Trial of juvenile delinquents 'moving forward' under new judge, defense calls for prosecutors to be 'removed'

The new judge overseeing rapper Young Thug's racketeering and gang conspiracy trial in Atlanta held her first hearing in the troubled process Friday and indicated she plans to impose order in what has become the largest criminal trial in Georgia state history.

Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over the 18-month trial after Judge Ural Glanville was relieved of the case on July 15 amid controversy over his handling of a secret meeting with prosecutors and a key witness of the state which excluded the defense.

“I want to proceed efficiently and quickly,” Judge Whitaker said at a morning hearing involving attorneys for the six co-defendants, including Young Thug, who are the first to face a jury under the state's sprawling RICO indictment. in 2022. The judge admitted he was “parachuting in” without having watched the case, so he asked all parties to cover it in pending motions before the jury is expected to return Aug. 5. Marking a new era in the high profile case, he banned the use of AirPods and eating during the test and said he hopes to enforce a schedule that starts promptly at 8:45 a.m. and lasts until 6 p.m. each, although Fridays may end earlier.

Appearing somewhat baffled by the length of the trial so far, Judge Whitaker asked for “realistic” lists of witnesses still expected to testify. Prosecutors, who gave their opening statements last November, have so far called at least 75 people to the witness stand. That's a staggering number for any test, but not even half of the names on the state's reduction list. On Friday, Judge Whitaker made clear she planned to scrutinize the lists for wasteful duplication. “This case has been going on for a long time,” he said. “There is a rule that allows me to exclude cumulative items and I may end up using them.”

The judge then addressed the elephant in the room. “It's certainly been seen that there have been times when tempers have flared a lot and people have been perhaps less than professional,” Whitaker said, adding that she hopes the week-long recess that Judge Glanville began on July 1 will last. when he agreed to let another judge decide on his discharge, he had given everyone a “breather”. “Everyone has been absolutely wonderful here today, but I would like us to maintain a degree of decorum, dignity and professionalism that is expected of all of us as members of the bar,” Whitaker said. “I'm here to give everybody a fair trial, a fair shake and follow the law.”

Judge Whitaker ordered the parties to return on July 30 to begin considering pending motions, including a motion filed by Steel and Adams late Thursday seeking the disqualification of two Fulton County prosecutors — Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love and Deputy District Attorney Simone Hylton. – who were present at the June 10th secret meeting that became the driving force behind Judge Glanville's exoneration.

Young Thug's attorneys, Brian Steel and Keith Adams, called the meeting “immoral” and said Glanville was wrong when he failed to immediately release the minutes of the meeting and instead held Steel in contempt for not disclosing how he heard about the gathering.

In their new four-page motion received by Rolling rockSteel and Adams say Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, is “innocent of all crimes” in the indictment and has a constitutional right to due process and a fair trial. They argue that Love and Hylton violated those rights when they participated in the secret meeting with witness Kenneth Copeland. They allege that Love and Hylton “knowingly made false and misleading allegations to Mr. Copeland” and “provided legally incorrect information to Mr. Copeland in order to induce Mr. Copeland to testify against Mr. Williams.”

Love and Hylton did not respond to a request for comment. They are expected to file a response next week before the July 30 hearing. At Friday's hearing, which was broadcast live by Law&Crime, Judge Whitaker said she didn't want to hear any arguments until everyone had had a chance to review everything and respond. He also asked defense attorneys to state in writing their belief that, under Georgia case law, the trial should go back to June 12 — the day the first motion to dismiss was filed against Judge Glanville — and begin again there.

Speaking on the stand Friday, Steel informed the court that Copeland continued to testify on four separate dates after the motion to dismiss, with jurors taking notes that may need to be impounded.

Talking to you Rolling rock earlier this month, defense attorney Douglas Weinstein, who represents Williams' co-defendant and fellow rapper Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, said the need to push the trial back to June 12 seems problematic. He said he is likely to file a wrongful-death lawsuit in the matter that would seek to end the case for good. “I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but if we're asking for injustice, it's because we were led to it through the actions of the prosecution as well as the judge, and given the conviction, there should be double jeopardy and Mr. Kendrick he should not be retried,” Weinstein said Rolling rock.

Williams, 32, has pleaded not guilty in the case. According to prosecutors, he acted as the head of a Bloods-linked gang called Young Slime Life (YSL) that formed in 2012 and consolidated power in south Atlanta, though alleged crimes including armed robbery, carjacking, illegal drug sales, shootings and at least three homicides.