Young Thug trial: Judge bars former Atlanta police detective from returning to the stand

ATLANTA — A former detective who investigated Atlanta rapper Young Thug and others can no longer serve as a witness in the musician’s sprawling gang and racketeering trial, the judge said Thursday.

Former Atlanta police detective Ty Dennis had been on the stand for hours when he made a comment about one of the defendants, Deamonte Kendrick, being released from jail.

The remark was made in front of the jury, prompting Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein to call for an immediate mistrial. At the time, Fulton prosecutors were discussing a photo of Kendrick standing on the hood of a luxury Maybach owned by rapper and alleged rival gang member YFN Lucci.

The photo, which was posted to social media, appeared to have been taken in the Lenox Square parking lot.

Judge Paige Reese Whitaker excused Dennis from the stand before telling prosecutors and defense attorneys that he will not be allowed to testify again. Dennis had been called as a witness before in the case, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many more times the state planned to invite him back.

“Your honor, this one you cannot fix,” an outraged Weinstein told the judge. “This absolutely cannot be unheard by the jury. It was heard clear as day in his deep, sonorous voice. They have heard it. They have absorbed it. It cannot be fixed.”

Prosecutor Simone Hylton said it was never the state’s intention to elicit testimony about Kendrick’s criminal history and said they only hoped to discuss the photograph.

“I’m sure it wasn’t,” Whitaker told her, adding that, as a retired police investigator, Dennis should have known better.

“As the sanction for this having occurred, that’s the end of the testimony from this witness,” Whitaker said. “There is going to be no more testimony from him. He is done.”

One of Kendrick’s charges in the sprawling gang indictment references a previous felony conviction. If not for that, Whitaker said she would have granted the defense’s request for a mistrial. Instead, she instructed the jury to disregard all of Dennis’ testimony from Thursday.

Dennis and his former partner, Lakea Gaither, were named the Atlanta Police Department’s Investigators of the Year in 2015. Both retired from the department in the summer of 2020, but have been important witnesses for Fulton prosecutors in the slow-moving case.

Jury selection began in January 2023, making the high-profile trial the longest in Georgia history.

Prosecutors say Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, is the leader of Young Slime Life, which they contend is an Atlanta-based gang responsible for a spate of robberies, shootings and at least three murders. Defense attorneys maintain their clients are innocent and say YSL is simply the name of the Grammy winner’s record label.