{"id":3185,"date":"2024-11-01T19:32:25","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/how-did-young-thug-go-from-an-endless-gang-trial-to-walking-away-a-free-man\/"},"modified":"2024-11-01T19:32:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:32:25","slug":"how-did-young-thug-go-from-an-endless-gang-trial-to-walking-away-a-free-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/how-did-young-thug-go-from-an-endless-gang-trial-to-walking-away-a-free-man\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did Young Thug Go From An Endless Gang Trial to Walking Away a Free\u00a0Man?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tWhen Young Thug went free Thursday (Oct. 31) after more than two years in custody, it didn\u2019t come out of nowhere. It was the crescendo of a series of events that started months ago, transforming an endless, oft-delayed trial into a moment of catharsis for the superstar artist.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tYoung Thug to Be Released After Pleading Guilty In YSL RICO Case\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t10\/31\/2024\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\tIn June, the trial against Young Thug\u2019s alleged \u201cYSL\u201d gang had been churning along for more than a year, stretching across 10 months of jury selection and five months of testimony. As the prosecutors worked through a vast list of witnesses, there was no clear end in sight \u2014 the trial was expected to run well into 2025, but even that was just a guess.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy this week, the state was handing out plea deals to multiple defendants, including offering one to Thug that would have sent him home immediately. He refused to take it, and his attorneys felt bold enough to simply plead guilty and hope the judge would set him free \u2014 a gamble that paid off.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a whirlwind week, it’s worth asking the question: How on earth did we get here?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story starts on June 10, when Thug\u2019s attorney Brian Steel<\/strong> made a stunning revelation in open court. He said he had learned of a secret \u201cex parte\u201d meeting between Judge Ural Glanville<\/strong>, prosecutors and a key witness named Kenneth Copeland<\/strong>, and claimed that it warranted a mistrial.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tYoung Thug RICO Trial to Resume After Judge Refuses to Declare Mistrial Over Secret Meeting\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t08\/09\/2024\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\tUp to that point, Glanville\u2019s handling of the case had resulted in an exceptionally slow pace. Though a sprawling racketeering case against many defendants was always going take time, the Glanville approach \u2014 featuring an unprecedented 10-month jury-selection process, repeated \u201ccomfort breaks,\u201d and other delays in testimony \u2014 had put the case on pace to be the longest in state history.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the June hearing, Steel alleged far more than bad pacing by Judge Glanville. He claimed that during the secret meeting, Glanville had helped prosecutors coerce the uncooperative Copeland into testifying with threats of extended jail time, all without notifying defense counsel.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe revelation set into motion case-changing events. Rather than addressing Steel\u2019s concerns, Glanville repeatedly demanded to know who had told him about the meeting. When Steel refused to do so, the judge held him in criminal contempt and sentenced him to jail time \u2014 a ruling that was later overturned on appeal.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the weeks that followed, Glanville repeatedly maintained that the ex parte meeting had been proper. But amid a barrage of demands that he either declare a mistrial or step aside, he finally referred the issue to another a judge to decide whether he could\u00a0continue presiding over the trial.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tA Timeline of Young Thug’s YSL RICO Trial\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t11\/01\/2024\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\tOn July 15, Judge Rachel Krause<\/strong> said that he could not. Though she ruled that the meeting did not appear to have been illegal, the judge ruled that Glanville would be removed from the case in order to preserve \u201cthe public\u2019s confidence in the judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat ruling punted the case to Judge Paige Reese Whitaker<\/strong>, a Fulton County jurist with a reputation for efficiency. She quickly showed why: On her first day on the bench, Whitaker said she wanted to pick up the pace, demanding that prosecutors be more organized in how they were presenting witnesses and testimony. \u201cIt should not take another seven months,\u201d Whitaker said at that hearing.<\/p>\n

\n\tBy late September, Whitaker appeared to have reached her wits\u2019 end with the prosecutors trying the case. Visibly frustrated at a Sept. 30 hearing, the judge blasted Chief Deputy DA Adriane Love<\/strong> and other government attorneys for \u201cpoor lawyering,\u201d saying that their \u201chaphazard\u201d approach was making the trial more difficult for everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is baffling to me that somebody with the number of years of experience that you have, time after time after time, continues to seemingly and purposefully hide the ball to the extent you possibly can, for as long as you possibly can,\u201d Whitaker said. \u201cI really don\u2019t want to believe that it is purposeful but honestly, after a certain number of times, you start to wonder how can it be anything but that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMistrial Potentially Looming in Young Thug’s Atlanta Gang Trial, Sparking Delays and Plea…\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t10\/24\/2024\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\tWeeks later, that same \u201chaphazard\u201d approach led to an incident that set the stage for Thug\u2019s eventual release<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring witness testimony on Oct. 23, prosecutors were questioning a witness named Wunnie Lee<\/strong> (aka Slimelife Shawty), a former defendant in the YSL case who signed a plea agreement in exchange for testifying.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile on the stand, prosecutors asked Lee to identify certain defendants by showing him social media posts. While reading one of the posts, Lee read aloud the hashtag #freequa \u2014 a reference to a previous prison sentence for Marquavius Huey<\/strong> (aka Qua), one of Thug\u2019s current co-defendants.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was a crucial error by prosecutors. The jury was not supposed to know which defendants had previously been incarcerated, and defense attorneys argued that the government was supposed to redact the post and prep Lee not to mention it. After the admission before jurors, defense attorneys quickly moved for a mistrial. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be able to unring this bell,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe misstep quickly drew another sharp critique from Whitaker, who at one point told prosecutors that she was trying to find a way to \u201cfix your sloppiness so that everybody won\u2019t have wasted 10 to 12 months of their lives in this trial.\u201d Though she refused to grant a mistrial that would permanently end the case, Whitaker warned that she might order that the massive trial be started over from scratch.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tKevin Liles Issues Statement Following Conclusion of Young Thug Trial\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t10\/31\/2024\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\tFaced with that disastrous prospect, prosecutors and defense attorneys quickly began talking about plea deals. Nobody wanted a mistrial: The DA\u2019s office had already sunk years of taxpayer dollars into the costly case, and defendants had already sat in jail for years waiting for a verdict.<\/p>\n

\n\tDays later, three of Young Thug\u2019s co-defendants \u2014 Quamarvious Nichols<\/strong>, Marquavius \u201cQua\u201d Huey and Rodalius \u201cLil Rod\u201d Ryan<\/strong> \u2014 all reached deals with prosecutors. Two others \u2014 Deamonte \u201cYak Gotti\u201d Kendrick<\/strong> and Shannon Stillwell<\/strong> \u2014 who are facing some of the most serious accusations in the case, refused to do so.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike the other defense attorneys, Thug\u2019s attorneys (Steel and co-counsel Keith Adams<\/strong>) hunkered down with prosecutors over the week to negotiate a potential deal. But at a press conference Thursday, Adams said the DA\u2019s office did not approach the talks in \u201cgood faith\u201d and appeared to only be trying to \u201csave face.\u201d Though they offered to let Thug escape the case with only 15 years probation and no prison time, Adams said they also insisted on onerous conditions in which Thug would affirm the state\u2019s accusations against him.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a judge that had shown herself to be highly skeptical of the prosecutors trying the case, Steel said Thursday that Thug and his legal team made the \u201cexcruciating\u201d decision to plead guilty without a negotiated sentence \u2014 and to place their faith in Judge Whitaker for a lenient sentence.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNegotiations totally broke down with the district attorney\u2019s office, horribly broke down,\u201d Steel told reporters. \u201cAt that point we believed that justice could be found with the honorable court. Jeffery just wanted to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe move was extremely risky. Prosecutors promptly told the judge that, in the absence of a negotiated plea deal, they were seeking a draconian sentence against Thug: a whopping 45 years, 25 of which would be served in prison and 20 more on probation.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTravis Scott, Sexyy Red, T.I. & More React to Young Thug’s Release After…\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\t10\/31\/2024\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\n\tAfter that, both Steel and Thug addressed the court, offering impassioned pleas for a light sentence. But before Whitaker handed down her sentence \u2014 just 15 years probation, allowing Thug to go home that day \u2014 she seemed most swayed by the conduct of the prosecutors themselves.<\/p>\n

\n\t“It is not lost on the court that the state … was willing to entirely dismiss [several counts] and was willing to give a sentence that permitted Mr. Williams to walk out of the door today,” the judge said. “[The state] does not seem to be particularly worried that Mr. Williams, if on the streets, would be a danger to society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the sentence, Thug hugged his lawyers. By late Thursday evening, he had been released.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Young Thug went free Thursday (Oct. 31) after more than two years in custody, it didn\u2019t come out of nowhere. It was the crescendo of a series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4001,4004,4002,1095,342,4003,1094],"class_list":["post-3185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-endless","tag-freeman","tag-gang","tag-thug","tag-trial","tag-walking","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185","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=3185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}