I have never seen the state f*** up like this. Looks like it could be heading towards a mistrial.

Young Thug’s Gang Trial Is Paused Because of Judge’s Secret Meeting

The much-delayed case was halted indefinitely to determine whether the judge should recuse himself after meeting with an uncooperative witness.

NYTimes

After more than 10 months of jury selection and 100 days of trial across another half a year, the sprawling and much-delayed gang conspiracy case against the Atlanta rapper Young Thug and five associates has been halted indefinitely.

Judge Ural Glanville announced on Monday in a Fulton County, Ga., courtroom that the case would not proceed until another judge decides whether Judge Glanville should recuse himself from overseeing the trial. The surprise ruling followed weeks of disputes between the court and defense attorneys, who have argued that a meeting between the judge, prosecutors and an uncooperative witness was improper and potentially unconstitutional.

Judge Glanville had previously denied multiple motions from the defense that called for him to step aside, calling his actions regarding last month’s meeting and its aftermath proper. But on Monday, during a hearing about releasing a transcript of the secret meeting, he agreed that an outside judge should decide how the trial would proceed.

Jurors have not heard testimony in the case for two weeks amid the upheaval and were not expected to return until next Monday, following the July 4 holiday weekend. Asked by a prosecutor how long it would take for the trial to get back underway, Judge Glanville said the decision was no longer within his purview. “Hopefully it will get done fairly quickly,” he said.

Already plagued by disruptions and complications, both outside and inside the courtroom, the case hit its most recent snag beginning on June 7, when a key prosecution witness, Kenneth Copeland, refused to testify after being sworn in, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination despite having already been granted immunity.

Mr. Copeland spent a weekend in jail on contempt charges and then agreed to testify, although he remained hard to pin down on basic factual matters. When Brian Steel, a lawyer for Young Thug, raised concerns about whether Mr. Copeland had been compelled to testify during a coercive meeting with Judge Glanville and prosecutors, the judge demanded to know how Mr. Steel learned of the closed-door meeting and then held him in contempt.

For refusing to reveal his source, Mr. Steel was sentenced to a maximum of 20 days in jail, to be served on the weekends, although the sentence was paused while Mr. Steel appeals the decision.

In a motion filed on Friday, Douglas S. Weinstein, a lawyer for another defendant in the case, argued that the judge’s secret meeting with a sworn witness and the judge’s refusal to step aside “offend public confidence in the independence, integrity and impartiality” of the case. He added, “An appearance of impropriety and bias hangs over the present trial due to Chief Judge Glanville’s failure to follow the law.”

Judge Glanville said on Monday that he would release the transcript of the private meeting with Mr. Copeland.

Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, and 27 associates were initially charged in May 2022 under the Georgia state criminal racketeering law, or RICO, the same statute used to indict former President Donald J. Trump and others in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

Prosecutors contend that Mr. Williams was a leader of YSL, or Young Slime Life, a subset of the national Bloods gang, and that he oversaw a criminal conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, witness intimidation and d*** dealing.

Why’s his attorney look like Epstein

The guy in the photo? Looks more like Lyor Cohen to me.

Idk i feel like they dont want him to beat this .

Yeah, he's coming home.

c'mon now

Yeah. It would be really embarrassing for the state if he did.

its been obvious they dont have the evidence to convict so they're using this trial to keep him locked up as long as possible

Man we about to get the greatest album of the decade

how his lawyer looking like howard hamlin

Could he beat it yea, but they're not gonna give him bond, he's still gonna be sitting in a cell for a few years even if the judge gets removed bc it's a whole retrial that'll long and drawn out

Similar to Melly who already had a mistrial and is still sitting in a cell waiting for the retrial or whatever

Keep that thug off our streets and keep our communities safe from gangs

Reminder that KTT thought Tory would walk

US really needs to have right to a speedy trial laws we have in Canada. Keeping anybody for longer than a couple years to arrange a trial is inhuman

It's an interesting one, because there is actually the Speedy Trial Act, 1974 which I think is 70 days.

justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-628-speedy-trial-act-1974

We do.

Most people opt to delay trials though to have adequate time to build a case.

Plus it’s better to wait it out. Witnesses move away, memories fade.

A lot better than rushing headfirst into a 20 year sentence

FREE S**

@Veggie oh interesting I never knew you guys had something like that. idk how similar it is to here but for literally any crime if your trial takes longer than a couple years you walk. Like if YNW melly was in canada, he would be free by now. I don’t think you can waive it either. Also wouldnt the delay only make the prosecution easier? Not the défenses? Idk anything about it though. Ive just never heard of a situation like that happening in the us, here d*** dealers and other criminals routinely walk because of the length of their trials, especially when the law was first introduced.

Really depends on the case

For high profile cases, keep in mind law enforcement and the DA have already spent years compiling a case, they are ready to go as soon as the grand jury gives the stamp

For the defendant though, it sucks to be in jail but 3 years awaiting trial is better than 6 months + 20 years

You want time for subject matter experts to put together studies in support of your argument, for witnesses to move away or for their memory to degrade, more time to hold mock trials and see which arguments a jury is receptive to.