After months of plodding, chaotic jury selection, rapper Jeffrey “Young Thug” Williams, 32, and five other co-defendants will stand trial in a wide-ranging racketeering case. You can watch court unfold in Fulton County, Georgia, in the player above.
Charges stem from Williams’ and the others’ alleged affiliation with the Young Slime Life gang. A total of 28 people faced a 56-count indictment. Nine of them took plea deals. This includes Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge. In exchange, he is expected to testify about a fatal drive-by shooting.
FILE — Young Thug attends a hearing on the YSL case in Atlanta on Dec. 22, 2022. Nearly 10 months after jury selection began, a panel of Georgia citizens was selected Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, for the trial of rapper Young Thug and several other people accused of participating in a criminal street gang responsible for violent crimes. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)
A prosecutor said in court that Sledge was a YSL associate since 2012, threatened a member of a rival gang, participated in a drive-by shooting, and knew that at least one YSL associate murdered victim Donovan Thomas Jr. on behalf of the gang. He and other members received money from Williams to lay low, a prosecutor said.
BREAKING: #YoungThug co-defendant Antonio Sledge will testify to and has signed statements about Young Thug and others knowledge and/or participation in murders, drive-by shootings, gang activity, drug sales and more. 3/4 WATCH: pic.twitter.com/b0Kh4DhKcF
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) December 28, 2022
Williams’ brother, Quantavious “Unfoonk” Grier, who is also a rapper, took a plea deal, but a judge determined he violated probation by possessing a gun, so he has to serve a nine-year, six-month prison sentence.
Jury selection in the YSL case plodded along for months, not only because of the number of people involved but because of various sorts of chaos. A defense attorney’s arrest. A potential juror risked jail time for calling a reporter covering the trial. An alleged “hand-to-hand drug transaction” happened in the middle of court.
Jurors will finally see the case after all this time.
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