FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking to hold a trial early next year for the last five defendants who were originally indicted along with Atlanta rapper Young Thug.
A final plea hearing for the five is set for Dec. 17 and Willis filed a motion Friday asking that a trial begin on Feb. 24. She estimates that a trial would last about three months.
A grand jury in May 2022 indicted 28 people, including Young Thug, and charged them with racketeering. The indictment said the rapper co-founded a violent street gang that committed multiple murders, shootings and carjackings over roughly a decade and promoted its activities in songs and on social media.
A trial for Young Thug, whose given name is Jeffery Williams, and five others began in November 2023 after it took nearly 10 months to seat a jury. The rapper and three other defendants pleaded guilty in October. Young Thug was freed on probation with a variety of conditions, including an order to stay away from the Atlanta area for a decade.
A jury on Tuesday found the two remaining defendants in the trial not guilty of racketeering, murder and gang-related charges, though one of them was convicted on a gun charge.
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YSL RICO trial: Verdict reached for 2 defendants
More than a year after opening statements, the long-running Young Slime Life racketeering case ended Tuesday with a verdict. Fulton County jurors spent more four days deliberating and eventually found the final two defendants not guilty of the most serious charges they faced Including murder.
Nine of the defendants, including the rapper Gunna, had accepted plea deals before the trial began, and prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.
That left a dozen defendants still facing charges after the trial. One pleaded guilty Wednesday after reaching a deal with prosecutors and prosecutors said the same day that they were dropping the charges against six others.
Remaining defendants in the YSL RICO case
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YSL RICO trial verdict: What happens next?
It might be the end for the state's longest-running court case, but the YSL RICO investigation is not yet over. Here's what happens now after Tuesday's verdict.
Charges against the five others indicted in 2022 remain pending. Here is who we believe are the remaining defendants:
Damekion Garlington (Dee or SXarefaxe)
- Charges: Conspiracy to violate RICO
- Attempted murder (Rashawn "YFN Lucci" Bennett inside Fulton County Jail)
- 2 counts of participation in criminal street gang activity
- Murder (2022 murder of Shymel Drinks)
- Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
Demise McMullen (Nard)
- Charges: Conspiracy to violate RICO
- Murder (2015 murder of Donovan Thomas Jr.)
Tenquarius Mender (Nard or Stunner)
- Charges: Conspiracy to violate RICO
- Possession of a weapon by an incarcerated individual
- Possession of a telecommunication device by an incarcerated individual
- Participation in criminal street gang activity
Jimmy Winfrey (Roscoe)
- Charges: Conspiracy to violate RICO
- Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act
- Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
- Participation in criminal street gang activity
Christian Eppinger (Bhris)
- Status: Serving time on previous charges.
- Charges: Conspiracy to violate RICO
- Armed robbery
- Hijacking a motor vehicle in the first degree
- 2 counts of possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer
- Theft by taking
- 2 counts of attempted murder
- 2 counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
- 3 counts of participation in criminal street gang activity
- Conspiracy to commit a crime
Miles Farley (Slato or Lil Miles)
- Status: Only defendant granted bond despite facing a murder charge.
- Charges: Conspiracy to violate RICO
- Murder
- 2 counts of participation in criminal street gang activity
- Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony