Plea deals reshape long-running Young Thug trial

ATLANTA — After nearly a year of painfully slow testimony, a sudden series of plea deals could potentially bring an end to Young Thug’s sprawling gang trial before defense attorneys even get the chance to present their case.

It’s unclear if the Grammy-winning rapper will accept a deal, but intense negotiations with prosecutors have been underway for more than a week.

Three plea deals were accepted by the judge over the past two days, reducing the number of defendants by half. Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, is still on trial along with alleged associates Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell.

Prosecutors say Williams is the leader of Young Slime Life — or YSL — which they contend is an Atlanta street gang responsible for robberies, shootings and the deaths of rival gang members.

The trial, which has been closely watched by fans of both hip hop and courtroom drama, has been plagued by delays, courthouse arrests and even the removal of the former judge.

Observers agree the case could have been conducted much more efficiently, but some Atlanta attorneys don’t think the costly trial will deter Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from bringing future RICO indictments. (She has another large RICO case pending against former President Donald Trump and his allies for allegedly interfering in the 2020 election).

Atlanta attorney Andrew Fleischman said the YSL trial was disorganized from the start and that any convictions would have had a good chance of being overturned later.

“It is not hard to win these cases,” he said. “But they found a way to mess them up so badly that it was very unlikely that these convictions were going to hold up on appeal.”

There have been numerous mistrial motions throughout the state’s case, starting on Day 1 during the prosecution’s opening statement.

“There’s a ton of public attention on the case, none of it good,” Fleischman said. “Trials are not supposed to take this long.”

He called the YSL case a “PR nightmare” for Willis’ office, and said he knows plenty of people casting protest votes for her Republican challenger, Courtney Kramer, even though she has little chance of winning next Tuesday in such a left-leaning county.

A spokesman for Willis declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations.

But in email that was revealed earlier this month Willis defended the case and its lead prosecutor, Adriane Love, telling her to “ignore the haters.”

“Folks who have never tried cases will always have nasty things to say,” Willis told her in the email. “But, while they criticize you from the sidelines, they fear the arena. They are not risking life and limb to keep our community safe.”

But Atlanta attorney Chris Timmons, who served as the head of the organized crime division in the DeKalb County DA’s office, said the trial has gone on far too long.

Love had said the state planned to call dozens more witnesses before resting its case, and the trial is expected to last well into 2025. But the fact that half the defendants took plea deals this week should shorten the trial significantly for the three remaining men on trial, Timmons said.

“I think that as the case is bearing out, the evidence isn’t coming in like they wanted it to,” said Timmons, who previously tried RICO cases during his time in DeKalb.

Even if each remaining defendant decides to plead out, Timmons thinks Willis would view the case as a win for her office.

“If she hadn’t brought these cases, then these are people who would have been walking around free as opposed to under some sort of supervision for the next several years,” he said.

Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein didn’t mince words while commenting on the ongoing plea negotiations and the state’s case so far.

While offers have been extended to Kendrick, Weinstein said it isn’t his client’s responsibility to accept an offer “so that the DA can save face.”

“It is not even clear to me, as Mr. Kendrick’s counsel, that Madam DA Willis has any realistic understanding of the present state of her case against him,” said Weinstein, who rejected another plea offer on Thursday and threatened to take the case to the jury.

If attorneys don’t reach deals for their clients, the jury could return next week to find significantly fewer people in the courtroom.