Law&Crime Sidebar - Young Thug RICO Trial - Everything We Know So Far

Episode Date: November 25, 2023

After almost a year of jury selection, Atlanta rapper Young Thug and several members of his YSL record label go to trial next week. Prosecutors accuse Young Thug, real name Jeffrey Williams, of running a criminal enterprise connected to drugs, drive-bys, and several deaths. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down everything you need to know about this complex case.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:BLACK FRIDAY SALE: Save 20% OFF your entire POM Pepper Spray order November 22-27 by using code SIDEBAR20 at: https://bit.ly/SIDEBAR20-BFIf 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 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 Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The objectives of the conspiracy included, but were not limited to preserving, protecting, and enhancing the reputation, power, territory, and the enterprise through acts of racketeering activity, including murder, assault, and threats of violence. You may have heard about young thugs' upcoming criminal trial, but we are here to get you caught up to speed on everything that has led up to this moment. This is everything we know so far in the trial where Georgia prosecutors say the Grammy

award-winning rapper is the leader of a criminal enterprise. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey, everybody, you know from watching Sidebar how important self-defense is. Well, that's why we have teamed up with Palm Pepper Spray, a very proud sponsor. us here at Law and Crime, and we got some exciting news for you. Palm is running a Black Friday sale on our channel right now. By using Code Sidebar 20, you can take advantage of 20% off of your entire Palm Pepper

Spray order. Now, let me talk to you a little bit more about this. So Palm not only has this incredible range and capacity to it, but its design prevents accidental misfires too. So whether you're carrying the unit on your keys or your keychain or snapping it on your backpack, you don't have to face the day. of this world empty-handed. You can learn more at palm pepper spray.com, and again, use code sidebar 20 for a special 20% off. You know, I actually can't believe I'm saying this, but

we are headed for the start, the actual start of the criminal trial of rapper Young Thug. It's taken months to get to this point with arrests, motions, some co-defendants being dropped from the case, potential jurors behaving badly, and so much more. We're going to bring you up to speed on everything we know so far that has happened leading up to this trial, the trial against Young Thug as opening statements are expected November 27. All right, going back to May 9th, 2022, Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, was arrested in Atlanta on gang-related charges. He and fellow rapper Gunna, real name Sergio Kitchens, were just two of 28 people charged

under Georgia's RICO or Raceteering Act. All the defendants are connected to record label and rap collective YSL or Young Stoner Life records. Now, prosecutors say that YSL is really young slime life. Then in addition to creating music and releasing albums, it is an illegal gang that was involved in criminal activity. And that young thug is basically the ringleader of this enterprise. In fact, in the original 88-page grand jury indictment, it lays out 182 instances of this criminal conspiracy, like murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, drug dealing, these kind of overt acts.

And it's been reported that Young Thug is implicated in 36 of these overt acts, including being involved in the rental of a car for a murder, and Gunna reportedly implicated in 10 of these instances. Now, once booked into jail, both Young Thug and Gunna, they were denied Bond multiple times. The pre-recorded message from Young Thug and Jail was aired not long after his arrest. at Hot 97's Summer Jam in June of 2022. And in the message, Young Thug says that he is being targeted for his art. You know, this isn't just about you know what I feel.

I always do my music as a form of artistic expression. And now I see that black artist, Rapples, don't have that, you know, please. But the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, Fonie Willis, says that she's just trying to keep Atlanta safe. I've made no secret about it, nor any apology. that as the district attorney of Fulton County, my number one focus is targeting games. And there's a reason for that.

They are committing conservatively 75 to 80 percent of all of the violent crime that we are seeing within our community. And so they have to be rooted out of our community. I said just a week or two ago, it does not matter what your notoriety is, what your fame is. If you come to Fulton County, Georgia, and you commit crimes, and certainly if those crimes are in furtherance of a street gang, that you are going to become a target and a focus of this district attorney's office, and we are going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Now, as the prosecutors gathered everything they needed for their case and the defendants remained in jail, one of the major players decided to take a plea. Sergio Kitchens, Gunna. He pleaded guilty as part of an Alford plea in December of 2022. An Alford plea is when someone maintains their innocence, but knows that prosecutors likely

have enough evidence to convict them if they went to trial. So Gunna pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but one year he already served and the remaining four years were suspended with an imposition of 500 hours of community service. All of that to say, he walked out of jail. During his sentencing, Gunna made some pretty stunning admissions. YSL is a music label and a game, and you have personal knowledge that members or associates of YSL have committed crimes in furtherments of the game. Yes, ma'am.

And do you acknowledge the following statement? I recognize except and deeply regret that my talent and music indirectly, further, why I sell the game to the detriment of my community? Why I sell as a game must end? Is that your statement or acknowledgement? Yes. But when news of this plea came out and that video was apparently leaked, it didn't look great for Gunna in terms of street cred. So he released a statement saying, quote, while I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have not made any statements, have not been interviewed, have not cooperated, have not agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely

no intention of being involved in the trial process in any way. However, as part of that plea, Gunna is required to come back to court and testify against his alleged co-conspirators. Still, of course, has the right to plead the fifth, meaning refusing to answer any questions so it's not to incriminate himself. Now, as part of that 500 hours of community service, our understanding is Gunna will spend the majority of that time speaking to young people about the dangers of gangs. He's also not allowed to carry a gun. 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 incommission, in Google's Chrome Internet browser, you can find out if you have a claim in only a few clicks by visiting www.4thepeople.com slash LC-Google. It only takes a few minutes to sign up and find out if you have a claim. Now, Gunna wasn't the only go-defendant to take a plea. In fact, several others would follow suit. For instance, Antonio Sledge pleaded guilty to multiple charges. He was accused of threatening a rival gang member, participating in a drive-by shooting, and having knowledge of

at least one murder committed on behalf of the YSL gang. In that plea, Sledge did connect YSL to criminal activity and will have to testify at trial. He can't plead the fifth. In exchange, he would get 15 years probation and one of his charges would be dropped. But not everyone has been so cooperative with prosecutors. Other co-defendants have rejected plea deals like Tancorious Mender and Durante Bebby. The judge warned them that while it's their right to accept or not accept a deal, anything could happen at trial, and he really wanted to reiterate that they understand what they're choosing to do here.

So is Max's 50 years? Yes, Your Honor. Okay. And what's the state's offer? Yes, Your Honor. The state's offer for Mr. Mender as a count one is 16 years to serve one year, committed to time serve with the balance of 15 years on probation. He still maintains a not guilty plea. There's one thing about trials. It's uncertainty.

You don't know what's going to happen. So you've got to beat four counts. If you don't beat them, what will happen is under this A&C recidivus statute, I have to, under the law, sentence you to the maximum sentence. So that covers May to December 2022. So now let's kick off 2023, where the court started the arduous process of jury selection. On January 4th, Judge Ural Glanville read parts of the indictment that laid out just what young thug and YS.L are accused of. Part one, the conspiracy.

As associates of the enterprise, young slime life here and after YSL, the defendants conspire to associate together with others for the common purpose of illegally obtaining money and property through a pattern of racketeering activity and conducting and participating in the enterprise. through a pattern of racketeering activity. In furtherance of the conspiracy, the defendants engaged in the activities enumerated herein. The objectives of the conspiracy included, but were not limited to preserving, protecting, and enhancing the reputation, power, territory, and the enterprise

through acts of racketeering activity, including murder, assault, and threats of violence. Preserving and protecting and enhancing the reputation, power, and territory of the enterprise by posting of messaging of the enterprise, messages, images, videos, and songs demonstrating allegiance to the enterprise and a willingness to engage in violence on its behalf. Maintaining armed individuals ready and willing to preserve, protect, and enhance the reputation,

power, and territory of the enterprise through the use of violence. Obtaining money, weapons, and other property through acts of racketeering activity, including robbery, theft, and the unlawful sale and distribution of drugs, and obstructing law enforcement investigations and court proceedings through witness intimidation and attacks upon law enforcement officers. Side note, as you've just heard that, as you can imagine, this is going to be a complicated and very long case. We see this in RICO cases sometimes.

So that makes it an issue of who is going to sit on this jury, not an easy. task. Thousands of people from Atlanta were notified that they might be called to serve on this jury. And you may have thought that the jury selection process would take a few days, maybe a few weeks. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This has taken months. The selection process was held up by disturbances in the courtroom or uncooperative potential jurors. It's been a little bit of a mess. Here's just one example of Judge Glanville chastising a juror. In early January, the juror was called in for potential service and was supposed to return to the courthouse the following Monday, but instead, juror number 64 didn't show up.

Turns out she was on a business trip in the Dominican Republic. She claimed that she tried to notify the jury services department about the trip, but was apparently unsuccessful. She told Judge Glanville that she didn't even know she was in trouble until deputies showed up at her grandmother's house looking for her. Well, Judge Glanville held juror number 64 in contempt of court, But instead of the usual $1,000 fine and up to 20 days in jail, he had a bit of a different idea. What I think I'm going to do is in order for you to satisfy your contempt, I'm going to commute the 20 days and require you to write a 30-page paper on the importance of jury service.

Here's the criteria. You'll have to do APA style. You're going to have to use at least 10 primary sources, 10 secondary sources. you're going to write at a minimum history, the history of jury service. Who could not serve on a jury? Because that's very important because years ago,

people that looked like us couldn't serve on juries. It was prohibited. I want you to talk about jury service in Georgia and discrimination at a minimum. Those four things, okay? I am going to give you a date three weeks hence that that paper needs to be submitted

to me electronically. And we're going to run it through a place. plagiarism checker. You got to write it yourself. And then you're going to come back and talk to me about it. Wow. Yeah, juror number 64, she did write an essay and submit it to the judge, satisfying her contempt. But the drama didn't end there because another juror was ordered to spend three days behind bars for filming court proceedings on her cell phone. She was eventually released. But that's just the jurors. There were a lot of court romantics with the other people in the courtroom. Because if you think about it,

it, there are a lot of defendants and attorneys all in one room and it's got to be hard for the judge and the deputies to monitor everything that's going on. It doesn't mean that they haven't caught on to several issues. For example, the judge has had to address the defendants and their attorneys multiple times in January alone because of contraband. Someone allegedly smuggled marijuana from one of young thugs co-defendants at a pair of shoes. Another co-defendant's mother was arrested for trying to sneak tobacco products and rolling papers in a bag of clothing. and yet another contraband incident ended up halting the jury selection process for an entire day. Here's what Judge Glanville had to say about it.

We've had yet another instance of alleged contraband being introduced to our space. And as a result of that and a subsequent investigation, one of our inmates, unfortunately, had to go to Grady hospitals. The other thing I would just invite counsel to talk with their clients about, I know I've mentioned this three times now, what is considered to be acceptable behavior. This is the third time that we've had contraband introduced into this space. The court's concern is that this may pose issues to them remaining and being present in this space. As we take you through everything that we know right now about the RICO case against young thug and multiple ledge co-concerns, as the remaining defendants finally had for trial. It's really no wonder that it took about 10 months for this jury selection process

to happen with all of the issues and the disruptions and the motions. But here's something to think about. We started with 28 people listed in the indictment, but due to plea deals, cases being severed into other trials, and for a whole list of other reasons, we are now down to just six defendants actually going to trial, including, of course, Young Thug. So what has happened since jury selection started? Well, Judge Earl Glenville has had to deal with some pretty blatant lawbreaking right in the courtroom. At the end of January, one of the men charged as part of this huge gang indictment filed a formal complaint against deputies for how they treated him following an apparent in-court drug deal.

Yeah, Khalif Adams was seen on camera walking up to Young Thug and handing him something. Prosecutors say it was a percassette, brand of oxycodone. And to his credit, young thug immediately handed the pill to law enforcement. Adams was taken to a holding area where his attorney alleges that Fulton County deputies searched him, but also cased and assaulted him. Adams ended up going to the hospital. The complaint also alleges that deputies didn't have their body-worn cameras turned on during the interaction.

Adams is already serving a life sentence for murder and he's charged with conspiracy and attempted murder in this case. But given what happened in court, he was also hit with fresh new drug possession. and obstruction charges. Let's skip ahead now to April, where there was another courtroom disruption. Defense attorney Anastasios Menettis represented Miles Farley. One day, Menettis was undergoing a routine check of his bag when officers found a bottle of prescription medication and arrested him.

As officers closed in on Menettus, he allegedly went to toss his phone to another attorney. It ended up hitting one of the deputies. So he was charged with simple battery on a law enforcement officer, possession of pills not in their original container, disrupting courtroom proceedings, Menettus got his own attorney who said that the battery charge was dropped, but Menettus was released from the Fulton County Jail on a $5,000 bond. That left it up to Judge Glanville, who had to decide what to do with Menettus's client, Miles Farley. It has been brought to the court's attention that Mr. Menettas has been taking into custody this morning,

and I'll let that process kind of play out. However, due to that particular issue, the court's going to go ahead and sever Mr. Farley on its own motion. And that wasn't the only time that Mr. Menettus had been in trouble with the court. Now, you see, he had been held in contempt another time, reasoned not entirely clear, and he was ordered to pay a fine of $250 and, by all of his colleagues, lunch. Oh, yeah. and the judge wanted to know if he'd actually bought the lunch. You were held in contempt, young man.

And if you want to revisit that again, we can certainly open it up. But I satisfied your contempt by you paying $250, which you did, and I have a receipt from that of your choosing, which that was done to Miles College. I had that receipt here. And the other thing was to purchase. lunch for each of your attorney colleagues in this case on Friday, March of 17, from Jason's deli. So prong one's been settled. Prong two was, uh, was, uh, you're supposed to buy that,

by your colleagues lunch by that date. Mr. Manette, is your, uh, this was in satisfaction of me not sentence you to jail for 20 days. So if, if that's the case, well, then I will revisit the basis for your contempt. But I thought that, in fact, I'll have Ms. Weaver go ahead and pull that order, pull the part of the record. But I did, in fact, I did not hold you in, I did not go ahead and sentence you to the 20 days. I said that this would satisfy, once you apologize, I said you can pay, because remember, you were going to do a, I was going to have you do a report as well or a written product I was also going to but instead and instead of doing that we settled on the two hundred fifty dollars and we settled on your buying

lunch for your colleagues on the 17th of March so that was my understanding my understanding was that I apologize and that I was doing that sort of show to show that upstairs something I'll still like lunch and I And that will satisfy, then that will satisfy this court's concern, okay? What a case. What a case. What punishments. And we haven't even gotten to the trial yet.

Now, at the end of May, there was another disturbance involving an attorney. This time, Eric Johnson, who represents Christian Eppinger, during jury selection while Johnson was questioning potential jurors, Epenger apparently got onto Johnson's laptop and signed into Instagram, and deputies took photos of him doing. it. Ebbinger was allegedly messaging with a female deputy that he was romantically involved with. The judge signed a warrant to have Johnson's laptop seized because of the allegations of improper messages with the female deputy. Epinger's case was severed. He's going to be tried separately. And that deputy was fired and arrested. July, though, brought us one of the most

intriguing motions in this trial. Defense attorneys for young thug wanted the judge to toss out evidence of a religious ceremony connected to the arrest of one of his co-defendants. Shannon Stillwell, also known as SB, was taken into custody last year, and his arrest was captured on law enforcement body cameras, and he was apparently arrested during some sort of sacrificial ritual, ledgily involving goats. Young Thug's defense says that the details from that arrest had nothing to do with their clients, so they should be thrown out because it could negatively impact him at trial in the mind of the jury. So far, we haven't heard an official update from the judge on this one.

Shannon Stillwell is one of the now six men on trial, having not taken any kind of plea deal. But moving on, there was another hearing to discuss motions in August, and the court heard arguments from the defense to keep the state or witnesses from mentioning that Young Thug's attorney, Brian Steele, also previously represented other co-defendants. Those included Young Thug's brother, Quantavius Greer, along with Shannon Stillwell and Dimon Blaylock. If it comes out that I've represented, I'm just making this up. Mr. Greer, on a murder case, I'm going to have to then either become a witness, which I do not want to do, or call somebody like from the clerk's office or the Honorable Judge Newkirk or somebody to explain,

no, I only represent him on the appeal. It was successful. I don't represent him. And to show it did not have anything to do with this case. That goes for everybody. I did not, I was not involved with representation with anyone on this current indictment. Greer was clearly pleased with Mr. Steele's representation as reflected in the song Can't Tell Me, in which it stated on the phone with Brian Steele talking about the case, yeah, he told me, slow my role, because he can get this erased.

Also featured in the song as Kendrick, aka Yak-Gadi, and the lyric is sung by although the lyric is sung by Greer. Anyway, this evidence shows that multiple co-defendants and potential witnesses that could testify, we don't know that yet, may have feelings and or relations with Mr. Steele that the state's entitled to explore on cross-examination should they choose to testify.

So at this time, a ruling such as the one Mr. Steele asked for is going to be premature. It's going to be very fact-specific. So I'll hold on ruling, and I'll make a ruling specific to what is presented, okay? Okay, but now we want to talk about one of the biggest arguments so far in pretrial hearing, something that's going to play a crucial role in this trial. Can prosecutors use the lyrics in YSL songs as proof of misdeeds?

First Amendment attorneys, they have long argued that this is a violation of a defendant's constitutional rights. So lawyer John Floyd is a civil litigator in Atlanta that the Fulton County DA retained because he's considered to be Georgia's leading authority on this kind of law. So his help would, of course, be invaluable in this case. In a November hearing, Floyd pointed out some of the lyrics from Young Thug's songs that point to him being the leader of a criminal group. We have language very specifically from Mr. Williams in which he is describing himself as a leader. Recall, when I began, 1614.14B, one of the substantive offenses, the states alleged,

the defendants conspired to violate includes conducting an enterprise, i.e. leading, directing an enterprise, right? Here is Mr. Williams saying, come and roll to the YSL school, confirming there is a YSL. I swear I'm the principal, the leader, the head person, all right? In case that seems to be nebulous or inconclusive, let's take a look at the next one. I get all kinds of. of cash. I get all type of cash. I'm a general. Generals lead armies. Generals don't function by themselves. They have an army. I told them to shoot a hundred rounds. I told them. He tells people what to do. Those people do it. Shannon Stillwell's attorney, Maxwell Schart, argue that there is a big difference between the rappers as they appear in music videos or album tracks versus who they are in real life. While I don't listen to rap music, I do, through my profession, no rappers.

As part of my job, I watch their music videos. I also converse with them in real life. I see the difference between the persona who's talking about ops and choppers and sticks, in shooting and killing and the people who have done none of the above well after hours of arguments from multiple attorneys on both sides

the judge eventually gave his decision the state can use some of the lyrics from YSL songs as evidence in the trial I'm going to conditionally admit particularized lyrics and those lyrics are found within states 18 there's seven there's 17 sets of lyrics there from pages one through I should say 41 through through 49 of states 18 41 through 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 40 30 30 30 30 40 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

40 30 30 30 30 30 consideration yesterday um to make it for the court's consideration yesterday um those specific statements um the court will will will admit all conditionally admit those pending lyrics um depending upon or subject to a foundation that is properly laid by the state or the proponent seeks to admit that evidence. And to that extent, I have also considered Taylor, the Taylor White Torres and the Commonwealth versus Knox cases, and I find this to be that the conditional admission of these particular lyrics are proper.

Well, with all of that, a jury was finally selected on November 1st. Here's the makeup. 18 jurors, 12 of them are going to be seated. There are going to be six alternates. In total, 10 black women, three black men, two white women, three white men. Opening statements are expected to get underway, November 27th, almost a year from when jury selection got started. Just unbelievable. And we are, of course, going to continue to follow this case for.

you bringing you all of the biggest updates. That is 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. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.