Young Thug’s lengthy and embattled trial on racketeering conspiracy charges took a dramatic turn Thursday when defense teams were called in to meet privately with prosecutors to discuss possible new plea deals while the judge on the case took a backseat and withheld her ruling on a pending mistrial motion.
A source tells Rolling Stone that the meetings were moving ahead “defendant by defendant.” Thousands of trial watchers were tuned in to the trial’s livestream, hoping Judge Paige Reese Whitaker would take the bench at some point and give an update. Word eventually spread that the trial’s return date was pushed to Monday, the source said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what new terms, if any, prosecutors were willing to discuss with the lawyers for Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, and his five co-defendants: Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, Rodalius Ryan, Marquavius Huey, Shannon Stillwell, and Quamarvious Nichols. The six men are accused of being members of a street gang called Young Slime Life that allegedly terrorized Fulton County with drug sales, armed robberies, shootings, and at least three murders. They have pleaded not guilty. Williams already has been in custody more than two years following his arrest in May 2022.
The new closed-door meetings Thursday followed after Judge Whitaker vented more frustration with prosecutors a day earlier. During live testimony Wednesday, rapper Wunnie “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee, a former defendant in the case who took a plea deal, read aloud to the jury a portion of an Instagram caption that was supposed to be redacted. The redaction was a hashtag that read “Free Qua.” As soon as Lee read the hashtag aloud, there was an audible reaction in the courtroom, captured by the livestream provided daily by Law&Crime.
Defense lawyers previously won the right to have “Free Qua” excluded because they argued it might be prejudicial, suggesting to jurors that one of the defendants previously was in custody for a different alleged crime. Prosecutors said it wasn’t clear who the “Quay” in the hashtag referenced, but lawyers for Williams’ co-defendants Marquavius Huey and Quamarvious Nichols both asked for a mistrial.
“We’re not going to be able to un-ring this bell,” Nichols’ lawyer Nicole Westmoreland said, adding that it wasn’t the first time jurors had heard something that was supposed to be off limits regarding her client. Judge Whitaker, who scolded prosecutors last month for the alleged mishandling of a different witness, said Wednesday that she considered the incident with Lee “sloppy” but also a “mistake.” She said if she granted a mistrial, it would be “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors could return and put each defendant on trial again.
“I do not believe they are purposefully trying to insert error to this trial,” the judge said Wednesday before she turned to prosecutors and scolded them for not narrowing down their “ginormous universe of evidence” to avoid so many missteps.
“Would you like a mistrial without prejudice?” Judge Whitaker then asked Westmoreland. The lawyer said she would. Under the rules of the current RICO trial, all the defendants are grandfathered into such motions unless they specifically opt out.
Deputy District Attorney Simone Hylton tried to argue Wednesday that there were “multiple Quays” involved in the case – either as co-defendants or third parties – so it wasn’t clear which one the hashtag even referenced. The judge said she still considered the issue a problem and wanted the parties to come to an agreement on an instruction she could give jurors to address what happened.
“What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness, so that everybody won’t have wasted 10, 12 months of their lives in this trial,” Judge Whitaker responded. “Do it now,” she instructed Hylton, regarding the crafting of a proposed instruction.
“Plea negotiations are ongoing, and it appears that the judge is taking the motion for mistrial under advisement,” Kendrick’s lawyer Doug Weinstein told Rolling Stone in a phone interview Thursday. He went on to say he believes the defense deserved a mistrial with prejudice over what happened Wednesday.
“How many ‘mistakes’ can you give prosecutors before you make the determination they’re no longer a mistake? They’ve made dozens of mistakes and been given the benefit of the doubt throughout. At some point, there’s a limit to how many curative jury instructions you can give before they cease to have any effect. There can be too many that jurors have to juggle in their head as they go over a year and a half of testimony. It’s not practical,” he said.
The current trial started with jury selection in January 2023 and had opening statements last November, making it the longest in Georgia state history. It previously saw a prior judge’s recusal from the case against his will, multiple allegations of prosecutorial misconduct lodged by defense lawyers, and highly contentious testimony from Kenneth “Woody” Copeland, a key state witness whose robotic “I don’t recall” answers on the witness stand became a popular meme.
Williams was charged alongside 27 other co-defendants in a massive 65-count indictment. Nine defendants, including Leed, took plea deals, and 12 defendants were severed from the current trial.
Williams’ lawyer, Brian Steel, has called the prosecution “unconscionable” and an authoritarian absurdity. He alleges Copeland is responsible for one of the murders in the indictment. Copeland has not been charged in the case and was granted immunity to testify. Steel, meanwhile, was held in contempt after he complained about a secret meeting prosecutors held with Copeland that excluded the defense. The contempt order was overturned on appeal.
When Judge Whitaker assumed the helm of the trial in July, she said her plan was to move forward “efficiently and expeditiously” after prior setbacks. At that point, around 70 witnesses already had testified. Prosecutors still have dozens more on their list. If the trial proceeds, it’s expected to last through the end of the year.