Young thug denied bond again by new judge in Atlanta RICO trial

The new judge in Young Thug's Atlanta gang trial has denied the rapper's new request to be released pending a verdict.

Two weeks after the judge Paige Reese Whittaker became the third judge to preside over the massive extortion case, rejected Thug's lawyer's arguments Brian Steele to release the rapper on bail and allow him to live under house arrest under strict supervision.

Steel had argued that the recent tumultuous events in the case — Judge Ural Glanville was ordered off the case because of a secret meeting with prosecutors and a key witness — were the kind of “changes in circumstances” that would allow her to overturn previous rulings that kept him locked up.

But at a hearing Tuesday, Whitaker was unfazed. “I don't know how I would have decided on bond in the first place,” the judge said. “This is not in front of me. This is not the kind of changed circumstances [required under precedent]so I'm not going to revise the bond.”

Thug — real name Jeffrey Williams — and dozens more were indicted in May 2022 with allegations that their YSL was not actually a record label called Young Stoner Life but rather a violent Atlanta gang called Young Slime Life. Citing Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), prosecutors allege the group ran a criminal enterprise that committed murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug trafficking and other crimes over a decade.

The trial began in January 2023, but has faced repeated delays and interruptions, including an unprecedented 10 months of jury selection, the stabbing of another defendant and now the removal of the presiding judge. Prosecutors have presented only part of their huge list of potential witnesses, and the case is expected to last until 2025.

Thug has been in jail for more than two years while the slow trial dragged on, which Glanville has repeatedly refused over concerns he could intimidate witnesses. But in Glanville's absence, Steele argued last week that Thug should not be “languishing in county jail” under “hardship” conditions when he has not been convicted of a crime.

At Tuesday's hearing, he repeated those calls to Whitaker. “Sir. Williams has been in custody since May 9, 2022,” Steel said. “He has been involved in unnecessary jury selection for months, bringing in over 2,000 people when jurors were selected from the first 511. This should not be his. That's an exaggeration. Now he's been sitting here for a month while Judge Glanville's antics and [prosecutors] caused him to wander in wretched condition in a prison.'

Although Whitaker denied Thug's renewed request for bail, the new judge suggested during the hearing that she would speed up the pace of the case, ordering prosecutors to better organize their scheduled witness testimony and evidence, saying, “We will not it will take another seven months. “

The judge is also considering whether the case should proceed at all. Thug and three of the other YSL defendants have moved for a mistrial, citing Glanville's behavior and other issues with the case.

At Tuesday's hearing, Whitaker denied two of those motions, including one that argued a brand-new judge could not “make informed decisions” after missing the first 19 months of a trial in which more than 100 witnesses had already testified. But it left two pending, including Steel's accusations that Glanville's behavior had irreparably fractured the case.

“If that is the case, a different decision will be made that will affect this trial, which may lead to a miscarriage of justice, which may lead to a miscarriage of justice with prejudice,” the judge said.