As the long-running YSL case comes to an end after a year of testimony, the last 2 defendants await their fate

ATLANTA — The final two defendants in a long-running gang and racketeering case committed murders on behalf of an Atlanta street gang co-founded by rapper Young Thug, prosecutors said Monday.

But defense attorneys said the state combined carefully selected social media posts and song lyrics with unreliable witness testimony to paint a misleading narrative about young men with difficult upbringings trying to escape poverty through music.

It’s now up to the jury to decide whether Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, will be convicted 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.

The trial of six of these defendants started a year ago. Four men, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after weeks of negotiations, and their attorneys chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

There were problems and delays in the hearing. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, who took over the case after the original judge was dismissed in July, often lost patience with prosecutors.

Kendrick and Stillwell were accused of killing Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” at a barbershop in Atlanta in 2015. Prosecutors say Thomas was a member of a rival gang. Prosecutors said Stillwell was also charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks in retaliation for the killings of two YSL employees days earlier.

Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, founded a criminal street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, in 2012, which they said was affiliated with the national Bloods gang. 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” and another Young Thug song that prosecutors played during the closing.

Kendrick’s defense attorney, Doug Weinstein, said it was wrong for prosecutors to target the defendants, who are all black, because of their music and lyrics.

Prosecutor Simone Hylton said the case was about “real bodies” and not a “rhythmic song”.

“We target gang members who decide to cause harm to communities in Fulton County,” Hylton said. “And the communities that they violated, those communities were communities of color.”

Prosecutor Christian Adkins said YSL was a violent gang operating through “deception, intimidation, destruction and death”.

He pointed to social media posts that he said showed members undoubtedly killing people in rival gangs, and said their clothing and tattoos were “walking billboards” for YSL.

Max Schardt, the defense attorney for Weinstein and Stillwell, said prosecutors inserted a group of separate criminal allegations, many dating back nearly a decade, into an indictment without showing that they were connected to a criminal organization.

“The state has spent the last year with a hammer, hitting a square nail that they call evidence,” Schardt said.

But “that square peg doesn’t fit into that round hole,” he said.

Alleged YSL members said during the trial that they lied to police to avoid long prison sentences. Schardt suggested that one of these witnesses killed Thomas. Schardt said he implicated Stillwell, Kendrick and others as part of a litany of lies to avoid the threat of prison.

But Hylton said the witnesses and others lied on the stand in front of the people they “informed” about, not the police.

Weinstein said he focused on Kendrick’s rap career, which helped him escape his troubled past after his plans to play football at the University of Georgia fell through “before he got caught up in targeting Jeffery Williams.”

Weinstein said his client was not even in the car used in the shooting that killed Thomas. But prosecutors said it was Kendrick who alerted his colleagues to Thomas’ whereabouts before he was killed.

“He’s just as guilty as those who pulled the trigger,” Hylton said.

Schardt said security footage showed Stillwell walking away from Drinks’ car before he was shot, and that no gun residue was found in Stillwell’s vehicle. Hylton said the footage proves Stillwell fired at least three shots at Drinks’ Nissan and then fled the scene at 90 miles per hour through a red light.

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

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations on Tuesday. If they can’t reach a decision Wednesday, they’ll be back after Thanksgiving.