ATLANTA (AP) — The long-running gang and racketeering trial that led Atlanta rapper Young Thug to plead responsible in October ended on Tuesday with the final two defendants discovered not responsible of racketeering, homicide and gang-related costs.
Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was acquitted of all costs and Shannon Stillwell was discovered responsible solely of gun possession. The verdicts got here almost two years after jury choice started and a yr after opening statements in a trial plagued with issues.
The authentic, sweeping indictment used music lyrics and social media posts as proof and charged 28 individuals with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Young Thug, a Grammy-winning artist whose actual identify is Jeffery Williams, was let loose on probation after he pleaded responsible in October to gang, drug and gun costs.
Kendrick and Stillwell have been charged in a 2015 drive-by taking pictures exterior an Atlanta barbershop that killed Donovan Thomas Jr., also called “Big Nut,” who prosecutors mentioned was in a rival gang. Stillwell additionally was charged with fatally taking pictures Shymel Drinks at a pink gentle in 2022, allegedly in retaliation for the killings days earlier of two associates in a gang often called YSL, which prosecutors mentioned was co-founded by Young Thug.
Stillwell was sentenced to the 10-year most for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon beforehand convicted of a felony involving a gun, with credit score for the 2 years he already served and the stability to be served on probation.
Nine of the defendants, together with the rapper Gunna, accepted plea offers earlier than the trial started, and 4 extra pleaded responsible throughout the trial, in October. Charges towards 12 others stay pending. Prosecutors dropped costs towards one defendant after he was convicted of homicide in an unrelated case. That left Kendrick and Stillwell, each of whom have been stabbed whereas in jail — Stillwell final yr and Kendrick on Sunday.
Tuesday’s verdicts have been a significant setback for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Critics had criticized her use of the state’s anti-racketeering legislation, which she additionally used to carry costs towards President-elect Donald Trump for his makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
“We all the time respect the decision of a jury,” mentioned Jeff DiSantis, a spokesperson for Willis.
Defense attorneys mentioned the state relied on defective proof — music lyrics, cherry-picked social media posts and unreliable witness testimony — to create a deceptive narrative about younger males who turned to music to flee financial hardship and tough pasts.
The jury’s choice left Kendrick’s mother, Tasha Kendrick, in tears.
“I’m simply grateful for lots of issues proper now,” she mentioned. “My feelings are far and wide proper now.”
Prosecutors mentioned Williams and two others based Young Slime Life in affiliation with the nationwide Bloods gang in 2012. The 33-year-old artist additionally has a document label known as Young Stoner Life. Deamonte Kendrick is featured on two of the preferred songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial” and “Slatty,” in addition to Young Thug’s “Slime Sh-t,” which prosecutors introduced as proof.
Williams entered a dangerous “blind” plea — that means he pleaded responsible with out an settlement on his sentence — in October. Williams’ lawyer mentioned he felt like they have been profitable, however the rapper complained that sitting in court docket felt like “hell” and needed to go residence to his household. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker let him out of jail on probation with tight restrictions, together with a 10-year ban from metro Atlanta apart from sure events.
The trial shook Atlanta’s rap scene. Williams grew up in an Atlanta housing venture and have become a extremely profitable artist who added his personal melodic twist to the trendy Southern lure sound he helped popularize.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville was eliminated from the case in July after he met with prosecutors and a state witness with out protection attorneys current. Kendrick’s lawyer Doug Weinstein mentioned defendants obtained a “truthful trial” as soon as Whitaker took over. Among different issues, she reprimanded the prosecution for being disorganized and never sharing proof.
During closings, Stillwell’s protection lawyer Max Schardt sought to forged doubts on the gang investigators and different state witnesses. Several alleged YSL members testified they’d lied to police to remain out of jail. Schardt mentioned officers had threatened them with lengthy jail sentences in the event that they didn’t say the appropriate factor.
Prosecutors mentioned these witnesses have been trustworthy with police however lied on the stand, in entrance of the individuals they’d “snitched” on. They mentioned their statements have been corroborated by different proof corresponding to songs and social media posts the place they mentioned defendants have been “bragging about homicide.”
Prosecutors threw collectively lyrics, social media posts and irrelevant proof to “see what sticks,” Weinstein argued, however didn’t show they have been linked to a prison enterprise.
While defendants did commit crimes previously, Schardt mentioned throughout closings, it was to generate income for themselves in communities stripped of financial alternative — to not advance a gang. And music let a few of them transfer on.
“As a complete, we all know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt mentioned. “A tragic, tacit acceptance that it’s both rap, jail or dying.”
Both protection attorneys mentioned Kendrick and Stillwell produce other pending costs however hope to get them launched from jail as quickly as potential.
Stillwell will not be “blind to the truth that he’s getting a second likelihood at life,” Schardt mentioned.
Weinstein mentioned Kendrick, who’s shut buddies with Young Thug, was laser-focused on his music profession earlier than the state pulled him again into the prison justice system.
“I’m so glad that he can type of draw a line within the sand now,” Weinstein mentioned. “All of that is behind him. He can get on together with his life and never fear about this nonsense.”
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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
