Watch: YSL RICO Trial: Closing arguments to begin for 2 remaining defendants

Closing arguments set in YSL RICO Trial

The jury will be back in court on Monday to hear the closing arguments for the two remaining defendants in the YSL RICO trial.

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - After nearly a year of testimony and legal arguments, the YSL RICO trial is coming to a close.

Closing arguments for the trial, the longest trial in Georgia history, are set to begin on Monday morning at the Fulton County Courthouse.

The trial initially started with 27 defendants, but now only two remain: Deamonte Kendrick, also known as Yak Gotti, and Shannon Stillwell.

Prosecutors offered Kendrick and Stillwell plea deals, but both rejected the offers after over a week of negotiations. Last week, the two defendants told the judge they would not testify in their defense.

Both sides spent the remainder of the week debating procedural motions about the charges both men face and what instructions jurors should receive. The jury was sequestered during these talks but will be back in the courtroom for the closing arguments.

The trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. FOX 5 will stream the trial live on this story and the FOX 5 YouTube page.

Yak Gotti hopeful for verdict in YSL RICO trial

Taking to social media, Kendrick shared optimism about his release date after prosecutors dropped his drug possession and intent to distribute counts.

"See y'all by Christmas, God willing Thanksgiving," he wrote. "3 Charges dropped, Plus unlimited support."

Kendrick and Stillwell both still face murder and racketeering charges.

Previous YSL RICO plea deals and conflicts

Young Thug, the 33-year-old Atlanta-born Grammy winning artist whose given name is Jeffery Williams, pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges in October after negotiations with prosecutors broke down. That left the sentence up to Whitaker, who gave him a 40-year sentence that let him walk free on probation with hefty restrictions, including a ban from the metro Atlanta area for the first 10 years except for certain occasions.

The slow-moving trial has been fraught with problems from the start. Jury selection took nearly 10 months, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, the original judge, was removed from the case in July after defense attorneys filed a recusal motion based on a secretive meeting he held with prosecutors and a state witness.

Whitaker took over the case and often lost patience with prosecutors for what she once called "poor lawyering." She and defense attorneys scolded prosecutors for not sharing evidence in advance.

YSL juror complains twice about length of trial

A juror in the YSL RICO trial going on in Fulton County reportedly complained twice to the judge about the length of the trial and claimed that if they would be biased against prosecutors.

More than 175 witnesses testified throughout the trial. Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug and two others co-founded a violent criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they say is affiliated with the national Bloods gang.

At Young Thug’s plea hearing, defense attorney Brian Steel said that Young Thug was "falsely accused" and the evidence against him was weak. He also condemned the use of rap lyrics during the trial.

Steel said he thought they were winning the trial and wanted to stick it out to a jury verdict, but Young Thug wanted to go home to his family instead of sitting through the rest of the trial, which felt like "hell."

Nine people charged in the indictment, including Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Twelve others are to be tried separately. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.