But that meeting also got Judge Ural Glanville kicked off the case.
By Tim Darnell
Published: Jul. 24, 2024 at 1:37 PM EDT|Updated: Jul. 24, 2024 at 1:59 PM EDT
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Among the many decisions Young Thug’s new judge will make next week is whether a private meeting her predecessor held with prosecutors and a reluctant witness is grounds for a mistrial.
On Tuesday, Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love filed a response to the rapper’s attorneys objecting to Judge Ural Glanville’sJune 10, 2024, ex parte meeting,which ultimately led to his recusal.
That meeting included Love and another Fulton County prosecutor, star prosecution witness Kenneth Copeland (aka Woody or Lil’ Woody) and his stand-in attorney, Kayla Bumpus. The legal term ex parte, translated from Latin as “out of the party,” refers to a decision made by a judge without requiring all parties in a dispute to be present.
On June 7, 2024, Copeland himself was jailed for refusing to testify. Copeland is widely believed to have informed police of alleged crimes committed by Young Thug and the alleged YSL gang. By the following Monday, Copeland had changed his tune and agreed to testify.
Then Glanville ordered Young Thug attorney Brian Steel be held in contempt after Steel told Glanville, in open court, he had learned of the meeting, which was held without any other defense attorneys’ knowledge or forewarning. Glanville demanded to know how Steel had learned of that meeting, and Steel refused to disclose his source. That’s when Glanville ordered Steel arrested.
Glanville’s contempt ruling against Steel has since been suspended by the Supreme Court of Georgia. Glanville eventually released that meeting’s timeline and transcript. Glanville was eventually recused by Judge Rachel Krause.
On Tuesday, Love said defense attorneys had no legal right to be included in that June 10 meeting.
New YSL judge Paige Reese Whitaker has set aside all of next week to rule on numerous motions for mistrial and bond, some of which were filed within the last 24 hours.
Attorneys for Jeffery Williams — Young Thug’s real name — filed a new motion on July 23 requesting bond for their globally acclaimed superstar client. Attorneys for YSL co-defendants Donavan Thomas, Quamarvious Nichols and Deamonte Kendrick also filed motions for a mistrial.
Meanwhile, Fulton County prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday that would limit defense attorneys’ comments made to the media.
For months, defense attorneys for Young Thug and his remaining co-defendants have been making motions for a mistrial, claiming Glanville was biased against them and their efforts to prove Young Thug is not the head of a criminal gang known as YSL (Young Slime Life or Young Stoner’s Life).
Prosecutors, on the other hand, wanted Glanville to remain as judge, as evidenced by their responses to defense attorneys’ efforts.
Whitaker herself has also laid down some new rules for the sprawling organized crime-related trial, which has been plagued by arrests, delays, late starting times and other bizarre antics and shouting matches.
During a status hearing on July 19, Whitaker gently urged prosecutors and attorneys to maintain decorum. She also ruled that food and earbuds would not be allowed in her courtroom, where her hours are 8:45 a.m. until 5 p.m.
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“The little bit I have seen in this case definitely appears there have been times that tempers have flared a whole lot and people have been less than professional,” Whitaker said.
Williams was arrested on May 9, 2022, along with 27 other suspected gang members in Buckhead as part of a 56-count indictment. The trial’s jury selection lasted longer than any other in Georgia history, and actual witness testimony itself will likely surpass state records. Both records were set by the Atlanta Public Schools teacher scandal and trial of 2014-15.
The trial itself began on Nov. 27, 2023. Defense attorneys have repeatedly raised concerns that the trial could go on for years based on the number of witnesses the state plans to introduce.
During the hearing, Whitaker stressed the trial will be moving full speed ahead.
“This case has been going on for six months at least,” she said. “Obviously, I’m parachuting in and I’m going to pick up from here and move forward.”
Whitaker was assigned the trial only hours after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram recused herself, less than a day after she’d been assigned to it. Ingram had been assigned to the case after another Krause ruled Glanville should be recused.
Ingram said she could not preside over the trial because a former deputy assigned to her courtroom, Akeiba Koren Stanley, had allegedly had an inappropriate affair with Christian Eppinger. On June 8, 2023, Eppinger was severed from Young Thug’s original criminal proceeding.
Ingram wrote that Stanley had been assigned to her courtroom at the time of the alleged relationship.
Prosecutors are attempting to show YSL is a criminal street gang responsible for numerous offenses. Defense attorneys say YSL is not a gang but simply the name of a record label.
Young Thug himself is facing eight criminal counts under a federal law originally enacted to fight organized crime. Georgia is one of 33 states with its own RICO law, but in the Peach State, the alleged criminal enterprises do not have to have existed as long as the federal law.
Atlanta News First is broadcasting gavel-to-gavel coverage of Young Thug’s trial on ANF+ live stream and YouTube channel, and on Roku, Fire TV and AppleTV.
Williams is also charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of codeine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm and possession of a machine gun.
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