The credibility of key prosecution witness Kenneth Copeland was the focus of a week of tortured testimony at Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug’s gang and racketeering trial in Atlanta.
Copeland, whose first appearance in the trial last June led to Judge Ural Glanville being removed from the high-profile case, returned to the stand Monday under the watchful eye of Glanville’s replacement, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker. Over several combative days of testimony, Copeland said “I don’t recall” hundreds of times and claimed he lied repeatedly to investigators during a series of police station interviews in the aftermath of the January 2015 drive-by shooting murder of Donovan “Nut” Thomas Jr.
Copeland’s refusal to repeat potentially incriminating details he told police during one particularly significant sit-down in June 2015 prompted prosecutors to play key portions of that interview for the jury on Friday. In the recorded meeting, Copeland claimed that his friend Damekion “Lil Dee” Garlington was with Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, the night of the murder. Copeland told police that Garlington, an alleged member of William’s purported Young Slime Life (YSL) gang, said Williams was in the mix when members of YSL first spotted Thomas at a barbershop the night of the killing.
In a critical – and highly disputed – section of the June 2015 interview previewed to jurors through Copeland’s examination and opening statements, Copeland claims that Garlington gave him a play-by-play of the minutes leading up to the shooting. Garlington allegedly said Williams exited a rented Infinity and got into a Pontiac at a gas station shortly before a group of alleged members of YSL returned to the barber shop in the Infinity and opened fire on Thomas, according to Copeland’s recorded interview, which he now disavows.
In his opening statement last November, Williams’ defense lawyer Brian Steel told jurors that Copeland is a career criminal and admitted liar who likely murdered Thomas himself and then tried to shift blame to avoid a return trip to prison. Copeland, an aspiring rapper also known as Woody, testified under an immunity agreement with prosecutors.
“This is a big witness,” Steel told Judge Whitaker Friday morning before the jury was called seated for the day. “I opened on him. I said that Mr. Copeland killed Donovan Thomas.”
When Copeland was asked about the June 2015 police interview during his testimony on Tuesday, he said he lied to the detectives about Thomas’ murder “to get them off me.” At one point, Copeland suggested on the stand that his recently deceased friend Travante “Threat” Turner may have been involved in Thomas’ death. He also claimed he was “geeked up” back in 2015, then added, “I don’t do drugs today.”
“Isn’t it true that Lil Dee told you that when they saw Nut, they switched cars?” Assistant District Attorney Simone Hylton asked, referring to Williams and the other alleged members of YSL purportedly together at the gas station before Thomas’ murder.
“I don’t recall nothing I done lied to the investigators about,” Copeland replied. Asked specifically if he told detectives that Garlington told him Williams “got into the Pontiac,” Copeland replied dramatically, “I! Don’t! Recall!”
In the recording played for jurors Friday, retired Atlanta Police Det. Lakea Gaither was heard urging Copeland to cooperate with the investigation. “We need someone with direct knowledge to take down the main culprits,” Det. Gaither said. “We want the big fish.” At other points in the recording, Gaither and two other detectives lost their patience with Copeland and shouted at him, telling him he was “wasting” their time and about to get locked up.
In his testimony Tuesday, Copeland said he lied to police in June 2015 to avoid going back to jail. “I tell the investigators anything they want to hear. They want to hear about Thug, so I’m about to sit right here and gas them up. I’m about to sit right here and say he killed 19 people, all type of stuff. I’m about to sit right here and make him look like the worst person on earth so they can believe [me] and let me go,” he told the jury.
Hylton then asked Copeland why he didn’t just say Williams was in the Infinity during the shooting, if he “wanted to make [Williams] look so bad.” Copeland replied with what has become his catchphrase on social media and in a new song he dropped online this week: “I don’t recall.”
Prosecutors have claimed Williams had a falling out with Thomas before the murder and also had an interest in asserting YSL’s dominance over Thomas’ rival Bloods faction known as Inglewood Family. Williams isn’t charged with Thomas’ murder in the indictment, but the slaying is listed as an overt act in furtherance of the alleged YSL gang conspiracy.
Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell are the co-defendants now on trial with Williams who are charged with Thomas’ slaying. Three other alleged YSL members also were charged with Thomas’ murder but had their cases severed from the current trial. Kendrick and Stillwell deny any involvement in the murder.
In other possibly pivotal testimony Tuesday, Copeland claimed he was upset with Williams during the June 2015 interview with police because Williams had named him in his song, “Halftime.” Copeland said he believed the lyrics implicated him in a crime.
“I was mad he put that song out,” Copeland told the jury. “He should have never did that. So, I’m going to put the blame on him. Don’t throw me under the bus. I’m gonna throw you under the bus. That was my whole motive.”
“I didn’t like the fact that police tried to make it seem like that song was made to say that I pulled up and did this to this man,” Copeland testified. “That’s the song I didn’t like. I didn’t like the timing of the song … When they put the song out, there was an investigation on me and y’all kept harassing me, and that’s what I didn’t like.”
Williams was in court for his 33rd birthday on Friday wearing a burgundy suit and tie. He’s been in custody since his arrest under the RICO indictment in May 2022. He’s pleaded not guilty to eight counts including racketeering conspiracy, participation in a street gang, and various drug and gun possession charges. Steel said in his opening that Williams lets people stay at his various homes, and that the items found during a search were not his. Steel said Williams shouldn’t be held responsible for crimes other people may have committed in misguided quests for his attention and approval.
Steel also used part of his opening to say Copeland once was named a Top 10 violent criminal in Georgia by federal prosecutors. Steel said Copeland had broken into Thomas’ car and stolen his jewelry, wallet, and cell phone shortly before the murder, making him a target of Thomas’ ire and a suspect in the shooting. Steel contends Copeland lied to police to deflect blame.
More than 70 witnesses have testified so far in the high-profile trial. Prosecutors say they intend to call at least 100 more. After that, lawyers for each of the six defendants will have a chance to call their own witnesses. The trial is expected to last through the end of year, possibly into February or March, Judge Whitaker has said outside the earshot of jurors.
