Jeffery Williams’ YSL criminal trial is streaming live on Atlanta News First and the ANF+ YouTube channel.
By Tim Darnell
Published: Jun. 28, 2024 at 10:56 AM EDT|Updated: 15 hours ago
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed on Thursday an emergency motion filed by a Young Thug co-defendant that sought to disqualify the judge overseeing one of the nation’s most watched and most contentious trials.
Deamonte Kendrick — aka Yak Gotti — and his attorney, Doug Weinstein, wanted to disqualify Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville from the trial.
The motion called for a stay on all proceedings until the state Supreme Court issues a recusal order for Glanville, who has denied numerous motions for a mistrial and motions calling for his recusal.
More fireworks coming next week in Young Thug’s trial
Yak Gotti, a rapper signed to Young Thug’s record label, is facing 12 felony counts in the trial, including murder, racketeering and street gang participation.
Over the last several weeks, the trial has been rocked by an alleged meeting between Glanville and a prosecution star witness, Kenneth Copeland (aka Woody or Lil’ Woody). A July 3 hearing is set to determine who is responsible for leaking the supposedly private conversation to Young Thug attorney Brian Steel.
Glanville has ordered Copeland and his stand-in attorney, Kayla Bumpus, to a hearing to determine why either of them should not be held in contempt for disclosing an ex parte conversation to Young Thug attorney Brian Steel on June 10. Glanville is also ordering anyone else who was in attendance during the conversation to appear.
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.
Glanville’s June 11 order was filed at the height of one of the historically long trial’s most dramatic weeks. That round of upheaval actually began Friday, June 7, when Copeland was jailed for refusing to testify. Copeland is widely believed to have informed police of crimes allegedly committed by Young Thug and the alleged YSL criminal gang.
By Monday, Copeland had changed his tune and agreed to testify. Then Glanville ordered Steel be held in contempt.
Steel was taken into custody when he refused to answer repeated requests from Glanville on how he heard about a conversation during a meeting that involved prosecutors, the judge and a key witness.
“The judge was having ex parte communications with the district attorney and a witness,” said Tom Church, a trial attorney who showed up in court in a show of support for Steel. “That means he was talking to the attorney and the witness without anyone from the defense being present. And that is generally considered improper.
“So Mr. Steel found out about that, he made a motion for a mistrial, and the judge demanded that Mr. Steel reveal that source,” Church said.
Glanville said Steel will remain in contempt until he shares where he got the information. Steel is allowed to continue giving counsel in the trial while he is being held in contempt.
Steel and Young Thug’s other attorney, Keith Adams, have repeatedly moved for a mistrial, as have attorneys for some of the other defendants in the trial. Glanville has denied all of the repeated motions; he has also denied a motion from Steel and other attorneys to recuse himself from the trial.
Witness testimony is expected to resume July 8 in Young Thug’s trial, but opportunities for plenty of drama remain nonetheless.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are continuing to haggle over Copeland’s police interviews and jail recordings. Steel is accusing prosecutors of coercing Copeland’s testimony, who he said was being surrounded by law enforcement and district attorney officials.
In 2021, Copeland was arrested in Fulton County after a traffic stop uncovered a weapon on him. Copeland, already a convicted felon, could have been facing a 10-year jail sentence for having the weapon, but over the course of a three-hour interrogation, Copeland told detectives about several crimes that had happened and were about to occur.
Copeland was sentenced to federal prison on Oct. 22, 2018, for being a felon in possession of a firearm after bringing an assault rifle into the Dunbar Recreational Center Gymnasium in Atlanta’s Mechanicsville community.
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 — which has been repeatedly plagued by arrests, charges and disruptions — 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 call up.
Prosecutors are attempting to show YSL, or Young Slime Life, 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 Stoner Life.
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.
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.
Attorneys for Williams argue the artist is not the leader of an alleged gang like prosecutors claim.
A total of 18 jurors have been selected, with six of them being alternates. Two jurors have already been excused; one had a medical emergency, and the other moved out of Fulton County.
Atlanta News First is broadcasting gavel-to-gavel coverage of Young Thug’s trial on its live stream and YouTube channel.
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