Young Thug pleaded guilty to participating in criminal street gang activity today (October 31), ending his role in the longest trial in Georgia history, reports The New York Times. The infamous YSL case began back on November 27, 2023, roughly 18 months after his arrest on charges of racketeering and gang conspiracy. He admitted to six counts, including possession of drugs and firearms.
After receiving recommendations from both sides, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced Young Thug to time served plus 15 years of probation, meaning he now is now due to be released from prison. If unable to complete the probation time, he could be made to serve an additional 20 years in custody. Young Thug’s sentence also comes with certain stipulations; to stay away from metro Atlanta for the first 10 years of his probation; to give four anti-gang presentations to children and perform 100 hours of community service per year; to be subject to random drug tests; and to avoid being around known gang members, with the exceptions of his brother, Quintavis Grier, and Gunna, who is signed to Thug’s Young Stoner Life label.
In the courtroom, Judge Whitaker asked Young Thug if he was ready to accept a non-negotiated plea because, due to an impasse over sentencing, a negotiated deal with prosecutors was no longer possible. (A non-negotiated plea allows the judge to decide on the sentence, based on recommendations from both parties.) After turning to discuss with his lawyers, Judge Whitaker called a recess to give the rapper time to decide. Eventually Young Thug returned, accepted the blind plea, and pleaded no contest to two additional counts: conspiracy to violate the RICO act, and leading a criminal street gang. The state proceeded to recommend a sentence of 45 years, with 25 served in custody and 20 years on probation.
Back at the start of the case, prosecutors argued the rapper born Jeffrey Williams engaged in street gang activity and conspired to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—charges that can lead to decades-long sentences. The defence, led by lawyer Brian Steel, told The New York Times that Young Thug “came from an incredibly horrible upbringing, and he has conducted himself throughout his life in a way that is just to marvel at. He has committed no crime whatsoever.” A year into the trial, here is a rundown of what has transpired as the Fulton County Superior Court trial reaches the one-year mark.
Before his arrest in May 2023, Young Thug was named alongside 27 other people, including Gunna, in a 56-count gang indictment alleging murder, assault, robbery, theft, illegal gun possession, and illegal drug possession and sales along the Cleveland Avenue area since 2012. Prosecutors claim Thug is the leader of a violent gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, with ties to the national Bloods organization. Young Thug’s team says YSL refers only to the record label Young Stoner Life, an imprint of 300 Entertainment that has released rap music from a collective helmed by Thug and Gunna.
Controversy began even before the trial, notably when Judge Ural Glanville, who has since been recused, allowed lyrics from YSL releases to be submitted as evidence—a highly contested legal practice that critics say discriminates against rappers and violates freedom of speech. In a prerecorded message screened at Hot 97’s Summer Jam, in 2022, Thug said, “I always use my music as a form of artistic expression, and I see now that Black artists and rappers don’t have that freedom.” He urged people to sign a petition called “Art on Trial: Protect Black Art,” started by 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles, one of many campaigns to limit the use of lyrics as evidence when rap is put on trial.
Many of the 28 people named in the original indictment have since walked free. Among them is Gunna, who, in late 2022, made an Alford plea: pleading guilty to obtain a favorable sentence, while maintaining his innocence. That resulted in his five-year sentence being commuted to time served and 500 hours of community service. The plea acknowledged his association with YSL but maintained that it was purely musical. Seven more defendants took plea deals soon after, the conditions of which required them to say that YSL is both a music collective and a criminal street gang.
Young Thug, one of six defendants standing trial, is also charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of codeine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm, and possession of a machine gun. Due to numerous refusals of bail, he has been behind bars since his arrest in 2022, in conditions his lawyer compares to solitary confinement: in a “windowless cement compartment with only a bed and toilet and an overhead light which remains on 24 hours per day, preventing any sleep, rest or meditation.”
November 27, 2023
The trial begins. Lead prosecutor Fani Willis, who is the Fulton County district attorney, and her deputy, Adriane Love, allege that YSL is a violent street gang and Young Thug is “King Slime”: the authority whom gang members would contact for permission to commit murder and other crimes. YSL, Love said in opening statements, “created a crater in the middle of Fulton County’s Cleveland Avenue community that sucked in the youth, the innocence, and even the lives of some of its youngest members.” Love showed graphic photos of men allegedly murdered by YSL, claiming Young Thug was one of the first people whom gang members would contact for help, and that this proved he was the leader of the gang.
The prosecution also contends that YSL is responsible for the shooting of Lil Wayne’s tourbus in 2015. (Jimmy Carlton Winfrey, an associate of Young Thug and Birdman also known as PeeWee Roscoe, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting, though the conviction was overturned in 2018 because the judge had interfered with his plea negotiations. He was released in 2020 on time served. Neither Thug nor Birdman was charged.) Love said said the shooting was “for nothing, except to show [YSL’s] dominance. That act was intended to show their solidarity, their willingness to act on the behalf of, their willingness to exact violence upon anyone who threatened the position of the criminal street gang calling itself Young Slime Life.”
November 28, 2023
Brian Steel gives his opening statement on behalf of Young Thug. He tells the story of his client’s impoverished upbringing with 10 other children in a small, three-bedroom apartment in Atlanta: “Jeffery Williams was born into an environment, a community, a society that was filled with oppression, despair, hopelessness and helplessness,” he says, segueing into criticism of the police and their handling of witnesses. Lil Wayne, Steel adds, was an idol to the aspiring rapper, as was Tupac, whose song “P.Y.T. (Playa Young Thugs)” gave Young Thug his name. In a viral moment, he contends that “THUG” also stands for “Truly Humble Under God.” He further claims that “pushin P” stands for “pushing positivity,” and that YSL was named after Yves Saint Laurent.
Steel spent most of his remarks refuting the most serious charge, that Young Thug was involved in the murder of Donovan Thomas, Jr. Steel addressed the claim that a car used in the murder was rented under Young Thug’s name by explaining that the rapper often rented cars to friends in need. Steel says that, before the alleged killing, Kenneth Copeland contacted Thug for help. Answering the call, he says, was the extent of Thug’s involvement.
December 10, 2023
Shannon Stillwell, a co-defendant of Young Thug, is stabbed in jail. He survives injuries to his back, stomach, and shoulder. Fellow inmate Willie Brown admits to the stabbing, saying he took the knife from Stillwell after entering his cell. The trial is suspended until the new year.
January 3, 2024
Trontavious Stephens, a member of YSL, takes the witness stand after agreeing to a plea deal with eight years of probation. He identifies himself, Young Thug, and Walter Murphy as the founding members of YSL. He admits the organization emerged from the Raised on Cleveland street gang but says it was formed as “a music label—music happened first.”
February 20, 2024
The prosecution plays a 911 call by an anonymous woman, who claims to have heard of a shooting committed by Young Thug. “They came to my house and told me that the guy who shot somebody’s name was Young Thug, whoever that’s supposed to be,” she says in the call.
April 4, 2024
The judge denies a request, by Young Thug’s attorneys, to have lead prosecutor Adriane Love removed from the case. Brian Steel had objected to her questioning witnesses with a series of “Isn’t it true you told me” style questions. He says the rhetoric makes her an unsworn witness, who should be subject to interrogation on the stand.
April 8, 2024
More allegations of impropriety by the prosecution. Jurors are shown text messages that a prosecution investigator, Rasheed Hamilton, sent to a witness identified as A. Bennett, who first took the stand in March. One message reads, “Hit me up if you’re bored later. We’re not gonna talk shop.” Bennett testified that Hamilton had said he wanted to date her and called her “mama” on multiple occasions. No subsequent action against Hamilton was reported.
July 1, 2024
The trial is paused indefinitely as several defence attorneys complain that Judge Ural Glanville held improper private meetings with prosecutors and an uncooperative witness. The witness, Kenneth Copeland, aka rapper Lil Woody, had refused to testify and was held in contempt of court. The meetings took place without defence attorneys’ knowledge, but when Steel learned of them and mentioned it in court, he too was held in contempt for refusing to disclose his source. He received a 20-day prison sentence that was soon reversed. Glanville subsequently released a full transcript of the meeting.
July 15, 2024
Judge Ural Glanville is recused. Judge Rachel Krause, who ruled on the recusal, wrote that, while the ex parte meeting was not inappropriate, the recusal was important to preserve “the public’s confidence in the judicial system.” A separate motion seeks to recuse Krause herself from deciding on the recusal, due to a $2,000 campaign donation she received from Glanville. Krause denies that motion.
July 17, 2024
Judge Ural Glanville’s replacement, Judge Shukura Ingram, who had been randomly assigned to the case, is herself recused, because her former courthouse deputy had a romantic relationship with Christian Eppinger, one of Young Thug’s co-defendants.
August 12, 2024
The trial resumes with Judge Paige Reese Whitaker in place. Copeland, a key witness, restarts his testimony but answers most questions “I don’t recall.”
October 23, 2024
Court is adjourned after rapper Slimelife Shawty reads out an Instagram post with the hashtag “#FreeQua”—which the state should have redacted from his paper copy—during his testimony. Since the hashtag could bias the jury by implying that Quamarvious Nichols, one of Young Thug’s co-defendants, has been in prison, Nichols’ attorneys motion for a mistrial. Another defendant who goes by Qua, Marquavius Huey, also requests a mistrial. Judge Whitaker criticizes prosectors for a series of errors of which this is just the latest. “What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness so that everyone won’t have wasted, you know, 10, 12 months of their lives in this trial,” Whitaker tells prosecutors. “I am sorry y’all have, you know, this gigantic, ginormous universe of evidence that maybe if you narrowed down, you would not be making these kind of mistakes.”
October 29, 2024
Following the state’s blunder, Quamarvious Nichols takes a plea deal. All but one of the charges against him, including a murder charge, are dismissed, on the proviso that he accept the RICO conspiracy charge. That includes admission to his involvement in possession and distribution of drugs, but Nichols categorically denies participating in violence. Nichols will serve seven years of a 20-year sentence, adjusted for time served, with the 13-year balance served on probation. The other Qua, Marquavius Huey, also enters a plea deal. And one more defendant, Rodalius Ryan, aka Lil Rod, takes enters a plea deal and receives a 10-year sentence commuted to time served. He will now fight a separate murder charge in the Georgia Supreme Court.
