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.