, to say the least. But of course, here on Sidebar, we will bring you all of the latest updates. Thank you so much for joining us, everybody.

Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll 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.