Young Thug pleads guilty in Georgia’s longest-running criminal case – NBC New York

Atlanta rap star Young Thug agreed to change his plea to guilty in Georgia on Thursday longest running criminal caseThis is a striking development that, if approved by the judge, will bring the high-profile case to an end.

The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, appeared to have a change of plea on the verge of not happening after Superior Court Judge Paige Whitaker asked if he would accept an unnegotiated plea. This means that prosecutors and the defense cannot reach an agreement on the sentence and the judge will ultimately decide the sentence.

The parties returned after a short break. Settlement comes after Young Thug’s three defendants made plea deals this week It follows growing speculation that Whitaker may order a mistrial.

Young Thug, 33, was indicted in 2022 on charges related to leading a street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, whose members were accused of committing illegal and violent acts, including murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and car theft.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis He used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, law to claim that Young Thug and his associates were a street gang with ties to the national Bloods gang.

Initially, prosecutors named 27 co-defendants. The trial against Young Thug began with jury selection in January 2023, and when opening statements began in November, after months of delays as some defendants entered into plea deals and others chose to be tried separately, Young Thug was one of six defendants. .

Whitaker this week approved plea deals for three of them: quamarviv nichols29; Marquavius ​​Huey, 28; and Rodalius Ryan18.

The men faced a variety of racketeering and gang-related charges, each of which could potentially carry a sentence of five to 20 years in prison. When they all pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy (with Huey also pleading guilty to other reduced charges), they accepted lesser sentences along with probation and prison time. However, Ryan will remain in prison due to a life sentence for a 2019 murder, but his 10-year sentence in the RICO case was commuted to time served.

The other two remaining defendants are Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwellis in negotiations with prosecutors for similar plea deals or will proceed to trial.

Still, given Young Thug’s apparent plea deal, the end of his role in the prosecution’s sprawling case comes after a nearly two-year live-streamed trial that captivated court watchers. The original judge withdrew from the hearing in July. Allegations of misconduct by the defenseand heated courtroom arguments between various parties and plenty of awkward moments, The MP was allegedly involved in smuggling to a defendant and to one hacking the court’s Zoom “Free Bandit!” shouting ended the slow process.

The judge had previously said the trial was likely to extend into next year because the prosecution had not yet finished presenting its case.

But the latest and most important development came as a result of the prosecutor’s misstep while testifying last week.

When state witness Wunnie Lee, a rapper known as Slimelife Shawty, was reviewing social media posts for a jury, he was given an unedited version of a post that mistakenly referenced the hashtag #freequa and could have applied to the nicknames Nichols or Huey. . The post was edited for the jury.

But with Lee’s reference to Qua, prosecutors allowed the jury to assume the other defendants were in prison; This detail should not be shared because it is thought to be biased.

“We’re not going to be able to ring this bell, Your Honor,” Nichols’ attorney, Nicole Westmoreland, said in a motion to overturn the trial. he said.

Whitaker had suggested he would consider the mistrial motion. Meanwhile, prosecutors and defense attorneys spent days drafting plea agreements.

Young Thug first achieved mainstream success with 2014’s drug anthem “Stoner.” He founded his own music company YSL Records in 2016 and collected three #1 albums He works with names such as Travis Scott, Post Malone, Meek Mill and Drake on the Billboard chart. In 2019, he won the Grammy Award for song of the year for co-writing Childish Gambino’s song “This Is America.”

He has been in prison ever since Arrest in May 2022.

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