Young Thug changes plea to guilty in Georgia’s longest-running criminal trial

Atlanta rap star Young Thug changed his plea to guilty Thursday in Georgia’s longest-running criminal trial, but averted prison time with probation, bringing a stunning close to a chapter of a case that has riveted court watchers for nearly two years.

The plea change by the rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, appeared on the brink of not happening after Superior Court Judge Paige Whitaker asked if he agreed to a nonnegotiated plea. That means prosecutors and the defense could not come to a sentencing deal, and that the judge would ultimately decide his punishment.

The parties returned after a brief recess, and Young Thug agreed to plead guilty to drug- and gun-related charges and no contest to charges of conspiracy and participating in a street gang.

Whitaker sentenced him to 40 years that would have forced him to serve five years in prison, but she commuted it to time served. In addition, he must complete 15 years of probation, which can result in 20 years to be served in custody if probation is not successful.

She put several restrictions on him, including barring travel in metro Atlanta and no contact with affiliated gang members, and said he must perform community service, including doing presentations to community groups and children against gang violence.

“There better be no violations, but if there are any, you’re coming back to see me,” the judge said.

Before she sentenced him, Young Thug told the court he takes “full responsibility for my crimes and for my charges,” and said he now recognizes the power he holds in his south Atlanta neighborhood to set a better example.

“I know what I bring to the table and I know what I am,” Young Thug said. “I know the heights I’ve reached and I know the impact I’ve got on people in the community.”

Young Thug, 33, has been jailed since his arrest in May 2022 on charges related to leading an alleged street gang, Young Slime Life, or YSL, with members accused of committing illegal and violent acts, including murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and carjacking.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute to claim Young Thug and his associates are a street gang with ties to the national Bloods gang.

During Thursday’s sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love painted Young Thug as a central figure in the illegal acts, including allegations of murder, and cited rap lyrics promoting violence.

Love asked the state to consider sentencing Young Thug to 45 years, with 25 years to be served in prison and 20 on probation. But Whitaker noted in her sentencing decision that prosecutors were earlier willing to let Young Thug get out on probation as part of a plea deal as long as he testified against his co-defendants.

Young Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steel, asked Whitaker to impose house arrest instead, and said the state misunderstood the context of the rapper’s lyrics in claiming they showed he was encouraging gang activity.

“They are in a tunnel vision to try and convict a man who should not be convicted,” Steel said.

Whitaker during her sentencing said she “appreciated” the impact Young Thug has had coming up from a community already plagued by violence, but “if you choose to continue to rap, you need to try to use your influence to let kids know that is not the way to go. There are ways out of poverty besides hooking up with the powerful guy at the end of the street selling drugs.”

“I want you to be more of the solution and less of the problem,” she added.

String of plea deals

The prosecution’s agreement with Young Thug came after three co-defendants took plea deals this week following mounting speculation that Whitaker could order a mistrial.

Initially, prosecutors named 27 co-defendants. The trial against Young Thug began with jury selection in January 2023, and by the time opening statements started that November, after months of delays caused by some defendants taking plea deals and others choosing to be tried separately, he was one of six co-defendants.

Whitaker this week approved plea deals for three of them: Quamarvious Nichols, 29; Marquavius Huey, 28; and Rodalius Ryan, 18.

The men faced multiple counts of various racketeering- and gang-related charges, each potentially carrying prison sentences of five to 20 years. With all of them agreeing to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy — with Huey also pleading guilty to other reduced charges — they accepted more lenient prison sentences with probation and time served. Ryan, however, will remain in prison on a life sentence for a 2019 murder, but his 10-year prison sentence in the RICO case has been commuted to time served.

The trial is expected to resume against the two remaining co-defendants, Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell.

Given Young Thug’s plea deal, an end to his part in the prosecution’s sprawling case comes after nearly two years of a winding livestreamed trial. The original judge was recused from the trial in July after misconduct allegations by the defense, and heated courtroom exchanges between various parties and a multitude of bizarre moments, including a deputy allegedly smuggling contraband to a defendant and someone hacking the court’s Zoom to yell “Free Thug!” have punctuated the sluggish proceedings.

The judge had previously said the trial could conceivably stretch into next year, as the prosecution was still not done presenting its case.

What led to plea deals

The latest, and most substantial twist, came as the result of a prosecutorial misstep during testimony last week.

As state witness Wunnie Lee, a rapper known as Slimelife Shawty, reviewed social media posts in front of the jury, he was inadvertently given an unredacted version of a post that referred to the hashtag #freequa, which may apply to nicknames for Nichols or Huey. The post was redacted for the jury.

But by Lee referring to Qua, prosecutors allowed the jury to presume that the co-defendants were in jail, a detail that is not supposed to be shared because it is considered prejudicial.

“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell, your honor,” Nicole Westmoreland, a lawyer for Nichols, said in asking for a mistrial.

Whitaker had suggested she would consider a mistrial motion. In the midst, prosecutors and defense lawyers spent days hammering out plea deals.

Young Thug first gained mainstream success with his 2014 drug anthem “Stoner.” He founded his own music label, YSL Records, in 2016, and has racked up three No. 1 albums on the Billboard chart, working with the likes of Travis Scott, Post Malone, Meek Mill and Drake. In 2019, he won a Grammy Award for song of the year for co-writing Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.”