Day 1 Of Young Thug Rico Trial: Everything You Need To Know
The YSL RICO trial of Young Thug, which has been long-awaited, finally began with opening statements on Monday (Nov. 27) and the trial is scheduled to officially start this week. The rapper, whose birth name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, is facing charges of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and gang laws, among other things. He was indicted last year along with more than 24 other people. He will stand trial with five of them.
Thug and his five co-defendants are charged with conspiring to murder, armed robbery, and participating in criminal street gang activity. Fulton County, Ga. prosecutors have alleged that YSL is a cover for a violent street gang that has reportedly wreaked havoc on Atlanta for over 10 years. Thug is said to be the leader of the YSL organization, which stands for Young Stoner Life.
The jury was selected in mid-November after 10 months of deliberating, and it consists of 12 people. Seven Black women, two White women, two Black men, and one White man will determine Thug’s fate. The trial is expected to take up to a year, so as things get started, here are the biggest takeaways from the first day.
The first notable event happened before opening statements, with Judge Glanville mentioning that his dog moving around the courtroom might distract the jury.
“Here behind me is this ball that starts jingling,” the judge said. “and if you hear a jingling sound like a bell, please don’t think that I’m doing anything creepy up here, alright? I have a service dog behind me. His name is Jack. I think some of you may have seen him already. He lives the best life ever. He’s pampered, he’s a Labrador Retriever and he’s about two and a half, three years old at this point in time.”
He continued, “If you hear that bell, that’s him moving around. He doesn’t bark. He rarely gets interested in what’s going on so he might come up here and look but that’s about it. Don’t bring him any food either, okay? He is spoiled rotten. Please don’t try to throw him any food back here behind me or anything like that. He doesn’t need anything else.”
One of the 12 jurors of the YSL trial arrived late to the first day of proceedings because of car trouble, and the trial was delayed by over an hour as a result. Judge Glanville Scolds Both Defense and Prosecution for Use of PowerPoints Glanville became angry early on during opening statements and accused both the Defense and the State of not following his instructions in regards
“OK, here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m excluding the PowerPoints. Y’all are just gonna have to make this thing up the whole way. You’re gonna have to make an opening statement. No PowerPoints. Let’s bring our jury in.”
He continued, “No PowerPoints because you didn’t do what I told you to do, and that was to exchange PowerPoints. We have wasted almost two hours trying to get this stuff done. My orders to you are not aspirational. They’re given for a reason, and when you don’t follow them, then I have a way to remedy that.” Defense Tries to Get Trial Dismissed The defense attempted to get the trial dismissed early on during the proceedings on Monday. Judge Glanville was outraged that the prosecution didn’t share all the slides they planned to say during their opening statements, and the defense asked to have the trial thrown out. However, Judge Glanville didn’t give in and said the trial would go on.
After Judge Glanville ruled on Nov. 9 that song lyrics could be used by the prosecution against Thugga, Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love followed through on that promise on Monday. She showed the lyrics on the screen and told jurors that, “law enforcement didn’t chase the lyrics to solve the murders. Law enforcement chased the murders and found the lyrics.” “Take this st to muthafkin trial,” “I rep my life for real,” and “pay for that casket that’s just if we whack 'em,”