Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug pleaded out of his long-running racketeering conspiracy case in Georgia on Thursday. The artist, born Jeffery Williams, has been in custody since his 2022 arrest.
Williams, 33, pleaded “no contest” to Count 1, racketeering conspiracy, and Count 56, participation in a criminal street gang in a leadership role. He pleaded guilty to three drug charges, two gun charges and one lesser gang charge. Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love asked the court to forbid the no contest pleas, but Judge Paige Reese Whitacker said she would allow them.
Williams’ plea Thursday was “non-negotiated,” leaving his sentence up to the judge. If convicted as charged at trial, Williams faced a maximum of 120 years in prison. Prosecutors had offered him a negotiated deal that would have allowed him to walk out of jail Thursday but face a possible 23-year prison sentence if he violated his probation. Talks broke down over the terms of that probation, his lawyer told the court.
The new plea capped a dramatic day for the “Digits” rapper. After extensive plea negotiations behind closed doors, he first appeared in the courtroom shortly before 4 p.m. local time. “It is my understanding that the state and Mr. Williams were very close to a negotiated agreement but have reached an impasse – and that is Mr. Williams’ desire to enter a non-negotiated plea,” Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said. “Is that correct?”
The courtroom camera then panned to Williams, who sat silently between his two defense lawyers. After a short silence, the judge asked, “Am I misinformed?” Williams then turned to look at his longtime lawyer, Brian Steel. “Do y’all need a minute in private?” the judge asked before calling another recess.
Williams’ plea followed after three other defendants took mid-trial deals this week amid a looming mistrial motion prompted by an evidence mishap last week. None of the deals required any written cooperation agreements or promises to testify against other defendants. One deal was called “remarkable” by the judge because it only required former defendant Marquavius Huey to serve nine years in custody. Huey had been facing the possibility of three life sentences.
Williams has maintained his innocence throughout the case. Prosecutors claimed he was the kingpin of a Bloods-affiliated gang called Young Slime Life, but their theory of the case seemed to falter in August when their key witness, Kenneth “Woody” Copeland, got on the stand and disavowed his prior statements implicating Williams in the 2015 murder of Donovan “Nut” Thomas. Williams wasn’t specifically charged with Thomas’ murder, but prosecutors showed jurors a recorded June 2015 police interview in which Copeland claimed Williams met a group of alleged YSL members at a Texaco gas station to hand over the rented Infinity linked to the slaying. On the witness stand, Copeland said he concocted the story about Williams’ alleged connection to Thomas’ murder because he was under arrest on a gun charge and was trying to offer a “big fish” to make a deal so he could avoid going back to jail.
Williams’s lawyer, Brian Steel, also got Copeland to admit under cross-examination that he was involved in a heated conflict with Thomas around the time of Thomas’ Jan. 10, 2015 murder. Copeland testified that he believed Thomas wanted him “physically” harmed. In his opening statement last November, Steel suggested it was Copeland who killed Thomas. He said the evidence would show Copeland was an “armed career criminal” who wanted revenge after he was beaten up at an Atlanta club for allegedly stealing items from Thomas’ car. Steel’s cross-examination was designed to raise reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds by implying Copeland had a motive to kill Thomas. (Copeland was charged with Thomas’ murder in 2015, but the charge was later dropped. He was granted immunity to testify.)
In his opening statement, Steel also described Williams’ humble beginnings and determination to make a better life for himself. He said Williams was “born into an environment, a community, a society that was filled with depression, despair, hopelessness, and helplessness.” He said his client was raised in public housing, sharing a small bedroom with four brothers while six sisters shared a separate room. “Severe poverty” and the shooting death of his 20-year-old brother left Williams with an “embedded” distrust of police and the justice system, Steel said. The high-profile lawyer hailed Williams for surmounting the “generational” harms of institutional racism and becoming a world-renowned artist.
“He worked so hard. He outworked everyone,” Steel said last November, adding that Williams’ “Thug” moniker is an acronym for Truly Humbled Under God. “He’s not running this criminal street gang,” Steel said. “He is not sitting there telling people to kill people. He doesn’t need their money. Jeffery is worth tens of millions of dollars.” The defense lawyer added that Williams “doesn’t even know most of the people in this indictment.”
Williams rose to prominence in the music industry with his acrobatic voice, flamboyant fashions, and innovative rapping on releases like 2014’s Rich Gang: Tha Tour Pt. 1 (with Rich Homie Quan), 2015’s Barter 6, and 2016’s Jeffery. He’s collaborated with many of the biggest artists in pop and hip-hop, starred on a digital cover of Rolling Stone, and won a Grammy for Song of the Year for his contributions to Childish Gambino’s 2018 single “This is America.” His record label, Young Stoner Life, topped the Billboard 200 with its Slime Language 2 compilation, where Williams led a group of artists, including Gunna, Drake, Travis Scott, and Lil Baby.
Over the course of his nearly two-year trial proceeding, which started with jury selection in January 2023, Williams appeared in court almost weekly, his attentiveness to the trial apparent on a livestream managed by Law&Crime and followed by thousands. The trial that started with six defendants was plagued by problems from the start and garnered waves of global attention with the dramatic on-camera arrest of Steel on a contempt charge (it was later dropped) and the recusal of Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville over his handling of a secret meeting with Copeland and prosecutors that excluded the defense.
After the case was re-assigned to Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, it appeared to be moving along more efficiently. But the evidence mishap last Wednesday, where a witness read aloud something that was supposed to be excluded, sent the trial to the brink of a possible mistrial yet again and triggered the new round of plea deals.
The first defendant to accept a mid-trial deal was Quamarvious Nichols, 29. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO act. Six other counts, including a murder charge, were dismissed under the deal. Judge Whitaker immediately sentenced Nichols to his negotiated sentence of 20 years, with seven years served in custody and 13 years of probation. He had been facing a possible life sentence.
Nichols’ lawyer, Bruce Harvey, said his client agreed to acknowledge two “drug events” dating back to 2017 and 2018 but nothing more. “We categorically deny and contest any use of violence by Mr. Nichols,” Harvey told Judge Whitaker. Nichols had been charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks, an alleged associate of rival Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci.
Two more defendants, Rodalius Ryan, 20, and Marquavius Huey, 28, tendered pleas on Wednesday. Ryan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO law and was immediately sentenced to 10 years, which was commuted to time served. He already is serving a life sentence, with the possibility of parole, for the 2019 murder of Jamari Holmes. Ryan was 15 at the time of Holmes’ death and hopes to eventually be released on appeal, his lawyer told the court. Holmes’ murder is listed as an overt act in the state’s sprawling 65-count indictment that named more than two dozen defendants, including Williams when it was unsealed two years ago.
“We categorically and adamantly deny that YSL is the criminal and dangerous street gang that it has been made out to be during this trial,” Ryan’s lawyer, Leah Abbasi, told the court during his plea hearing. Judge Whitaker accepted Ryan’s plea, saying she personally found a “factual basis” for it based on the court record.
Huey pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO act as well as several other counts, including robbery, reduced from armed robbery. Under Huey’s deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss other counts, including allegations of hijacking and aggravated assault. Judge Whitaker immediately sentenced Huey to 25 years, to be served as nine years in custody, nine on probation, and five years suspended. (Huey has already served two years since he was booked in the YSL case while already in custody for the murder conviction.) Huey originally was charged with 19 counts and was facing the possibility of multiple life sentences. Judge Whitaker called his deal “remarkable” and a “huge opportunity” to turn his life around.
“Mr. Huey is very grateful that he was able to resolve his case today,” his lead lawyer, Carlton Matthews Sr., tells Rolling Stone. “He was facing three life sentences and resolved his case without being required to be a cooperating witness and in a manner that allows him to potentially be released within a few years. It concludes a dark chapter in his life, and he looks forward to a bright future.”
The two other co-defendants still remaining in the current trial are Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell. A total of 28 defendants were charged in the original indictment. Nine took plea deals before the current trial started, and 12 others are set to be tried separately. Prosecutors dropped their case against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.
“Shannon Stillwell has been wrongfully accused of the crimes alleged in this indictment,” Stillwell’s lawyer, Max Schardt, said in a statement sent Wednesday to Rolling Stone. “We have never wavered. Mr. Stillwell is innocent, and we are fully prepared to continue to fight this case in Court once the trial resumes. We appreciate and continue to ask for the support of so many people who have followed this case for the past two years.”
Kendrick’s lawyer, Douglas Weinstein, told Rolling Stone Wednesday that his team remains “open to any reasonable plea offers” and would discuss them with Kendrick, “as is our obligation,” amid such a long and unpredictable trial. “We are encouraged by the plea deals negotiated by our codefendant’s counsel. Those deals removed the uncertainty inherent in any jury trial and provided finality in a long, stressful trial,” he said in an email.
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