Young Thug/YSL Trial: Who is new judge assigned and what happens next?
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Judge Shukura Ingram has been appointed the new judge in the Young Thug/YSL massive racketeering case in Fulton County after Judge Ural Glanville was recused on Monday.
RELATED: Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville recused from Young Thug/YSL trial
Glanville was recused from the case after weeks of contention between the judge and defense attorneys. Motions for his recusal were filed after an ex parte meeting between the judge, prosecutors from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, and state witness Kenneth Copeland came to light.
Although the judge who reviewed the motions wrote in her decision that she believed Glanville could continue to preside "fairly" over the trial, the "necessity of preserving the public's confidence in the judicial system" weighed in favor of excusing Glanville from further handling of the case.
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Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, and his co-defendants were indicted in 2022. Following the longest jury selection in history (10 months), the trial got underway in November 2023. At 18 months and counting, it is the longest trial in Georgia history. The trial has been plagued by various disruptions, including illnesses, the arrests of a juror and lawyer, the stabbing of defendant Shannon Stillwell, and various other disruptions.
According to Judge Ingram's bio on Fulton County's website, she joined Fulton County Superior Court in 2018. She was appointed by former Gov. Nathan Deal after Judge Alford Dempsey Jr. resigned. Before that, she was a magistrate court judge from 2015 to 2017. And before that, she was an assistant district attorney for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and an assistant solicitor for Atlanta's City Court.
While in private practice, Ingram handled a variety of cases, including wrongful death, personal injury, medical malpractice, insurance defense, premises liability, and contract cases.
She is a member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, Georgia Association for Women Attorneys, past board chair of the Atlanta Board of Ethics, and past member of the Atlanta Judicial Commission.
She has also been involved with the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., The Links, Inc. (Buckhead/Cascade City chapter), It's My Birthday, Atlanta, Inc., the Arthur Blank Family Young YMCA, and the Enchanted Closet, Inc. Additionally, she is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta.
Ingram received a bachelor's degree from Clark Atlanta University and her Juris Doctor from Georgia State University.
Ingram's current term ends in December; however, she was re-elected in May.
June 17 was the last day that testimony was heard in the case. The trial was put on hold on the 100th day of the trial until the recusal motion could be heard.
At this time, the fate of the trial and its defendants is unknown. It is expected that the defense attorneys will file for a mistrial. The new judge will also have to decide if the trial should move forward and whether it should pick up where it left off or start over.