Trial for Young Thug, others could last up to 1 year, prosecutor estimates
ATLANTA - Attorneys prosecuting the racketeering case against Young Thug and several other people asked the Fulton County Judge overseeing the trial to provide a broad estimate of the timeline to potential jurors.
On Thursday, attorneys for both sides were discussing jury selection topics with Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville. Given the number of witnesses and defendants in the case, Glanville estimated the trial could last six to nine months.
The judge said the low end of the range was double the estimate prosecutors provided him, three months, and the upper end was based on the time it took Fulton County to prosecute a cheating scandal in Atlanta Public Schools, another RICO Act case.
Some defendants named in the initial indictment have accepted plea agreements.
Rapper Gunna out of jail after pleading guilty in RICO case
Rapper Gunna walked out of the Fulton County Jail after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge. Authorities arrested him and fellow rapper Young Thug along with more than two dozen others earlier this year. Gunna's guilty plea does not necessarily mean he's admitting guilt.
"Given the fact that you have resolved some, do you wish to re-evaluate that?" Glanville said. "You told me to begin with 300 witnesses."
RAPPER YOUNG THUGS' RICO ACT CHARGES EXPLAINED
A Fulton County prosecutor responded that estimating could last six to twelve (months) would be a "safer path" when it comes to jury selection.
"You're going to lose a number of people that cannot be jurors for that amount of time, so I'd like to give them a realistic range," Glanville said.
Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, and 27 other people were indicted in May using Georgia’s RICO Act. The indictment claims they are part of a street gang known as Young Slime Life or YSL. There are weapons charges against Williams, but others named in the indictment face murder and drug charges.
Attorneys for Williams and other defendants claim YSL is not a gang and artistic expression does not imply they are complicit in criminal activity.
Fulton County court officials say the new trial date is set to begin in January 2023. That was after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the court to delay the trial until March to buy time for some defendants who did not have attorneys yet.
Glanville and attorneys have spent the past few days inside a courtroom as both sides question people proposed as witnesses during the trial. Defense attorneys have objected to several witnesses that the state deemed "experts."