Young Thug's YSL RICO trial to resume this week
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Jeffery Williams, aka rapper Young Thug, as Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville postpones the trial on Dec. 12, 2023. Photo: Steve Schaefer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta's ongoing, slowly moving but highly watched Young Slime Life racketeering case resumes this week as the longest trial in Georgia's history.
Why it matters: Prosecutors could set a precedent in RICO's use after alleging a Grammy-winning Atlantan created a music group to conceal a vast conspiracy of murder, robberies, assaults, drug dealing and more.
- It's created a media circus that's been fueled by several twists — including the release of a new YSL album amid the case featuring some of rap's biggest names.
Catch up quick: Jeffery Williams, aka rapper Young Thug, says YSL is just a music label.
- But YSL co-founder Trontavious Stephens said in a plea deal on Jan. 4 that YSL was a criminal street gang, WSB-TV reports.
The latest: Testimony is currently centered on Adrian Bean, who prosecutors say drove a getaway car with Williams following a shooting and admitted it to detectives in 2013. Williams was not previously charged in the shooting, but it is included in his indictment.
- But Bean has recently testified repeatedly that he doesn't remember anything about the alleged incident — or the conversation about it with detectives — due to drug use.
Timeline: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges Williams co-founded YSL in affiliation with the Bloods gang in Southeast Atlanta in 2012 and promoted their crimes in songs and social media.
- Ten years later police arrested Williams during a home raid in Buckhead. Willis filed an 88-page indictment against him and 27 others including Sergio Kitchens, aka rapper Gunna.
- The trial began Nov. 27, 2023 after a jury selection process that lasted 10 months — also the longest in Georgia history.
- Five other people are on trial with Williams after a series of plea deals and severances.
The YSL trial has been postponed several times, including most recently in December after co-defendant Shannon Stillwell was stabbed in jail. He returned to court amid his recovery when the trial resumed on Jan. 2.
- Brian Steel, Williams' attorney, told the AJC that the trial might last until Super Bowl 2025.
Friction point: The trial is inspiring debate over whether music can be criminal evidence against artists, or if doing so violates their First Amendment rights.
- Last Wednesday, Steel asked Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville to remove music videos and lyrics from evidence a day after the Georgia Supreme Court overturned a man's murder conviction because a rap video was unfairly played at the trial, according to a Law and Crime report.
- Glanville ruled in November that lyrics can be evidence.
- The Atlanta City Council passed a resolution last month to ask state lawmakers to limit the use of music lyrics as evidence.
The intrigue: An attorney whose client was separated from the trial last year was arrested last month on two gang charges unrelated to the YSL case, the AJC reports.
- Someone hacked the trial's Zoom on Jan. 10 to shout "free Thug, mistrial!"
What's next: Bean is expected back in court when the trial resumes on March 13 at 10am.