Drug exchange in courtroom On January 18, 2023, an alleged drug exchange took place in the courtroom between Thug and YSL co-defendant Kahlieff Adams, in which the latter received new charges after deputies found him in possession of the drugs
Percocet, marijuana, tobacco, and other contraband. On May 11, Thug was briefly hospitalized after falling ill during a court hearing. On June 16, Gunna released his fourth studio album,
A Gift & a Curse, in which he maintained his innocence and denied the "snitching" allegations against him. Exactly a week later, Thug's third studio album,
Business Is Business, was released while he was in prison.
Admission of song lyrics On November 9, Glanville ruled that song lyrics by defendants were allowed to be used as
evidence. He explained his reasoning as he felt that using them is not an attack on
free speech, saying that "they're not prosecuting your clients because of the songs they wrote" and "they're using the songs to prove other things your clients may have been involved in". The trial began on November 27, with the six defendants being Thug, fellow rapper and label signee Yak Gotti (real name Deamonte Kendrick), Lil Rod (real name Rodalius Ryan), Qua (real name Marquavius Huey), SB (real name Shannon Stillwell), and Quamarvious Nichols. Thug's lawyer,
Brian Steel, explained that the "Thug" in the rapper's name stood for "Truly Humble Under God", in reference to his client's supposed goals of breaking his community out of poverty, in the courtroom the following day. Additionally, Steel claimed that the name of the rapper's record label, "YSL", in fact stands for "Yves Saint Laurent", in reference to the fashion styles of the group. Steel also claimed that "Pushin P", a street term and name of a song Young Thug was featured on, in fact means "Pushing Positivity." On December 10, SB was stabbed in jail after a fellow inmate named Willie Brown entered his cell. The inmate claimed that SB tried to attack him with a knife and that the stabbing was an act of
self-defense.
Arrest of defense attorney On January 3, 2024, YSL co-defendant Trontavious Stephens identified himself, Thug, and Walter Murphy as the founders of the record label, claiming that it was solely music-related and not a criminal street gang. On February 16, YSL defense attorney Nicole Fegan, who represented former co-defendant Tenquarius Mender in the case, was arrested on charges of participating in criminal street gang activity and
evidence tampering. Four days later, a recording of an anonymous woman calling police played in the courtroom, where she identified Thug as the gunman in a shooting, saying: "They came to my house and told me that the guy who shot somebody's name was Young Thug, whoever that's supposed to be". On April 4, Steel filed a motion for lead prosecutor Adriane Love to be removed from the trial as he felt that she was essentially acting as an unsworn witness in order to coerce defendants into admitting to wrongdoing, which Glanville denied. Steel asked Glanville why he was not told about the meeting, in response to which Glanville asked him to reveal who told him this information. Steel refused to reveal his source of information, citing the
common law doctrine
attorney–client privilege as a reason to not tell Glanville. Glanville disagreed with that assessment and had Steel taken into custody. Nearly an hour later, Steel was brought back into the courtroom and still declined to answer Glanville's question. Glanville then held him in
contempt of court and sentenced him to 10 weekends in jail, which would have started on June 14 and ended on August 18. Steel filed a motion on the same day to appeal the ruling, which was granted and approved.
Judge Glanville recused On June 18, 2024, Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel filed a motion to recuse Judge Ural Glanville, claiming that the judge was "acting unethical" and had "morphed" into the role of prosecutor. Additionally, attorney Douglas S. Weinstein, representing another defendant, also filed a motion for recusal, arguing that the judge’s actions had undermined public confidence in the case. The motions stemmed from a June 7, 2024, ex parte meeting between Judge Glanville, prosecutors, and a key witness, Kenneth Copeland, which the defense argued was improper. Judge Glanville initially denied the recusal motions on June 18, 2024, but the trial was paused on July 1, 2024, to allow another judge to rule on the issue. On July 15, 2024, Judge Rachel Krause ruled that Judge Glanville had erred by not sending the recusal motion to a higher court. She granted the recusal motion from Steel and Weinstein to preserve public confidence in the judicial process and removed Glanville from the case. She denied a similar motion from attorney Kayla Bumpus, however, stating it was “moot.”
Replacement judge recuses herself The trial then resumed under the direction of Shukura L. Ingram, who recused herself three days later due to "an improper relationship between a defendant and one of her former deputies" that caused a
conflict of interest that involved her.
Third judge assigned Paige Reese Whitaker was then assigned to the case and presided over it until it officially ended. On September 30, Whitaker chastised lead prosecutor Adriane Love due to her allegedly mishandling a witness, stating that she appeared to be "purposefully [hiding] the ball to the extent you possibly can, for as long as you possibly can[...] unless it's just that you are so unorganized that you are throwing this case together as you try it". This came after Love asked a witness to authenticate a document immediately after Whitaker had allowed her to show the document to the witness on the condition that the witness should not be asked to authenticate the document.
Verdicts on remaining defendants, end of trial On December3, 2024, the jury reached a verdict on the two remaining defendants Yak Gotti (Deamonte Kendrick) and SB (Shannon Stillwell). Kendrick was found not guilty on all counts. SB was found guilty only of gun possession (count64, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon) and was sentenced to 10years, which with credit for time served amounts to 2years to serve with the remaining eight years served on probation. The jury was then released and the trial ended. ==References==