The longest-running criminal trial in Georgia history is poised to become a lot longer — or, if the defense has its way, derailed entirely.
In the latest disruption that has placed the criminal racketeering case against rapper Young Thug on hold indefinitely, a Fulton County Superior Court judge must decide whether the trial judge should recuse himself — a process that legal experts say would include an evidentiary hearing and allow up to 90 days for a ruling.
And even then, the seemingly endless squabbles in a televised trial that has riveted metro Atlanta’s legal and entertainment circles and inspired countless social media memes threaten to throw the future of the snarled saga in jeopardy at any moment.
The trial has unfolded amid scrutiny over the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office as its prosecution similarly drags on in its case against former President Donald Trump for state racketeering charges related to the 2020 election.
“This trial is a farce,” Brian Steel, a lawyer for Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, wrote in a 200-page motion accusing Judge Ural Glanville and Fulton County prosecutors of misconduct that should disqualify their involvement.
In his recusal motion, Steel said he learned that Glanville and two prosecutors, Adriane Love and Simone Hylton, held a private meeting with a star witness, Kenneth Copeland, on the morning of June 10 without any defense lawyers present. Such exclusion of one party is generally frowned upon because it could allow for witness tampering or intimidation.
Steel brought up the meeting in court that same day, claiming the judge and prosecutors pressured Copeland to testify after he was previously jailed for refusing to do so. Steel’s remarks prompted Glanville to ask him who provided the information. But in a heated exchange, Steel refused and Glanville walked out, later ordering the lawyer to be taken into custody for contempt of court and sentencing him to 20 days in jail to be served on weekends.
It took the Georgia Supreme Court to intervene and grant Steel an emergency motion for bond, allowing him to be freed while he appeals the contempt finding.
Glanville and the prosecution have disputed Steel’s accusation that the meeting was “improper.”
Prosecutors in a nine-page response this week said the meeting was specifically about Copeland being held in contempt and did not require the defense to be present, and therefore “the fact of the meeting provides no grounds for recusal of Chief Judge Glanville.”
Now, the proceedings remain paused while another Superior Court judge determines whether Glanville should step down.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mario Williams, a local civil rights lawyer who is not involved in the case but has been following the trial. “It’s almost like a reality-TV show.”
Trial marked by delays
Young Thug, 32, first gained mainstream success with his 2014 drug anthem “Stoner.” Magazines dubbed him “Atlanta’s wildest rapper” as he racked up three No. 1 albums on the Billboard chart. In 2019, he won a Grammy Award for song of the year for co-writing Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.”
But three years later, his superstar status dimmed when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis presented a sprawling indictment against Young Thug and 27 co-defendants for alleged criminal gang activity under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute.
Young Thug is accused of leading a street gang, Young Slime Life, or YSL, with members committing illegal and violent acts, including murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and carjacking. Prosecutors said YSL began in late 2012 in an Atlanta neighborhood where its members are affiliated with the national Bloods gang.
“It is somewhere where violence occurs, where they are marking up Blood territory,” Willis said in 2022 when she announced the indictment. “It’s horrible. That community deserves to be safe.”
The trial, which was expected to last six to nine months, began with jury selection in January 2023. But that process slogged on for 10 months, in part because of delays stemming from an unusually high number of defendants. When opening statements finally began in November, several of the defendants had already taken plea deals while others chose to be tried separately from Young Thug.
The trial was delayed again in December when one of the defendants, Shannon Stillwell, was stabbed in jail.
The proceedings resumed against Young Thug, Stillwell and four other men, all of whom have maintained their innocence. The various racketeering and gang charges carry prison sentences of five to 20 years. Young Thug remains jailed while on trial.
When the trial was halted on July 1 over the defense’s demand for the judge to recuse himself, it had already surpassed the previous longest criminal trial in the state. That trial, involving Atlanta public school educators accused of racketeering in a cheating scandal, lasted about eight months.
(The longest criminal trial in the U.S. lasted about 2½ years, according to Guinness World Records, involving a California preschool operator accused of child sexual abuse in the 1980s.)
Andrew Fleischman, a criminal defense lawyer in Georgia, said the felony trials he has worked on might last an average of two weeks. When one stretches over months or even years, he said, it raises concerns about the proceedings because of costs borne by taxpayers, fairness to jurors who must give up time at work and in their personal lives, and the inability of defense lawyers to focus on other clients.
“It’s wildly unfair,” Fleischman said.
Trial captivates social media
But for trial watchers, the case against Young Thug has been enlightening, opening a door into the rapper’s life and subjecting his song lyrics to legal scrutiny.
The prosecution has argued that the lyrics and social media posts are evidence of criminal gang activity, with Willis previously warning, “If you decide to admit your crimes over a beat, I’m going to use it.” Critics contend the law is being weaponized to specifically target Black hip-hop artists, who should be free to express themselves.
Violence is a common theme in Young Thug’s songs.
On social media, users have found amusement in the judge and prosecutors reciting his lyrics and the rapper reacting to hearing his music played in the courtroom.
Witnesses such as Copeland, a former Young Thug associate who goes by the nickname Lil Woody, have also gained attention for their reluctance to answer questions from prosecutors or appearing uninterested.
In one exchange, a prosecutor asked Copeland how old he is; he responded: “Grown.”
On top of that, the trial has been subject to a multitude of bizarre moments, including a deputy allegedly smuggling contraband to a defendant, someone hacking the court’s Zoom to yell “Free Thug!” and “Mistrial!” and jurors’ faces accidentally being shown on the livestream.
Ultimately, if Glanville is recused as judge and agrees to step down, a new judge would be brought in on the trial. That person shouldn’t have to start the trial over, but given the upheaval, the defense could seek a motion to grant a mistrial, Anthony Michael Kreis, an assistant professor at the Georgia State University College of Law, said in an email.
The proceedings have had “a soap opera quality to it all,” Kreis said, adding: “This was never going to be a quick trial. However, it has been massively prolonged by delays caused by all the dramatic events. It feels like a trial that will never end.”
