The sprawling — and seemingly endless — racketeering conspiracy trial centered on Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug is now the longest criminal trial in Georgia’s state history. It started with jury selection in January 2023 and finally reached opening statements in an Atlanta courtroom last November . Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, is accused of co-founding and overseeing a gang called “Young Slime Life” that allegedly terrorized Fulton County with drug sales, armed robberies, shootings, and at least three murders.
Williams vehemently denies the charges, but has been in jail since his May 2022 arrest. His lawyer, Brian Steel, has called his indictment “unconscionable and unconstitutional.” On Thursday, June 13, Steel called the high-profile prosecution an authoritarian absurdity after being held in contempt for similar complaints earlier in the week.
“This is crazy. This is like communist Russia. Mr.
Williams is having the worst trial,” Steel told Judge Ural Glanville. He alleged prosecutors were “intimidating” a key witness in the case. Prosecutors denied the claim.
Judge Glanville said he didn’t see it either. The ongoing trial, now in its 18th month, then resumed with Williams fighting for his freedom alongside five co-defendants, including fellow rap artist Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick. “We have been in trial in this case since January of 2023.
My client, Mr. Kendrick, and other defendants have been incarcerated in Rice Street, one of th.
