Main image: Adrian Bean in Fulton County Superior Court on March 19, 2024. Inset right: Young Thug watches on in court. (Law&Crime Network)
A witness for the prosecution in the Young Slime Life (YSL) racketeering (RICO) trial told the judge he was so high he might just fall asleep while testifying in Fulton County criminal court on Tuesday.
Adrian Bean is one of the people the state have sought to use to establish that hip-hop recording artist Jeffery Williams, better known by his stage name Young Thug, was at the scene of a drive-by shooting that took the life of Donovan Thomas Jr. on Sept. 11, 2013.
Bean, however, has not offered particularly illuminating testimony in the case so far. Late last month, he explained that his memory of the shooting and concomitant car crash was nil to nonexistent because he was frequently on drugs throughout 2013. Prosecutors have alleged Bean, Thug, and one or two others were involved in the fatal incident.
Now, the forgetful witness is likely to have his reliability — if not his basic presence in the trial and what it means — questioned again.
“Man, umm,” Bean said on Tuesday — slowly leaning forward in the witness chair. “Can I get a water or something? I’m so high right now, y’all, I’m about to go to sleep on y’all now. I am.”
“I’m so high right now your honor, I’m about to go to sleep” – Adrian Bean just now on the stand. #YSL #YoungThug pic.twitter.com/MxHam9c262
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) March 19, 2024
An attorney then asked to approach the witness. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville allowed the lawyer to bring Bean a bottle of water and then allowed the testimony to continue.
The testimony was broadly a retread of Bean’s earlier time on the stand in late February. Then, prosecutors sought to establish that in the immediate aftermath of Thomas’ death, Bean, who was arrested that day, told investigators Thug was a “gang banger” and was specifically allied with the Bloods. The state also tried to elicit testimony from its witness that he told a detective Thug “ran away” from the shooting. The end result from all of that, however, was more of a question mark than anything — with Bean saying he was more or less addicted to “molly” at the time and could not recall anything.
When earlier questioned by the defense, Bean also had a memory lapse — denying any recollection of what was said during a January 2023 meeting with Thug’s lead defense attorney, Brian Steel. That bout of forgetfulness led Steel to accuse Bean of being untruthful.
On Tuesday, Steel again sought to pose questions about that meeting to the self-proclaimed under the influence witness.
The defense claims Bean had the screws put to him by police in an effort to implicate Thug in the drive-by shooting.
Audio of the January 2023 meeting was played in court for the witness to hear where he appeared to suggest exactly that.
“I’m not gonna lie on a brother,” Bean says in the recording. “You know what I mean? He wasn’t with us. Young Thug was not in the car with us that day. I don’t even know how his name really got mentioned. Maybe there was a lot of hype in the streets.”
After playing the clip, Steel repeatedly sought to establish that Bean previously told him Thug was not involved in the shooting.
Again, Bean offered various iterations of not being able to remember.
Thug/Williams and five other co-defendants — Shannon “SB” Stillwell, Marquavius “Qua” Huey, Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, Quamarvious “Qua” Nichols, and Rodalius “Lil Rod” Ryan — face a long trial after an 86-page RICO indictment was filed against 28 total defendants last spring. Since then, nine defendants have taken plea deals, including Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge and Williams’ brother Quantavious “Unfoonk” Grier. Others have had their cases separated.
The lead defendant is the purported leader of the YSL “gang.” He is charged with eight violations of Georgia’s homegrown RICO statute, and his remaining co-defendants are charged with various other crimes. Since their trials are being held together, however, each defendant has their own legal counsel who has the opportunity to lodge their own complaints and present unique defenses — resulting in the glacial pace of courtroom proceedings so far. Overall testimony in the case is anticipated to take at least half a year due to the sheer number of defendants, allegations, and defense attorneys involved.
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