Young Thug case: Two years in, prosecution seeks gag order
The new judge presiding over Young Thug’s sprawling gang and racketeering trial has several important rulings to make if the case is to proceed after a one-month hiatus.
Attorneys for four of the six defendants have requested mistrials in recent days, and Fulton County prosecutors are seeking a gag order that would prohibit defense counsel from speaking to the media about the case.
The state’s request comes more than two years after the rapper was indicted more than 19 months after jury selection began. Since then, many of the attorneys have weighed-in publicly on the pace and substance of the prosecution’s case.
Now, the state wants that stopped.
“The statements include among other things the attorneys’ views and opinions about the case itself, opposing counsel, the (now former) judge, the jury, the outcome, and the guilt or innocence of specific defendants,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love wrote.
Going forward, prosecutors want Judge Paige Whitaker to instruct the defense “to refrain from making extrajudicial statements about this case.”
Attorney Doug Weinstein, who represents Deamonte Kendrick, said the prosecution’s effort to prevent lawyers from speaking to the media is “completely without merit.”
“Unless the judge tells me otherwise, I’m going to continue speaking out about what’s happening in this case,” he said Wednesday.
Here’s a look at some of the other pending motions in the case:
(Note: There is an agreement among attorneys and the court that a motion filed by one attorney applies to all defendants, unless they specifically opt out.)
Motions for a mistrial - Young Thug, Deamonte Kendrick, Shannon Stillwell, Quamarvious Nichols
- Attorneys for Young Thug, Kendrick and Stillwell each filed a motion for a mistrial, as long as the case can’t be retried. They said the actions of prosecutors and previous presiding Judge Ural Glanville caused them to seek a mistrial after they failed to protect their clients’ constitutional rights.
- Nichols’ attorneys also want their client severed from the case.
Motions for bond - Young Thug, Deamonte Kendrick, Marquavius Huey
- All three defendants are requesting bond. They say their clients are not a flight risk and will not intimidate witnesses or commit felonies if released from jail.
- Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, has been in jail since his May 9, 2022, arrest. His attorney, Brian Steel, said if bond is granted, his client agrees to remain on house arrest for the remainder of the trial. He is willing to wear an ankle monitor and have an off-duty law enforcement officer watch him at home.
Motion to disqualify prosecutors Love and Hylton - Young Thug
- Steel said prosecutors Love and Simone Hylton have become witnesses in the case due to text messages Love sent a witness and the secret June 10 meeting inside Glanville’s chambers with prosecutors and key state witness Kenneth Copeland.
Motion to strike proceedings from the record - Young Thug
- Steel argues that all testimony and everything that happened in front of the jury after June 12, the day that Weinstein asked Judge Glanville to recuse, must be stricken from the record.
Motion challenging Judge Krause’s ruling on June 10 meeting - Young Thug
- Steel argues that Judge Rachel Krause’s ruling that the secret June 10 meeting between prosecutors, Glanville and Copeland was not improper is wrong. He contends “there was no lawful reason for this ex parte get together.”
- Prosecutors maintain that there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting.
Motion to restrict extrajudicial statements - Fulton DA
- Prosecutors seek to prevent defense attorneys from speaking to the media for the remainder of the trial.
The only defendant not to file recent motions is Rodalius Ryan, who is already serving a life sentence for the 2019 murder of Jamari Holmes.
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