Jury deliberates in long-running YSL gang and racketeering case

ATLANTA – Negotiations are underway in Atlanta after a year of testimony in the gang and racketeering case initially involving rapper Young Thug.

Jurors are considering whether to convict Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, on gang, murder, drug and weapons charges. The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Opening statements at the trial of six of these defendants were made a year ago. Four men, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. The rapper was released on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their attorneys chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

Both appeared to be in good spirits Tuesday morning after closures were completed the night before. Kendrick was chatting and laughing with Stillwell and his attorneys before the jury arrived for instructions.

Kendrick and Stillwell were accused of killing Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” at a barbershop in Atlanta in 2015.

Prosecutors named Stillwell and Kendrick as members of a violent street called Young Slime Life (YSL), which Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, co-founded in 2012. During Monday’s closing, they pointed to tattoos, lyrics and social media posts and said proven members, including Stillwell, had confessed to killing people in rival gangs.

Prosecutors say Thomas was a member of a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks, which prosecutors said was in retaliation for the killings of two YSL employees days earlier.

Defense attorneys Doug Weinstein and Max Schardt said the state presented unreliable witnesses, weak evidence and cherry-picked lyrics and social media posts to spread a false narrative about Stillwell, Kendrick and YSL members.

Stillwell’s attorney, Schardt, reminded the jury that the alleged YSL members said they lied to police during the trial. Schardt said law enforcement was playing a “sick game” by promising to avoid long prison sentences if they said what police wanted them to say. He theorized that one of the witnesses may have killed Thomas.

The reality is that his clients are trying to escape poverty through music, Schardt said.

“We know the struggles that these communities in general are going through,” Schardt said. “It’s a sad, tacit admission that it’s rap, prison or death.”

Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, which stands for Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs on the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2; “Take It to Trial” and “Slatty,” which prosecutors presented as evidence at trial.

Weinstein, Kendrick’s defense attorney, said during the closings that prosecutors were wrong to target the defendants because of their music and lyrics. Prosecutor Simone Hylton disagreed and said security camera and phone evidence supported her case.

“They have the audacity to think they can brag about killing someone and no one will hold them accountable,” Hylton said.

The hearing had more than its fair share of delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months, and Stillwell was stabbed in the Fulton County jail last year, which put the trial on pause.

Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July for meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present.

Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors for actions such as not sharing evidence with defense attorneys, once accusing them of “bad lawyering.” But the trial accelerated under his watch.

In October, four defendants, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty; The rapper entered a non-negotiated or “blind” plea, meaning he did not have a deal with prosecutors.

Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against 12 other people continue. Prosecutors dropped charges against a defendant convicted of murder in an unrelated case.