{"id":1279,"date":"2024-06-10T21:40:03","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T21:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/young-thug-lawyer-taken-into-custody-for-contempt-of-court\/"},"modified":"2024-06-10T21:40:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T21:40:03","slug":"young-thug-lawyer-taken-into-custody-for-contempt-of-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/young-thug-lawyer-taken-into-custody-for-contempt-of-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Thug Lawyer Taken Into Custody for Contempt of Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThe Atlanta judge overseeing Young Thug\u2019s gang trial held the rapper\u2019s attorney in criminal contempt of court Monday (June 10) in a bizarre episode centered on claims of a secret meeting between the judge, prosecutors and a key witness.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter attorney Brian Steel<\/strong> argued that the so-called ex parte meeting involved the improper coercion of a sworn witness, Judge Ural Glanville<\/strong> repeatedly demanded that Steel divulge who had informed him about a private meeting in his chambers. \u201cIf you don\u2019t tell me how you got this information, you and I are going to have problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSteel refused to do so, saying that it had been the meeting itself that was the problem. \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to have communication with a witness who\u2019s been sworn,\u201d he told the judge. During the meeting, Steel said he had been told, prosecutors and the judge had pressed the witness, Kenneth Copeland, to testify by saying he could be held in jail for an extended period of time if he did not.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf that\u2019s true, what this is is coercion, witness intimidation,\u201d Steel told Glanville, arguing that defense counsel should have been notified of a meeting involving a sworn witness and that it was grounds for a mistrial.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Steel continued to refuse to share where he received the information, Glanville held him in contempt and eventually ordered him taken into custody. As he was escorted out of the courtroom, into custody, Steel told the judge that Thug did not wish to proceed without his attorney present: \u201cYou\u2019re taking away his right to counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move to banish Steel led to confusion in the courtroom. Thug\u2019s other attorney, Keith Adams<\/strong>, said he could not continue without his co-counsel, and even prosecutors asked that Steel be present for the remainder of the day if the trial was going to proceed with testimony. Judge Glanville eventually agreed, allowing Steel to re-enter, but said he had not softened his stance.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou will go into custody at 5 o\u2019clock today \u00a0\u2026 if you don\u2019t tell me who that is,\u201d the judge said. \u201cThis is criminal contempt. I have asked you a question related to this particular proceeding and if you don\u2019t tell me you\u2019ll suffer the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s unclear if the contempt will impact Steel\u2019s ability to continue to represent Thug as the case moves forward. Steel did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThug (Jeffery Williams) and dozens of others were indicted in May 2022 over allegations that his \u201cYSL\u201d group was not really a record label called \u201cYoung Stoner Life\u201d but a violent Atlanta gang called \u201cYoung Slime Life.\u201d Prosecutors claim the group committed murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tJury selection kicked off in January 2023, but the trial itself did not begin until November and has since been marked by numerous delays. With dozens of witnesses still set to testify in the prosecution case, the trial is expected to run into 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta judge overseeing Young Thug\u2019s gang trial held the rapper\u2019s attorney in criminal contempt of court Monday (June 10) in a bizarre episode centered on claims of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1571,143,1786,107,1095,1094],"class_list":["post-1279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-contempt","tag-court","tag-custody","tag-lawyer","tag-thug","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}