Law&Crime Sidebar - Young Thug Jurors Reveal Shocking Secrets About RICO Trial

Episode Date: December 7, 2024

After a yearlong trial that was plagued by courtroom arguments, contempt of court charges, and uncooperative witnesses, the Young Slime Life RICO trial in Atlanta is over. Jeffrey Williams, also known as Young Thug, was the main target of gang accusations from the prosecution. After he took a plea that allowed his release from jail, the two final defendants were acquitted. Jurors #225, #387, and #508 chat with Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber about what went on behind the scenes.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’ve ever been 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/YouTubeTakeoverHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest 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 Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Truly humble, under God. That's what the judge is. Happy to feelful. This court holds you on willful contempt. If you don't tell me how you got the information, I'm going to hold you in contempt. Judge Earl of Glanville is no longer the judge presiding over this case.

I take full responsibility for my crimes. I want you to try to be more of the solution and less of the problem. The longest trial in Georgia history, the YSL RICO trial, has finally come to a close after years of legal battles, courtroom delays, multiple plea deals, including one that led to Young Thugs release. With the case against the remaining co-defendants now over, we are going to talk. with some of the jurors as we take a look back at the key moments that define this very complex trial. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, Jesse Weber. The high-profile lengthy RICO trial that began against the rapper Young Thug and his five co-defendants has officially ended, officially bringing the longest trial in Georgia history

to a close. This legal saga of the YSL RICO trial began back in 20, 2022. When Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, alongside several co-defendants, was charged in a sprawling case that connected him to these violent activities of young slime life. YSL, a group that prosecutors argued was a criminal street gang. Prosecutors had accused Williams of being the leader of this criminal enterprise. That was behind a series of violent crimes. They said it was murder, attempted murder, robbery, drug trafficking. Defense lawyers, though, had a different take. They countered that YSL wasn't a gang, but it was a record label, Young Stoner Life.

And it was just a network of artists and friends who portrayed a tough gangster image in the music to reflect their life experiences. But they weren't criminals. By the time the trial finally kicked off in November of last year, though, Young Thug was left the stand trial along with now just five other co-defendants. There was a whole multitude of reasons why the other ones, their cases were severed. They took deals. But he was tried with five other co-defendants.

And that was Diamante Kendrick, Shannon Stillwell. Well, Rodallius Ryan, from Marvious Nichols, and Marquavius Huey. And in a trial that was plagued by delays and interruptions, many of the most tense and heated moments actually happened outside of the jury's presence. Like this moment, when a voice was heard on the courtroom Zoom feed of a person yelling for a mistrial. Free fog, mistrial. Free fuck, mistrial.

Or how about this moment? Diamante Kendrick's attorney Doug Weinstein motioned to limit the state's witnesses. 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. And there were numerous arguments over rulings. As the court has said by law enforcement until an attorney has been made available or until the suspect re-initiates the conversation. Your Honor, at some point, Your Honor, I'm sorry, I'm talking, and I don't know why I am being interrupted. I will not stop.

I was the one speaking before Mr. Weinstein interrupted. But you have, you have, you continually engaged in this pattern of behavior, Ms. Love. You don't want to accept my ruling. And I know you've been an advocate, but at some point, stop. And even attempts to recuse the trial's first judge, Judge Jereau Glenville. I make a motion to ask you to please recuse yourself. You're yelling at me in front of a judge. jury for nothing. And then you won't apologize. And I did nothing wrong ever. And let's not forget

when Young Thug's attorney, Brian Steele, told the jury what the name Young Thug really means. 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 the news. And more memorable moments also came from the state's lineup of their supposed star witnesses, many of whom, by the way, were alleged associates of YSL or former co-defendants, and one of those witnesses was Adrian B.

alleged getaway driver for a 2013 robbery that he claimed young thug was involved in. Although the most memorable part of his testimony is probably when he admitted on the stand being under the influence. 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 water from? I'm so high right now, y'all.

I'm about to go to sleep on y'all, man. I'm not going to tell you no lie. Yes, you're going to tell you breaks in. Now, if you thought that was something, we, of course, cannot have a true recap of star witnesses without mentioning probably the most infamous witness of the trial, Kenneth Lil Woody Copeland. Now, he was deemed the state's star witness,

or at least that was one way he was portrayed, but he was less than cooperative when he first took the stand. How old are you? Grown. Okay, what does grown mean? I'm an adult. Okay.

And when you said you're an adult, what number in years are you? Mr. Copeland, given the fact that you have invoked your fifth member privilege, but the state is already given your immunity under 24-5-507, this court holds you on willful contempt. Hey, by the way, before we go any further, I have to thank Morgan and Morgan for sponsoring

today's Law and Crime YouTube Takeover. Here's the truth. One of the most unpredictable things in life is if you get injured. That comes out of nowhere. And Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, that may be who you want on your side because you know what? Your case could be worth millions of dollars. Morgan and Morgan, they have over a thousand attorneys.

They have a proven track record of winning big. Recently, they secured verdicts of $12 million in Florida, $26 million in Philadelphia, at $6.8 million in New York, all far exceeding insurance offers in these cases. And even if your case isn't worth seven figures, why not start a claim and get the money you deserve? And starting a claim is so easy. It takes eight clicks or less to be done right from your smartphone. And it's free unless you win. So if you're hurt, visit for the people.com slash YouTube takeover or click the link in the description and pinned in the comments. Now here's the thing, despite what was clearly a rough start. Copeland ended up being a very important character in this case. Why? Because he was at the

center of this secret meeting, this ex parte meeting between himself, Judge Glanville and prosecutors in the judge's chambers. No defense counsel was present. And that led to courtroom chaos and the eventual recusal of Judge Glanville. So I want to start at the beginning here when Brian Steele confronted Judge Glanville about what he learned, but he wouldn't reveal how he learned it. It was told, based upon information belief, that it was told to the district attorneys, that Mr. Copeland intended to plead the Fifth Amendment. Can I interrupt you just a second?

I'm kind of disturbed because that's ex parte. All that was an ex parte conversation. How did you find out about any of that? Based upon information, okay, well, listen, if you don't tell me how you got this information, then you and I are going to have some problems. And boy, oh boy, did they have some problems because Brian Steele discovered that the judge and the prosecution team, as I mentioned, they met with Kenneth Copeland in secret in the judge's chambers. None of this was privy to the defense. And even worse, Steele claimed that he learned in this meeting, Copeland allegedly confessed to a key murder in the case, that of Donovan Thomas Jr.

And that Copeland was threatened with jail time if he refused to testify. So Judge Glanville storms off the bench after this very tense moment. And when they come back on the record, he holds Brian Steele in contempt for not revealing how he found out about the ex parte meeting. Well, I'm going to hold you in contempt. You cannot eavesdrop and get information that was not meant for you to hear at that particular point in time. And things just continued to unravel because this trial would later go on an eight week long hiatus to investigate this ex parte meeting, meaning eight weeks where the jury didn't hear any testimony. Ultimately, another judge ended up removing Glanville from the case, writing in her order that while the court has no doubt that Judge Glanville can and would continue presiding fairly over this matter if the recuse motions were denied, the necessity of preserving the public's confidence in the judicial system weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville from further handling of the case. So he was removed, and when court reconvened in August, the jurors were introduced to a whole different judge. My name is Judge Page Reese Whitaker.

Judge Earl of Glanville is no longer the judge residing over this case. And from there, court resumed hearing testimony from Kenneth Liu Woody Copeland, who admitted that he had never really been truthful when it came to his alleged involvement in the murder of Donovan Thomas. What's your new version? What's your truth today? Did I lie? And that you lied about everything back in 2015? My truth today is I lie and put the blame on others.

for a lot of activities I ain't telling them myself I don't got anything else to say I don't recall I don't know I don't have a clue about none of this stuff I told y'all from the start

y'all to put me in here I don't comprehend I don't told y'all that time at the time I don't know what the immunity agreement is I'm upon so much pressure like man I don't know

I don't even know I'd answer y'all question because I don't know what type I don't know I'm trying to be as true as possible and y'all keep going back into the past like and i told y'all when i was talking y'all in the back man i have lied and y'all don't put me up on the hill telling me that i got to be truthful when i'm telling y'all man i don't know man i'm afraid for my life i every time y'all call me here i think y'all have to take my life take my freedom and at this point i can't call on nobody for help i don't know what's going on and now copeland eventually concluded his testimony and the proceedings

continue to run fairly smoothly under Judge Whitaker. And then just last month, on Halloween's Eve, young thug would make a shocking decision that ultimately led to his freedom. He decided to plead guilty. Just prior to his sentencing, he gave a very heartfelt speech to the court. I take full responsibility for, you know,

my crimes or my charges. I come from nothing and I've made something and I didn't take full advantage of it. I'm sorry. Through these last two and a half years of my life, you are really, truly, honestly, the best thing that has happened to me because you made everything fair for me

and everybody involved on both sides. I promise you, I'm 100% changing that. You know, it's just I'm older. I'm grown now, you know, and it's just like, I'm sure. smarter. It's more things to wrap about. Like, I've experienced a lot of good things. I experienced a lot of good things, too. And now here was a bigger shocker. Judge Whitaker ultimately decided against prison time. Instead, ordered that thugs serve 15 years of probation, but she did warn

that if he violates his probation in any way, he could face 20 years in prison. Even if you choose to continue to rap, you need to try to use your influence. to let kids know that that is not the way to go and that there are ways out of poverty besides hooking up with the powerful guy at the end of the street selling drugs. I want you to try to be more of the solution and less of the problem. And just days before young thugs plea, three other co-defendants opted for plea deals. Pumarvius Nichols pleaded guilty to a RICO charge in exchange for the remainder of his charges to be dropped. Radalius Ryan pleaded guilty to a RICO charge and his sentence was commuted to time served,

though he will remain behind bars for a murder that was separate from this case. And Marquavius Huey pled guilty to an assortment of charges, including racketeering, conspiracy, and aggravated assault charges. And he was ultimately sentenced to nine years in prison. Now, this meant that the jury was only left with two remaining co-defendants. Shannon Stillwell and Diamante Kendra. But after deliberating, they ultimately acquitted both men of an array of charges. They did convict Shannon Stillwell on a felony gun possession charge,

and he was sentenced to 10 years on probation with an allowance for time served. But having said all of that, that is how this case concluded. So after all that, now I want to bring on some special guests. I am joined by actual jurors from the Young Thug RICO trial. So it's great to have you all here. Thank you so much. I am going to refer to you by juror numbers. So we have juror 387.

387 say hi. There we go. We have juror 508. 508 say hi. And we have juror 225. There we go. Okay, so first of all, I bet me saying that you still feel like you're in jury duty. You feel like you're probably still in the courtroom as I said this.

All right, I have been following this for so long. I'm going to ask each of you, what was it like being a juror on the longest case in Georgia history that everybody was following? 2.25, I'll start with you. Well, it was definitely an experience. I don't think any of us knew how big the trial was until like now after the fact. we had no idea that so many people were actually following the trial. But it definitely was, it was an experience. It was a chapter in my life that I won't forget.

It was, yeah, it was interesting. It was, there were highs and loads. It was a wild ride for sure. Oh, we won't forget it either. Let me tell you. A lot of people won't forget this trial. 387, I'll throw it to you. And I was going to ask all of you guys, but did you know what was happening when you

weren't in the courtroom. I mean, now, I mean, do you appreciate now what was happening all the drama that was happening in the courtroom when you guys were in present? 387. I'll start with you. I mean, even what is being out. I haven't taken time out to watch all of it. I know a lot of people are very curious to know what our reactions to some of the stuff will be. So I've tried to make it a habit of just not looking. I'm not trying to see it yet. That way you get raw uncut footage of my actual reaction. Right, right. But I mean, we knew at some point at least if we were in the building, something could be going on. The wall's not that big.

So you can hear them get loud. You can hear kind of like the back and forth. May not be able to get all the diction right to know what was said, but you know, something's going on. You just never knew at what capacity. And juror 508, what was it like for you? I mean, again, this must have been quite an experience.

It has been, again, this is my first time ever been a juror. So everything is new to me. Everything is new. and it's it's been rough and we had days where they were good then we had days where I was just ready to go home yeah that that's what I was going to ask all of you whoever wants to jump in first the fact that this was so long did you know how long it would be and how long it actually ended up being what was that like definitely didn't think it was going to be that long I know

doing our interview process I was told at least six to nine months it would not be a year yeah three hundred and seventy two days later um is something totally different so definitely didn't anticipate what that could look like or how that would like directly affect home life balance um especially with the beginning of the trial you never knew exactly how long your day could be um we had a pretty good idea for the most part when we would start at least get noticed a day before or direct throughout the week if something's going to change, but you never know when you're going to go home. It was long. It was hard. It was rough. Just adjusting to something that was fairly new and trying

to make the best of it. Juror 225, one of the most, I mean, I couldn't imagine what this was like for you guys, but when you think of the break, this trial went on a two month long break, an eight week hiatus returns with a different judge. What did you make of that? Well, I mean, honestly, we had no idea what was going on. It wasn't like we knew that the break was going to be that long and we could like plan. And like we were literally sitting at home just kind of waiting on information from the courts as to when we would come back. We would get different information. Like every day would change.

They would be like, oh, you guys are coming back tomorrow and it's oh, the next day and the next day. So we were kind of just on call and we were just waiting. And before we knew it, it was like seven weeks that we had just been. kind of sitting around our life on hold you couldn't really plan anything or do anything and then when we got back and it was a new judge like obviously we couldn't ask what was going on no one was going to tell us um me personally i was hoping that it wasn't anything like medical with glanville um that's honestly what i assumed because you know we had we knew that he had jack the dog and we didn't know why so um but when we got back in there it was just kind of like all right

we're back to work. This is different, but we just got to roll with the punches and continue to listen to this trial and do our jobs. And Juror 508, I mean, there was also a point when the defendants were whittled down. Because we know now they, there were those who took plea deals. Were you confused by that at any point when you saw the number of defendants going down? I definitely was confused. I was like, hey, we left. It was six. Now we're down to two. I could go on and on and on about where they went, what happened, and things of that sort, but I knew it wasn't going to get any answers to it. So we just basically like 225 said, we just had to kind of just go in and just continue forth

with whatever it was presented to us. Juror 387, look, I'm going to be completely honest of you. I've been following this case. I was confused as to what was happening with the actual evidence. I was confused as to what this argument was about, what this witness was about. I was trying to tie it into the overall case. And this is somebody, I mean, I'm an attorney. I follow this every day.

Was it confusing for you? Was it confusing for any of you? I'll start with you, juror 387, about why this witness was being called, how it ties into the overall racketeering case. Or did it maybe, you know, you being there day in and day out, did it seem very streamlined? Was it easy what the prosecution and the defense were doing? No, definitely not. I think we only went over the indictment once, and that was back like in January, January 5th of 23. So trying to understand or remember what the charges were, how this kind of correlates with the other. I think in the beginning it was a lot of confusion because you started off with like experts and opening statements. And then it's like, okay, you keep hearing a name and I'm like, who is that? I don't know how this ties with the other one. I think for me, I just try to keep up with dates and try to do like correlations between the two, what things were relatively close to the other, if there was like a commonality of what people brought up to see, okay, this kind of ties into this. Like my notebook kind of looks like a flowchart outside of like my messiness.

Like just trying to piece things together because I don't think we ever got, it wasn't like an outline. It wasn't like a chart that kind of keep us organized on alignment. was just trying to guess in the beginning. I think closer to the end, some of the picture got clear. But it wasn't like organized in detail enough to be like, okay, I know what I'm doing every day. It's more so like I take honest information and then trying to funnel it to see what the correlation to something else was or how something is directly affected by an event that we talked about today or two weeks ago. So like you kind of flip back and forth in notes. you might start something, a correlation between a witness to kind of go from near.

People had to kind of like figure it out on their own. And juror 225, I understand you were one of the jurors that actually rendered the verdict. It was one of the deliberating jurors because I believe 387 and 508, you were you were alternates, correct? And so before 225, before I go to you about the deliberations, 508, I'll go to you. We were just talking before about all the witnesses that testified. and there were some notable witnesses who were very interesting on the stand, which were some that stood out to you and you said, wow, that's a moment right there.

For me, I really didn't have like a favorite, but like the most memorable witness was, of course, the world can pretty much tell you it was woody. but someone that we kind of gravitate more towards was Ms. Sharon, the 911 operator. It was, she was in there as much as we were, so I think she was a part of our team as well. But those were the ones that pretty much this kind of stood out more so for me. 387-225. What do you think? I was also going to say, I like Ms. Ladner's also, but, you know, while we were going in there, while we were sitting in there, like I held every witness, you know, to the same level. Like there was no one witness that I'm like, oh, this, this is, you know, the key witness. Like, I evaluated the evidence and the testimony that was provided by all of the witnesses equally. So I can't say that there were any favorites. Obviously, there were some, you know, some memorable moments.

But, you know, when we were there, we weren't there necessarily, you know, there for entertainment. So, you know, we were really focused on what it was that those witnesses were bringing in their testimony. And 387? Memorable in the sense that of people that are kind of, like, leave a lasting impression. Mr. Montgomery, that sticks out to me. I think he was one of the victims. At Shillian Bennett, I might have mispronounced her first name.

that kind of interaction kind of stuck out to me. That's something I probably won't forget. And I wouldn't say that was because they were favorites. I think it just kind of exposed for my personal self, some character opportunities. I just feel like they could have been handled better, per se. So those are kind of like two that kind of stick out if I think about like names or processes through this process.

I guess, and I'm going to go back to, 387 and 508 about your take on what the verdict was, but I'll go to, I want to go to 225 right now. What was the deliberation process like? Well, I mean, thankfully, I was in there with 11 other amazing jurors. Obviously, over the course of the year, we had gotten to know each other. So I think that that kind of made the deliberation process a little bit easier. It wasn't like you were just going in with somebody that you had been sitting on a trial with for like a week. So, you know, we were a lot more sympathetic. We had kind of already understood each other's personalities and things like that. So I think that Drew 56 did a great

job as a foreman with kind of laying the foundation and setting the tone for obviously everyone showing respect to each other. We made it clear that from the beginning that if anybody had any questions, like we were a team. And even if it was just one person, We were all go out there so that that one person could get clarity on the evidence. Most of the, like we took the counts one by one, took a vote, an initial vote, and the majority of the room was undecided because most people just said, you know, I want to, we want to talk about it. Like, we don't want to make a decision just yet, like let's hear other people's opinions on where they stand. So we really collaborated, went through evidence together, explained things to one another that,

other people may have been confused about. And it was a team effort. We agreed that we would be in there as long as we needed to be in there. So it wasn't terrible. We got along. There were, I mean, there were a couple of, you know, intense moments, but then we always pulled it back and remembered why we were there and the purpose. And we really wanted to just focus on the evidence that was provided. What was the problem in the prosecution's case, you think? Um, I just think that the evidence, there was a lot of evidence that was provided, but, um, something that we did discuss during deliberations is that the evidence that we may have needed to come up with a different verdict was, was not there. Um, we had a lot of evidence and, you know,

a lot of it didn't necessarily seem to mean much to a lot of the jurors and the, the things that we really wanted to see was not there. So, um, the, you know, the evidence was definitely, something that I think that they could have done better with. And also what 387 said, as far as like just the organization of it all, it was very hard to follow. So I think that it could have been streamlined. It could have been organized better. They could have told a better story to kind of pull everything together. That was definitely an area where I think that they may have dropped the ball. I'm going to ask 387 and 508. If you agree with the verdict, So 508, I'll start with you.

Do you agree with what, 225, you know, her description of these events and her perception of the prosecution? Do you agree with the verdict with respect to those two defendants? I do. I definitely agree with the verdict because pretty much while we were there, we did see the same evidence. We saw the same things. So I do agree with what she said. It was just, you know, the evidence was presented, but everything wasn't connecting for me. So I definitely agree with it.

3.87? I'm going to agree. I don't think, I think understanding that to say that somebody would have had to be guilty, there not being any doubt, and I think that's probably the biggest hang-up, at least for my personal self. There were holes, there were opportunities, there was some level of doubt. So it wasn't like a, I wouldn't have been able to say that they were guilty with conviction. Let me ask you this. As you know, you didn't have to decide young, young thugs guilt or not, because he ended up taking a deal. Would anyone have found him guilty?

Can't say that in confident. For the simple fact that we don't know how much more information would have been provided. Don't really remember his charges. Like I said, like the indictment, we only heard it once, and that was January. Trial started in November. I don't think we got into like the real meat of the trial until January, the final year. So like for the most part, I know for myself before we got released for being alternates. That was the last time, that was the next time we actually heard what they were being charged

for at closing. I don't know what that opportunity could have been. Two, two, five. I mean, I agree. I can't say whether or not we would have found a conviction or not based on the fact that I also, I mean, other than a RICO, we knew that they all had the RICO charge. I'm not sure if, I don't even know what the other charges were, to be honest. And then also, I can't say if there would been a conviction because, again, there were 11 other individuals that were in the room with me.

So it would have been a collective decision based on everything that had been considered. I can't say. I will say that learning after the fact that everybody took pleas, I do think that, you know, they did what was what they thought was in their best interest. So, you know. Yeah. And 508, I'll throw it to you too. And also the fact that, as I'm sure you know, young thug was not sentenced to prison probation. So he walked away a free man. Your thoughts on what role he may or may not have played in this? I guess that's not up for me to kind of have an answer for it, because I really don't know. You know, if I was basing enough, again, the evidence that was presented, I can't say he was. I can't say he, you know, wasn't. So that was our biggest thing, was just kind of focusing on the evidence and what we knew. because like both jurors said, we never really knew what everyone was charged with.

Of course, we did know that it was Rico, one of them. And they did mention it to us at the very beginning of the case. And that was pretty much like before the selection of being a juror. So, yeah. Yeah. And 508, and I'll ask this about the 387, was it frustrating for you that after all that time? you were an alternate and couldn't get into the deliberations? It definitely was not frustrating at all.

Really? Yeah. I did want to be there and just kind of support. But, you know, the law is we have to be removed. And we did want to be there when they came out with the verdict. But unfortunately, we wasn't. But they did what they saw that was presented as far as the evidence goes. so 387 you look like you agree i definitely agree i mean a lot of people from what i've

sorry 225 sorry you were the one of the ones that had to deliberate but but 387 you you feel the same way yeah i mean i wanted to be a fly on the wall like i was very interested kind of get everybody's opinion um granted we're not supposed to discuss the case behind doors during the whole process you can't deliver it until we can deliver it um so i wanted to be like a fly on the wall but like to actually engage in the conversation or have to go through the process of helping somebody understand or probably like rewatch um any form of evidence that you know i really didn't want to participate they can have it they got it i'm happy that i'm happy that i'm happy that i was actually deliberating because i i wouldn't have wanted to sit there for a year

and then like i would have felt like i was cheated like i got to sit i had to sit there for a year a year i was required to sit there for a year and listen to all of this like i'm going to see this thing through because otherwise it would have felt like a year wasted for nothing in my voice couldn't be heard so by the way are you guys all friends now like what's that bond after serving not about i i've served jury duty before it could be like a couple days could be a two weeks to be together for that long are you guys all friends i'm sorry you guys all friends That you said a couple of weeks, though. Let's talk about that first.

I'm very jealous. A couple weeks. Well, to be honest, it was not a trial. It was a grand jury. So you only hear like a little bit of evidence about a few different cases. But no, it wasn't a, it wasn't a year. I mean, so 387, I'll start with you. What's the bomb like?

Amongst the three of us, I think it's very close. We're like sisters at this point. We volunteer as aunties. We chime in. We sent people off the college and we go to basketball games. We go to birthday parties. It kind of just depends on. what's going on.

I mean, granted, I think the common only between the three of us is we were mothers. Like we had grade school children witness kind of started. One of us had gone on and go to college. I mean, but still three behind, right? As far as if I think about the dynamic of the rest of the group, there are relationships out of that as well.

There are some people that will probably check in and see how you're doing touch base. What I say, hang out, maybe not with everybody. But it's not because of love loss. I think the dynamic of a jury of your peers puts into perspective there's age differences. All of us are kind of like in different stages of life. So it may be like highs and vibes.

It's like the older coworker that you know, you see when I'm at work. I don't see you when I leave. It's one of those type things. It's interesting ways you said how long this trial is for a second I thought it was, you know, we started with young children. By the end of the trial, they're now off in college

and they're married. So it's like that's all long at touch. But 508, you feel the same way, right? Yes, I definitely feel like it's a sisterhood. And I'm appreciative of it. I think that's the good thing that we did get out of this whole ordeal. We definitely have a bond. And look, 225, you were in the deliberation room, which can get, as you said, can get intense in times.

Maybe you go in with friendships. It might not leave that the same way, but how do you feel about it? with your with uh you know 387 508 and your other jurors well like they said um with these two definitely there's a there's a sisterhood there um there's a bond that will go for it after this trial um other people that were in there i mean i got it i got it like they said there were like and i you know there were there were some really good people on the on the on the jury um i think the biggest thing like 387 said was like just like the age dynamics we were actually with the exception of one male we were the youngest in there so you know we

were in different stages of life and things like that so I do still really like all the jurors well most of them and I do think that just like we formed bonds there's probably some bonds that have been formed between some of the other jurors amongst themselves based on their similarities and commonality. So I think that this trial probably helped formulate a few different types of friendships amongst the jurors, sorry. Well, listen, 387, 508, 225, you are exactly what the criminal justice system needs. Jurors exactly like you. You took this obligation, this responsibility to heart. You did exactly what you were supposed to do. You carefully considered the evidence.

And we're respectful of the process and each other. And it's just such a great thing to see. I'm very proud as a lawyer to see this myself. So thank you so much for not only coming on here. Thank you for the service that you did because I know this was not easy. Not everybody gets a chance to do this. And, you know, not a lot of people would want it, but to sit on a jury this long, really. I know it's not easy.

So thank you to all three of you. Really, really appreciate you. You all should be very proud of yourself. And I'm so happy that you now have formed this bond. So that's great. Thank you. We did also want to say, before we leave, we always keep reiterating that we definitely have sympathy for the victims. We have not, you know, it's not lost upon us that there were lives lost in people that were hurt and impacted.

And we do send our deepest condolices to everyone that was impacted by instances that we were there to listen to the evidence on. Again, we based our decisions solely on the evidence. But we never lost sight that there were real victims. We saw some in court. We saw some pretty graphic pictures of people that are no longer with us. And that was definitely something that we want to make sure that everyone knows that we definitely, those families are in our prayers and our thoughts. And we do hope that they are able to get the justice that they deserve.

Very well said. I appreciate you saying that. Look, that's the trial process. That's the way it is. It's not based on emotions. It's not based on what should happen. It's based on the evidence and the facts and the law. So really appreciate you saying that.

387-508-2-25. Thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having us. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, 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.