Prosecution ends in case against 2 remaining defendants in Young Thug trial
ATLANTA– After almost a year of testimony in a major ring and extortion, charges are filed Young criminal and an initial 27 suspects, prosecutors dropped their case Tuesday in the longest trial in Georgia history.
Both Deamonte Kendrick, also known as Yak Gotti, and Shannon Stillwell told the judge Tuesday that they would not testify in their own defense. Both previous plea offers were rejected after more than a week of negotiations.
Defense attorneys indicated they would ask Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker to instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty against Kendrick and Stillwell on Wednesday, which would require the attorneys to argue that no reasonable person may find that the state has proven Kendrick and Stillwell guilty.
If Whitaker denies the request for a directed verdict, attorneys will also likely discuss Wednesday about instructions to jurors on what they should find to convict Kendrick and Stillwell.
Jurors will return Thursday and could begin deliberating before the end of the week.
Young Thug, the 33-year-old Atlanta-born Grammy-winning artist whose given name is Jeffery Williams, pleaded guilty to gang, drug and weapons charges in October after negotiations with prosecutors broke down. That left the punishment up to Whitaker, who allowed him to do so walk freely by sentencing him to prison and fifteen years’ probation with severe restrictions, including a ban from metro Atlanta for the first ten years, except in certain cases.
The slow process has been fraught with problems from the start. Jury selection took place almost 10 monthsFulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, the original judge, was removed from the case in July after attorneys filed a recusal motion based on a secret meeting he had with prosecutors and a state witness.
Whitaker took over the case and often lost patience with prosecutors over what she once called “bad law practice.” She and her attorneys scolded prosecutors for not sharing the evidence beforehand.
More than 175 witnesses testified during the trial. Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug and two others in 2012 co-founded a violent criminal street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they say has ties to the national Bloods gang.
During Young Thug’s sentencing hearing, attorney Brian Steel said Young Thug had been “falsely accused” and that the evidence against him was weak. He also condemned the use of rap lyrics during the trial.
Steel said he thought they were winning the trial and he wanted to hold it to a jury verdict, but Young Thug wanted to go home to his family instead of sitting out the rest of the trial, which felt like ‘hell’.
Nine people were charged in the indictment, including the Atlanta rapper Gunnawhose real name is Sergio Kitchens, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Twelve others will be tried separately. Prosecutors dropped charges against one suspect after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.