Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘This Is a Circus’: Top 10 Odd Moments from Young Thug's RICO Trial So Far

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

From an opening statement straight from The Jungle Book to the judge telling the prosecutor to mind her own business, rapper Young Thug’s trial in Georgia got underway with a bang. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber takes us through the top 10 odd moments from the first few days of trial.SPONSOR: If you’ve used Incognito mode in Google’s Chrome internet browser, you can find out if you have a claim in only a few clicks by visiting https://www.forthepeople.com/LCGoogleHOST: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. Jeffrey Trees. Whoever he is with, the same. He knows where he came from. He came from nothing. Now he stands before you. We trust you.

Jeffrey's not guilty. Week one of the Georgia RICO trial of rapper Young Thug and his co-defendants is officially in the books. Just because the trial is now underway doesn't mean it has been smooth sailing. No, we're bringing you 10 of the most eyebrow-raising, notable, and wow moments from week one. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So after what was a marathon of almost a year of jury selection and twists and turns, in the case with defendants taking plea deals, another on the run, others having their cases

being separated, we have finally concluded the first week of the criminal trial of rapper Young Thug or Jeffrey Lamar Williams and his five co-defendants. And let's not forget, the rapper and his alleged co-gang members stand accused of running one of the biggest criminal enterprises in Atlanta history. That's what we're talking about when we say a RICO or racketeering conspiracy case, that there was an agreement to break the law, and these defendants and their unindicted co-conspirators took overt steps or acts to further this criminal enterprise known as YSL. Prosecutors say YSL is called Young Slime Life, defense contending YSL is really just a record label. But now, the trial kicked off on Monday, November 27th, after the Thanksgiving holiday,

and we're finally starting to hear what the prosecutors say they can prove. and what defense attorneys, for all six attorneys, have to say in response. The prosecution plans to show that young thug and his alleged co-conspirators were in this conspiracy together to further their criminal enterprise, meaning that there was an agreement. They acted in concert to further their gang, make money, gain notoriety, or influence, that sort of thing. And they allegedly did all of that by orchestrating assaults, hijackings,

burglaries, drug deals, and even murder. This is what we again are talking about. with RICO a racketeering agreement to break the law overt acts taken a young thug and his co-defendants and others in furtherance of this conspiracy. I know I keep saying it, but it's important to remember what we're talking about. And by the way, prosecutors are planning to prove a hundred and ninety one overt acts in this case. I wonder why this trial is going to last months. So that brings me to the first notable moment. The prosecution's opening statement. And you know that prosecutors, they start their opening statement.

in all different ways, right? Sometimes they give facts of the crime, they give a timeline, sometimes they just introduce themselves. Remember, it's kind of a roadmap of where this case is going to go. Well, for Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adrian Love, she started her opening statement in a very unique way with a few lines from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. 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 pack is the wolf. And the strength of the wolf is the path. Now you may be wondering, why the heck would you start off this way? Well, the prosecution, again, has to show for a racketeering conspiracy case that everything was done by these co-defendants for the purpose, the sole purpose of the criminal enterprise, that these crimes and acts were done not to benefit themselves as individuals, but the gang collectively. That's the key. That's why she focuses on the PAC, and that young thug is the alleged leader of this PAC or criminal enterprise. Now, as one would expect, in a trial with so many defendants, there were definitely a lot of interruptions right off the bat. And that led to some tension in the courtroom. Did I have a rule on that issue? You said that you would do it later as it came up.

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. No, just 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. Yeah.

And one of the biggest interruptions came during Prosecutor Love's opening statement. 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. Your Honor. You have an objection? Yes, sir. Basis. Of motion. Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of our breaks.

I'm going to need to probably put it. ask you to retire your headquarters drill deliberation room and we'll call you back in just a minute all right mr steel what's your what's your motion sir your honor last week two weeks three weeks ago you ordered the parties to share all of their displays an 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 have that's what i got what you just saw on your screen if you don't remember i'll ask 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 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 orders? So, yes, I have a serious motion for a mistrial because it's intentional misconduct. Hey, everybody, this is a Morgan and Morgan legal alert. Evidence shows that Google has allegedly violated the privacy of millions of Americans via incognito mode. Your personal information and data may have been unfairly collected and then used for profit. As America's largest injury law firm, Morgan and Morgan has recovered over $20 billion in compensation for clients, and they may be able to help you fight for justice.

If you've used incognito mode in Google's Chrome Internet browser, you can find out if you have have a claim in only a few clicks by visiting www. www.forthepeople.com slash LC. Google. It only takes a few minutes to sign up and find out if you have a claim. So Brian Steele, young thugs attorney, says that Love showed these PowerPoint slides that he apparently never saw. The defense attorneys, they were all supposed to be able to review any body else's

presentations to make sure that all their ducks were in a row, right? Well, there was apparently something on Love's slide about Steele representing one of the other defendants, Rodelius Ryan, in another case. That apparently wasn't supposed to be there. The jury wasn't supposed to see it. He asked for a mistrial. That didn't happen. But there were more problems with the information

on the PowerPoint slides. All right. Mr. Matthews? Yes. I wanted to just tell him the court. I left to direct the state's attention to the spot 15. The spot 15 of the third bullet point. Number two, the quote in the indictment is different from the quote in the paragraph.

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 this opening

slide presentation so those need to be corrected to mirror the indictment on behalf of Mr. Stillwell slide number 47 it suggests that Mr. Stillwell

is still committing crimes on behalf 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 an email to that. 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 ask 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. They misquoted him? Yes, they did.

It says, I bet YSL 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. Yeah, it was a mess.

It was a mess. There's really no other way to describe it. You have defense attorneys saying that the prosecution slides were in act. which kind of looked like they were. Then, while Judge Ural Glanville had hoped that everything could be worked out during the lunch break, he had actually had to excuse the jury in the middle of the prosecution's opening statement to work all this out, he got upset because he said attorneys didn't do what they were supposed to do.

In fact, Judge Glanville was so frustrated he had threatened that no one could then use PowerPoints in their opening statements. But after further discussion, negotiation, he ended up allowing edited and redacted versions of slides in PowerPoints, and after over two hours, two hours, the jury finally came back in to hear the continuation of the opening statements. That was day one, everybody. That was day one. Now let's talk about day two.

So it's Tuesday, and we heard from Mr. Steele once again. This time, it was for him to deliver his opening statement on behalf of his client, Young Thug. And he addressed several key issues, but one of the biggest talking points seemed to be that Young Thug doesn't really buy into our justice system. anyway. In this environment of severe poverty, severe crime, Jeffrey developed two deep, embedded beliefs about our criminal justice system. The first one is that it is not justice.

Our criminal justice system was not just, at least for the people that he saw. Jeffrey thinks that the entire justice. system is corrupt. It should be blown up. And everybody who feeds into that are awful people, stealing lives away from others. Wow. Some strong words right there, especially as we're in a court of law as part of the justice system. But his point is for the jury to understand the context and surroundings of Jeffrey Williams' life. Seems to me Steele was trying to portray Williams as a misunderstood artist who's being persecuted for his craft, he even said,

Thug isn't as nefarious as prosecutors would have you believe. It was his pact that he could ever make it as a musical artist and help his family, himself, and as many others, out of this endless cycle of hopelessness, he would be truly humble under... God, that's what Thug is. So Thug, T-H-U-G, has a different meaning. And he also had another explanation for the jury about one of Thug's songs with

Gunna, a Y-S-L member who took a plea deal last year. And the prosecution is targeting. That's Jeffrey taking a selfie in the mirror. And he has his hand up and the indictment that the prosecution had the grand jury return, says he's holding up a blood sign. And that furthers this conspiracy. There's nothing wrong with holding up a blood sign. But that's not a blood sign.

The blood sign is like this. It looks like a B. That is a P. Jeffrey's fingers are down. And what you'll learn is that Jeffrey just released with Sergio Kitchens performed as Gunna a song that is wildly popular.

It's around the globe. It's called Pushing P. And it's positivity. It means anything. Any circumstance you're in, if you think positively about something, you can make it through. You're pushing positivity. You're pushing P. Jeffrey is showing the P.

So I actually look this up, and it is true that pushing P is a slang term that can be about acting with integrity and going forth with a good message. And even Gunna has said before that it's an overall positive phrase, meaning to, quote, keep it real. But whether it actually means positivity, that's going to be up to debate. It's really up for the jury. They're going to have to decide what these signs mean. And that brings us to another big argument in this trial. Just because Young Thug and other rappers tied to the case said something in a song, does that mean it happened in real life?

Can the prosecution use it as proof of nefarious deeds? While they can use it, the judge allowed 17 sets of lyrics to be used by the prosecution in this case, it comes a different question if they're able to prove it. See, the prosecution said in their opening statement, we didn't chase lyrics to solve the murders, but law enforcement chased the murders and they found the lyrics. And so they would cite lyrics from Young Thug, such as, quote, take this to trial or for Slimes You Know I Kill and referenced a Glock, and authorities found a modified Glock at Young Thugs' home.

But Brian Steele read some of Young Thugs' lyrics during his opening statement to get his point across. this is you will learn studio gangsters they're in the studio they are creating music for us to listen to you if you go to the first one that's April 20th of 2014 it's a song released on social media the song called ooh red just like Elmo but i never effing give go yfell won't fold pick his a off a balcony off from the balcony. There's no evidence anyone got picked off the balcony. Wysale, wife at ends, knows, which I showed you. I'm an F for the cash.

Then she's getting robbed by Tick. Tick is another name for Tritius C. He will tell you he had a rough life. He's been in custody. In a Bentley on Wesley, getting trailed by sniper, there's no evidence that. All I ever wanted was in money. Put your hands in the air if you dare any MF to step over here.

And that's the type of gun. Put them in the wheelchair. These are lyrics that rhyme. So does it take out of context in that song? But they're lyrics. If we're going to criminalize lyrics, you will learn. We all should watch what we say. It's April 16, 2021.

Jeffrey released a song on YouTube. Really be slime. The lyrics, my end, really, they slime. We committing them crimes. Hop out and shoot. One one up for the gang. Want to be a slime? Go catch a body.

Me and little bro, we used to steal from the store. We had to stick it and go. As a confession to an armed robbery, had to stick them up and go. That's what we're dealing with me. I'm also not telling you that these lyrics are accurate. This is the interpretation of the City of Atlanta Police Department and the District Attorney's Office of Fulton County.

You will not hear from the District Terms Office called one witness who's in every expert in lyrics, in rap, in hip-hop, in gangster rap. They're not going to do it. They're going to do it through gang experts. Because the gang experts know what they're doing. They have five gang experts. They really have one.

Because you're not going to get experts from different jurisdictions, from different types of teachings, from different learnings, from different thoughts. You have five gang experts in this case from the district turns off of Folkney County. attorney's office of Folkney County, all work together in the city of Atlanta Police Department. Those in your five gangers, they teach each other, they talk to each other, they decide what the rules are. Steele ended his opening statement by reiterating that young thug was targeted and doesn't trust

this legal system. Now, moving on, Angela D. Williams is the defense attorney for the man I mentioned before, Radalius Ryan. He's part of this RICO trial, but he's already serving. a life sentence for killing another teen when they were both just 15 years old. In her opening statement, B. Williams said that her client's case was included just to make things more complicated, and she uses some colorful language to describe this. Poor, young, convenient.

That's all it takes to become a target of the same. I'm going to break that down for you. Poor. Rodias was born on a couch. Let that sink in. He was born on a couch From day one that he was born into this world He has been fighting to survive

The only time the state cares about poor people Is when they can exploit them Radias had to do what he's had to do since day one Survive in prison And if you look at Radalius you can see He's maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet So he posts things He posts on Instagram

And I wouldn't even call him Instagram post I would call it a survival post He has to be boastful. He has to show people this is what I have because he has to protect himself. It's prison. We're basically distractions. So as a juror, what can you do to tell the state

we're not going to be distracted? We don't need to listen to filler. You come back at the end of this with a not guilty for Radalius Ryan. You tell them we do not want to waste our time on fillers. We just want to get the substance. So I guess sit back, enjoy the show.

get some popcorn, because this is not justice. This is a circus. Thank you. Okay, so as we continue talking about the wow moments in week one of young thugs criminal trial out of Atlanta, we want to jump now to Wednesday. And trial was proceeding as normal with the state's first witness, Atlanta police detective Mark Belknap on the stand. He had been qualified as a gang expert. And everyone took a break for lunch. But when they were supposed to be back in court, it still hadn't resumed. That's because the attorneys were, we're all meeting with the judge in chambers, so the jury wasn't seated. And it stayed that way for hours.

When the judge finally came back into the courtroom and things got underway again, this is what he had to say. Ladies and gentlemen, if I could just grab your attention right quick so we can go ahead and get started. Before we go ahead and summon our jurors, I just wanted to pose an inquiry to our members of the media here. due to some security issues not attributable to anybody in this courtroom or the parties and the fact that we have had an inadvertent recording of some of our jurors on the front road is it would it be appropriate or okay if you all would not film continue to film detective belt and I'd be welcome to go ahead and do the audio but is that something that you all would be willing to do

please everyone okay with that okay all right we're going to go ahead and call for our jurors at this point in time. And let's summon Detective Belknap, please. So a couple of things to break down here that maybe aren't really related to each other. First of all, a few of the jurors were apparently inadvertently shown for a few moments on camera, which of course is a big no-no. You can't have that. So the judge wanted to address that this happened and that everyone is aware.

By the way, of course, this happens in this trial, right? The drama just keeps on coming. But secondly, he talked about not filming Detective Belknap when he gone on the stand. By the way, Belknap had been on the stand for quite a while with his face on camera, but there were evidently some concerns. So he would no longer be shown on camera, which is interesting because doesn't it seem like the harm has already been done? And apparently, we're trying to get confirmation of this.

But at the time of this recording, moving forward, we might not be able to show any of the witness's faces on the stand for security purposes. I think we're trying to get a little bit more clarity on that. We'll let you know what the update is there. But now going to Thursday, day four, and we have another Atlanta police detective on the stand. Again, the judge asked the media to not show the officer on the stand, but we have audio and we can hear the questions and the answers. So Captain Reginald Pettus, an APD veteran of almost, I believe, 20 years was talking about an incident in 2013 when he was a plain-closed officer involving a man named Trontavius Stevens. I'm going to give you some background on Stevens.

So prosecutors purport that Stevens is one of the co-founders of YSL alongside Young Thug. He entered a plea deal last December. He was the eighth alleged YSL member to take a plea. And as part of his deal, he is required to testify if called upon during trial. So Stevens was indicted on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for this January 2013 situation at an Atlanta apartment complex. It's actually the first overt act in this indictment. Remember when I said, in order to prove a. racketeering conspiracy, you need to prove all these overt acts were taken to further that

conspiracy. This trial will show what those overt actions or steps or things are. This is Act 1 out of 191. So back to Captain Pettis' testimony on Thursday. He says Stevens pointed a gun at him and his partner, and he said he also observed something very interesting. I observed them come out of the building with their attention already focused on the vehicle that I was driving, myself and my partner. And then they immediately began throwing the gang signs and yelling at us. Had you done anything to that group of gentlemen before they came out, focusing on you and your partner, throwing the gang signs and yelling at you?

No, ma'am. Now, when you talk about gang signs, how long have you worked overall in law enforcement? 17 years. And what if any training or experience have you had during that time that would give you the ability to recognize what the game sign is? We certainly had a block of instruction in the academy. In field training, we would be taught to look for those signs from our field training officers pointing out the signs. but we would literally drive down the street and gang members would throw gang signs at the police car throughout my years I've attended various other trainings that show gang indicators

from tagging to dress to words being said certainly to colors and hand signs being the the most fluid and evolving indicator of a criminal street gang okay so pettis says he saw stevens and these people who were with him displaying clear signs of aggression and waving gang signs. That's important. But on cross-examination, Hedis admitted he didn't put in his official report that he observed gang signs. The very detailed report included almost all the other important information, but not that. All right. You're a police officer, right? Yes, sir.

What you do when you get up an investigation affects people's lives, right? Yes. You arrest people and take their freedom and take them into custody, true? Yes. And you are charged with writing reports that reflect the truth so that someone down the road, maybe a prosecutor, can rely on that information and know if to or how to prosecute someone, right? Yes. That is extremely important. Would you agree with me?

Yes. All right. And so when you write a report and when you were writing reports back in 2013, those things were just as important then as they are today in this courtroom, right? Yes. Okay, and so you weren't a rookie officer back in 2013. You had been on the force for some, what, seven years? Yes. Okay, and so before coming in here to testify, whether it's today, I don't know, yesterday, last week, one of them,

did you have an option to sit down with the prosecutors and talk to them about your testimony and your recollection of the events of 2013? Did you do that? Yes. Okay, right. And you still came in here today, and you came in here today, rather, and this is the first time right that you're mentioning anything about gang signs that you saw when you were brought in here to test by this quote gang case right yes okay now just our curiosity what's a gang sign

hold on what's the basis for your objection what's the base of the objection um or first time first time i'm my overall the objection go ahead mr adams okay what was the gang sign you saw being thrown up that day no idea no idea no None. Okay. Granted, it's 10, almost 11 years later, but he didn't include it in his report. Now he's not even really sure what he saw in terms of any kind of hand signs. That's just the first of all of these alleged overt acts, so we'll see how the prosecution and defense battle it all out.

Now, later on in the day, there was a little bit of a faux pa in the courtroom. Officer Michael Monheim, with APD, took the stand, and Brian Steele, again, represents young thug. He did the cross-examination for this witness. And Officer Monheim testified about overt act number four theft by receiving stolen property. According to Monheim, he pulled over a car for making an improper turn, and the driver, who he later learned was Young Thug, didn't have his license with him. So Monheim arrested him for the traffic violations, but allegedly found a bag of pills and a gun under the seat of the car. Turns out that gun had been reported stolen. So during the cross-examination, Steele is holding the gun, which had been entered into evidence.

But Judge Glanville had to actually scold him. The 12D, through your work, you find out that this item from running a computer check comes up stolen from the serial numbers. Is that how it works? Yes. Okay. And you found the item, though, underneath the passenger seat on the floorboard. Is that right?

I need to teach you about handling weapons. please point the muzzle always downward no matter if it's unloaded okay i know it's unloaded but yes you make everybody nervous okay to include mr kerns who you're pointing it at all right i apologize mr kern now while there was a bit of levity there as the day we're on judge glanville lost his patience more and more with all the lawyers involved in this case but especially the prosecutor adrian Love. Here are some of the highlights from the end of court on Thursday after the jury was dismissed around 6 p.m. And this concerned a list of witnesses that are supposed to be interviewed in the case and a juror issue. Given that we have witnesses on this list like

Detective James Thorpe, who is at the Atlanta Police Department every day. And you told me that yesterday. And what I tell you? What I tell you yesterday? I'm not going back through this, Ms. Love? I'm not asking that the court not require it. I'm asking that the court inquire of counsel whether they have actually made efforts to reach these people. That's all because I think it's a little, I'm going to do exactly as the court directed. But, Your Honor, I don't think that. And why are we having the same conversation again, Ms. Love? Because this is the third time we've had this conversation. Monday the fourth. We'll look at a, we'll look at a hard list for the court's consideration. And, um,

Is there anything else at this point in time? Your Honor, did your number 39? Yeah, would you stay out of my business, Ms. Love? Oh, we'll. Stay out of my business. Judge, I haven't, look, I've been doing this a long time. Yes, I have, yes. And if you really must know, she's going to reschedule her appointment

to the week of the King holiday. You happy? No, you're not happy. But anyways, that's the explanation you're going to get. I'm on top of it. There you have it. Court was adjourned on Friday. Probably a good thing, right?

To take a break, it is honestly been quite a week. That's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.