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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis' office is being accused of sabotaging its own case against rapper Young Thug and 27 other alleged Young Slime Life (YSL) gang members.
In a motion for mistrial filed Tuesday, attorneys for co-defendant Deamonte Kendrick alleged that Willis' prosecutors intentionally held a private meeting with the judge presiding over the case to trigger a mistrial, a move that would allow the DA's office to hit "restart" on the prosecution.
At 18 months and counting, the YSL trial is the longest in Georgia's history. Willis indicted Young Thug (aka Jeffrey Williams), Kendrick and 26 others for gang-related crimes more than two years ago, citing Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Willis also used that law to indict former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants in Georgia's election interference case.
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"What is the State to do," Kendrick's lawyer, Douglas Weinstein, wrote in the mistrial motion. "Losing its case, apparently unconcerned about the need for public justice, the State clearly sought an opportunity to restart the trial by triggering an event in such egregious violation of the Constitutional rights of Kendrick that he would have no choice but to request a mistrial."
The filing went on: "Now, goaded by the State and the actions of Chief Judge [Ural] Glanville, Kendrick has no option but to move this Court for a mistrial to respect the Constitutional rights of Kendrick and not defeat the ends of public justice."
Newsweek reached out to Willis' office via email for comment.
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The motion comes a week after Glanville was removed from the case amid multiple motions for his recusal. Defense attorneys in the case had been filing motions for a mistrial for months, but Glanville's ex parte meeting with prosecutors and state witness Kenneth Copeland led to renewed calls for the judge to recuse himself.
"Rarely in the recent history of Fulton County Superior Court has one party had to impeach so many of its own witnesses," the filing said.
Brian Steel, the attorney for rapper Young Thug, revealed in court last month that the meeting had occurred in the judge's chambers without defense counsel's knowledge. When Steel raised the issue in court and openly accused Willis' office of witness tampering, the judge was angered and ordered Steel to reveal how he learned about what was said in the private meeting.
Steel refused to comply, prompting Glanville to sentence him to 20 days in jail for contempt. The sentence was later stayed by an appeals court.
Prosecutors argue that Williams is the kingpin of the YSL gang. His attorneys dispute those claims, arguing instead that YSL stands for his record label Young Stoner Life.
The case was thrown into limbo after Glanville announced earlier this month that he was pausing proceedings until a decision on his recusal was reached.
The case was reassigned to Judge Shukura Ingram after Glanville was removed, but Ingram then recused herself. The matter is now being overseen by Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, who told attorneys last Friday that she planned to move the case forward "efficiently and expeditiously."
Kendrick's attorneys, however, insisted Tuesday that Whitaker should declare a mistrial, writing that "now, this Court is tasked with unringing the bell."
"This Honorable Court is now faced with the unenviable and impossible task of
rewinding the case to the afternoon of June 12, 2024," the filing states.
"How is this Court to accomplish this impossible task? How does this Court take the jurors notes from these days from the jurors? How can the jury unhear days and days of testimony?" Kendrick's lawyers argued.
"This is not a matter of a witness uttering a single statement that a court instructs the jury to disregard," they continued. "It is neither feasible nor plausible that an instruction to disregard days of testimony can be followed."
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