ATLANTA– Georgia’s highest court on tuesday upheld a judge’s contempt ruling against a lawyer for rapper Young Thug who refused to tell the judge how he became aware of a meeting between the judge, prosecutors and a prosecution witness.
Attorney Brian Steel is representing the rapper, who is currently on trial in Atlanta on numerous charges, including violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering and anti-gang laws. Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville in June Steel thought disdainfully and ordered him to spend the next ten weekends in jail, an order that was stayed pending Steel’s appeal.
Steel argued that his information was subject to attorney-client privilege, that he did not interfere with the court’s proceedings, and that Glanville was required by due process to remove himself from the contempt proceedings since Steel accused the judge of misconduct .
The Supreme Court justices agreed with Steel that due process required Glanville to withdraw from hearing the contempt case.
“Because the court deferred sentence, the alleged disobedience was directed against the court, and the court was involved in the controversy that formed the basis for the contempt, due process required the judge to waive the contempt proceeding. Therefore, we reverse the contempt order imposed by the court,” Presiding Judge Nels Peterson wrote in the unanimous opinion.
Young Thug, a Grammy winner whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was charged two years ago in a sweeping indictment accusing him and more than two dozen other people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He is also accused of gang, drug and gun crimes and is on trial along with five of the others charged along with him.
Jury selection in the case started in January 2023 And lasted almost 10 months. Opening statements were in November and the prosecution has since presented its case, calling dozens of witnesses.
In open court on June 10, Steel told Glanville that he had learned of a meeting in the judge’s chambers that morning and was moving for a mistrial. In an order finding Steel in contempt and ordering him to jail, Glanville wrote that he had “serious concerns about the manner in which this information was improperly disclosed to Steel.”
While the judge alleged that Steel had information he should not have had, Steel had argued that the information had not been declared confidential under any court order.
Glanville was removed from the long-running case in July about the meeting he held with prosecutors and a state witness. Another judge granted the requests of two defendants seeking Glanville’s recusal, saying she did not fault Glanville for holding the rally but that the ‘need to maintain public confidence in the justice system’ benefit of excusing Judge Glanville” from the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has taken over the case, which is expected to last until next year.