It’s a very complicated situation, the temptation will always be there. There’s a reason why he kept these fools around him, he loved being in charge and praised daily
Young Thug RICO Case Thread Tracking
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O.T.I.S.
Veteran
They weren’t around him like that, thats the point.
Thug wasn’t around for most of this shyt and they could barely prove he was
They didn’t even know if they had Thugs real cellphone number when they were doing wiretaps and cellphone pings
State was trying to get anyone to testify against him, giving them deals to rat and they couldn’t really.. he wasn’t there
They were just being honest.. especially Woody who embarrassed them up there. Some of the crimes they brought up some cats were already serving the time, served it, or dead. 10 plus years of wasted time. YSL had just popped up when most of this went down. Young Thug is a grammy winning artist now… if he was this crime kingpin, state definitely didn't prove it and some of them nikkas don’t even fukk with each other like that no more
Born2BKing
Veteran
Jurors are speaking out now and saying Thug would have been acquitted. 
Atlanta rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, appears in court for his ongoing gang and racketeering trial at Fulton County Courthouse on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. (Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)
By Jozsef Papp and Shaddi Abusaid
3 hours ago
If Young Thug hadn’t pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges on Halloween night, the rap superstar might have walked free, two jurors said after the lengthy trial ended this week.
The trial, the longest in Georgia history, concluded Tuesday as the two remaining defendants were acquitted of murder, gang and racketeering charges. The jury found Deamonte Kendrick not guilty of all the charges he faced, while Shannon Stillwell was convicted of one count of possessing a gun as a felon and sentenced to probation.
The last two defendants in Atlanta’s long-running YSL trial have been found not guilty of racketeering, murder and gang-related charges.
The single guilty verdict was a blow to Fulton County prosecutors, who spent more than a year arguing “Young Slime Life” was a violent gang led by the Grammy-winning rapper. YSL, they contended, was responsible for a series of robberies, shootings and the deaths of three rival gang members.
In a press conference announcing the indictment in May 2022, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she would seek the maximum penalties for the 28 defendants charged, alleging gangs are responsible for “75 to 80% of all of the violent crime” in Fulton County.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Atlanta rapper Young Thug looks at the key witness Antonio Sledge entering the courtroom during the YSL trial at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 4., 2024. (Miguel Martinez / AJC)
But two jurors said Tuesday that the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly when it came to the evidence against Young Thug. The Atlanta rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was sentenced to 15 years of probation and banished from his hometown for a decade after pleading guilty.
“From my perspective, I think he had a great shot of going home,” Juror No. 71 said in a phone interview. “A lot of time, we sat there waiting on that smoking gun. At that point, there wasn’t a smoking gun.”
ExploreYoung Thug leaves jail after getting probation in lengthy Atlanta gang and RICO case
Juror No. 71 said he doesn’t know if prosecutors had additional evidence to present against Williams. But at the time Young Thug pleaded guilty, there wasn’t enough for a conviction, he said. Citing concerns for his safety, the juror, whose first name is Kevin, asked not to be fully identified. Other jurors declined to be interviewed after they were released from jury duty.
Jury foreman Jason Collins told Channel 2 Action News he didn’t feel the state had presented enough evidence to convict the rapper, either.
“From what I was looking at, I did not see anything connected to him throughout the course of the case,” he said.
Jury selection started in January 2023 and lasted 10 months. The trial itself took more than a year and was marred by repeated delays and the replacement of the judge midway through.
In the end, the jury was ready to go home.
“It was extremely long,” Collins told Channel 2. “You pretty much put your whole life on the side.”
Credit: File photos
Shannon Stillwell, left, and Deamonte Kendrick, right, during proceedings in the YSL trial. Photos: Arvin Temkar and Miguel Martinez-Jimenez, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Prosecutors argued at trial that YSL members regularly rapped about crimes they had committed. Kevin said he wasn’t swayed by the state’s use of lyrics as evidence. He grew up in Chicago and said plenty of people rap about violence.
“If that’s the case, come lock up my nephews and my cousins’ kids. Come lock up my whole neighborhood,” he said.
Kevin also said he thought the state’s evidence was lacking when it came to the shooting deaths of Donovan Thomas and Shymel Drinks.
ExploreRemaining Young Thug defendants acquitted of murder, gang charges, ending Georgia’s longest trial
For one thing, the juror said, he felt the witness who placed Stillwell and Kendrick at the scene of Thomas’ shooting was unreliable, especially after that witness, Kenneth Copeland, admitted he had lied to investigators to keep himself out of trouble.
“Everything to me was a torn up picture they were trying to tape back together,” he said of the state’s case. “You try to make it whole, but you are missing some pieces.”
The 26-year-old Thomas was gunned down outside an Atlanta barbershop, and prosecutors argued the car used in the drive-by had been rented by Young Thug. But Kevin said there simply wasn’t enough evidence to convict the two defendants of murder.
”(Copeland) placed them there and then the state didn’t back it up with the phone records,” he said. “They had everybody else’s phone records except for Kendrick and Stillwell.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker speaks with a prosecutor during the YSL trial at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Monday, December 2, 2024. The longest trial in Georgia's history ended Tuesday with a verdict. (Miguel Martinez / AJC)
Regarding the fatal shooting of Drinks at a red light in March 2022, Kevin said the grainy surveillance video presented by the prosecution wasn’t enough to find Stillwell guilty of murder either.
“We never saw the shots. We never saw the flashes,” he said.
Kevin described serving on the jury as a nice change of pace from his regular job, where he clocks plenty of overtime hours each week. There were enough breaks in proceedings that he could schedule doctor appointments, but he said he couldn’t travel back and forth to Illinois to visit his relatives.
Jury service wasn’t as easy for others, Kevin acknowledged, saying some jurors essentially put their lives on hold to attend trial each day.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys met with the jury after the verdict was delivered Tuesday morning. But Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love wasn’t there, Kevin said.
ExploreYoung Thug trial: Who’s who and what are they charged with
The juror said he thought the lead prosecutor took things personally at times during the trial, especially during closing arguments.
Kevin said he may keep in touch with some of the other jurors, but acknowledged that they’re from different walks of life and said it’s hard to imagine them getting together much.
YSL juror: ‘There wasn’t a smoking gun’
Young Thug might have been acquitted had he not pleaded guilty, jurors sayAtlanta rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, appears in court for his ongoing gang and racketeering trial at Fulton County Courthouse on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. (Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)
By Jozsef Papp and Shaddi Abusaid
3 hours ago
If Young Thug hadn’t pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges on Halloween night, the rap superstar might have walked free, two jurors said after the lengthy trial ended this week.
The trial, the longest in Georgia history, concluded Tuesday as the two remaining defendants were acquitted of murder, gang and racketeering charges. The jury found Deamonte Kendrick not guilty of all the charges he faced, while Shannon Stillwell was convicted of one count of possessing a gun as a felon and sentenced to probation.
The last two defendants in Atlanta’s long-running YSL trial have been found not guilty of racketeering, murder and gang-related charges.
The single guilty verdict was a blow to Fulton County prosecutors, who spent more than a year arguing “Young Slime Life” was a violent gang led by the Grammy-winning rapper. YSL, they contended, was responsible for a series of robberies, shootings and the deaths of three rival gang members.
In a press conference announcing the indictment in May 2022, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she would seek the maximum penalties for the 28 defendants charged, alleging gangs are responsible for “75 to 80% of all of the violent crime” in Fulton County.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Atlanta rapper Young Thug looks at the key witness Antonio Sledge entering the courtroom during the YSL trial at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 4., 2024. (Miguel Martinez / AJC)
But two jurors said Tuesday that the state failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, particularly when it came to the evidence against Young Thug. The Atlanta rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was sentenced to 15 years of probation and banished from his hometown for a decade after pleading guilty.
“From my perspective, I think he had a great shot of going home,” Juror No. 71 said in a phone interview. “A lot of time, we sat there waiting on that smoking gun. At that point, there wasn’t a smoking gun.”
ExploreYoung Thug leaves jail after getting probation in lengthy Atlanta gang and RICO case
Juror No. 71 said he doesn’t know if prosecutors had additional evidence to present against Williams. But at the time Young Thug pleaded guilty, there wasn’t enough for a conviction, he said. Citing concerns for his safety, the juror, whose first name is Kevin, asked not to be fully identified. Other jurors declined to be interviewed after they were released from jury duty.
Jury foreman Jason Collins told Channel 2 Action News he didn’t feel the state had presented enough evidence to convict the rapper, either.
“From what I was looking at, I did not see anything connected to him throughout the course of the case,” he said.
Jury selection started in January 2023 and lasted 10 months. The trial itself took more than a year and was marred by repeated delays and the replacement of the judge midway through.
In the end, the jury was ready to go home.
“It was extremely long,” Collins told Channel 2. “You pretty much put your whole life on the side.”
Credit: File photos
Shannon Stillwell, left, and Deamonte Kendrick, right, during proceedings in the YSL trial. Photos: Arvin Temkar and Miguel Martinez-Jimenez, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Prosecutors argued at trial that YSL members regularly rapped about crimes they had committed. Kevin said he wasn’t swayed by the state’s use of lyrics as evidence. He grew up in Chicago and said plenty of people rap about violence.
“If that’s the case, come lock up my nephews and my cousins’ kids. Come lock up my whole neighborhood,” he said.
Kevin also said he thought the state’s evidence was lacking when it came to the shooting deaths of Donovan Thomas and Shymel Drinks.
ExploreRemaining Young Thug defendants acquitted of murder, gang charges, ending Georgia’s longest trial
For one thing, the juror said, he felt the witness who placed Stillwell and Kendrick at the scene of Thomas’ shooting was unreliable, especially after that witness, Kenneth Copeland, admitted he had lied to investigators to keep himself out of trouble.
“Everything to me was a torn up picture they were trying to tape back together,” he said of the state’s case. “You try to make it whole, but you are missing some pieces.”
The 26-year-old Thomas was gunned down outside an Atlanta barbershop, and prosecutors argued the car used in the drive-by had been rented by Young Thug. But Kevin said there simply wasn’t enough evidence to convict the two defendants of murder.
”(Copeland) placed them there and then the state didn’t back it up with the phone records,” he said. “They had everybody else’s phone records except for Kendrick and Stillwell.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker speaks with a prosecutor during the YSL trial at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Monday, December 2, 2024. The longest trial in Georgia's history ended Tuesday with a verdict. (Miguel Martinez / AJC)
Regarding the fatal shooting of Drinks at a red light in March 2022, Kevin said the grainy surveillance video presented by the prosecution wasn’t enough to find Stillwell guilty of murder either.
“We never saw the shots. We never saw the flashes,” he said.
Kevin described serving on the jury as a nice change of pace from his regular job, where he clocks plenty of overtime hours each week. There were enough breaks in proceedings that he could schedule doctor appointments, but he said he couldn’t travel back and forth to Illinois to visit his relatives.
Jury service wasn’t as easy for others, Kevin acknowledged, saying some jurors essentially put their lives on hold to attend trial each day.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys met with the jury after the verdict was delivered Tuesday morning. But Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love wasn’t there, Kevin said.
ExploreYoung Thug trial: Who’s who and what are they charged with
The juror said he thought the lead prosecutor took things personally at times during the trial, especially during closing arguments.
Kevin said he may keep in touch with some of the other jurors, but acknowledged that they’re from different walks of life and said it’s hard to imagine them getting together much.
