The prosecution also claims YSL is responsible for shooting Lil Wayne's turbo in 2015. (Jimmy Carlton Winfrey, a collaborator 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. [YSL’s] prevalence. This act was intended to show their solidarity, their willingness to act on behalf, their willingness to use violence against anyone who threatened the position of the criminal street gang that calls itself Young Slime Life.”
November 28, 2023
Brian Steel makes 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: “Jeffrey Williams was born into an environment, a community, a society that was full of oppression, despair, hopelessness and powerlessness. “, he says, criticizing the police and the handling of witnesses. Lil Wayne, Steel adds, was an idol for the aspiring rapper, as was Tupac, whose song “PYT (Playa Young Thugs)” gave Young Thug his name. In a viral moment, he claims that “THUG” also means “Truly humble under God.” He further claims that “pushin P” stands for “pushing positivity” and that YSL is named after Yves Saint Laurent.
Steel has denied most of his remarks, refuting the more serious accusation that Young Thug was involved in the murder of Donovan Thomas, Jr. Steel addressed the claim that a car used in the killing was rented in Young Thug's name, explaining that the rapper often rented cars to friends in need. Steel says that, prior to the alleged murder, Kenneth Copeland contacted Thug for help. The answer to the call, he says, was the extent of Thug's involvement.
December 10, 2023
Young Thug's co-defendant Shannon Stillwell is stabbed in jail. He survives injuries to his back, stomach and shoulder. Fellow inmate Willie Brown admits to the knife, saying he took the knife from Stillwell after he entered his cell. The trial is adjourned until the new year.
January 3, 2024
YSL member Trontavious Stephens is taking 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 grew out of the Raised on Cleveland street gang, but says it was created as “a record label — the music happened first.”
February 20, 2024
The prosecution plays a 911 call from an unnamed 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 was Young Thug, whoever he was supposed to be,” he says in the call.
April 4, 2024
Judge rejects a request by Young Thug's lawyers to remove lead prosecutor Adriane Love from the case. Brian Steele had confronted her interrogators with a series of “It's not true what you told me” type questions. She says the rhetoric makes her an unsworn witness who should be questioned on the stand.
April 8, 2024
More allegations of wrongdoing by the prosecution. Jurors are shown text messages that a prosecutor, Rashid Hamilton, sent to a witness identified as A. Bennett, who took the lead in March. One message reads: “Hit me if you get bored later. We won't talk about a shop.” Bennett testified that Hamilton had said he wanted to date her and called her “mom” several times. No subsequent action against Hamilton was reported.
July 1, 2024
The trial has been halted indefinitely as several defense attorneys complain that Judge Ural Glanville held inappropriate private meetings with prosecutors and an uncooperative witness. The witness, Kenneth Copeland, also known as rapper Lil Woody, had refused to testify and was held in contempt of court. The meetings were held without the knowledge of the defense lawyers, but when Steel found out and reported it in court, he too was held in contempt for refusing to reveal his source. He received a 20-day jail sentence that was soon overturned. Glanville subsequently released a full transcript of the meeting.
July 15, 2024
Judge Ural Glanville recuses himself. Judge Rachel Krause, who ruled on the discharge, wrote that while the ex parte meeting was not improper, the discharge was important to maintain “public confidence in the judicial system.” A separate motion seeks to exempt Krause herself from deciding the impeachment because of a $2,000 campaign donation she received from Glanville. Krause denies this move.
July 17, 2024
Judge Ural Glanville's replacement, Judge Shukura Ingram, who was randomly assigned to the case, is herself disqualified because her former trial judge had a romantic relationship with Christian Eppinger, one of Young Thug's co-defendants.
August 12, 2024
The trial continues with Judge Paige Reese Whitaker in her place. Cowland, a key witness, resumes his testimony but answers most questions “I don't remember.”
October 23, 2024
Court is adjourned after Slimelife rapper Shawty read an Instagram post with the hashtag “#FreeQua” — which the state should have deleted from its form — during his testimony. Since the hashtag could bias jurors by implying that Quamarvious Nichols, one of Young Thug's co-defendants, was in prison, Nichols' lawyers are proposing a mistrial. Another defendant who goes by Qua, Marquavius Huey, also pleads guilty. Judge Whitaker criticizes the prosecutors for a series of mistakes of which this is only the latest. “What I'm trying to do is correct your sloppiness so everybody hasn't wasted, you know, 10, 12 months of their lives on this trial,” Whitaker tells prosecutors. “I'm sorry that you have, you know, this giant, huge universe of evidence that maybe if you narrowed down, you wouldn't make these kinds of mistakes.”
October 29, 2024
After the state's blunder, Quamarvious Nichols takes a plea deal. All but one of the charges against him, including the murder charge, are dismissed, provided he pleads guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge. This includes admitting his involvement in the possession and distribution of drugs, but Nichols adamantly denies any involvement in the violence. Nichols will serve seven years of a 20-year sentence, adjusted for time served, with the balance of 13 years to be served on probation. The other Qua, Marquavius Huey, also took a plea deal. And yet another defendant, Rodalius Ryan, aka Lil Rod, takes a plea deal and receives a 10-year sentence commuted to time served. He will now fight a separate charge of murder in Georgia Supreme Court.
