ATLANTA — An attorney defending one of the YSL defendants was arrested in court Thursday morning, continuing a chaotic couple days for the RICO proceedings - which are still in the jury selection process.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said defense lawyer Anastasios Manettas was arrested and is now facing three charges: disruption of court proceedings, obstruction, possession (described as pills not in original container).
He had also previously been charged with simple battery on a law enforcement officer, but that charge was dropped Thursday night, his attorney told 11Alive.
Manettas was released from jail on Thursday night, his attorney said.
The exact circumstances resulting in those charges were not immediately clear.
RELATED: Chaos erupts inside Fulton County courtroom during YSL trial as multiple people seen handcuffed
The arrest of Manettas came a day after a chaotic scene in court in which at least three people were seen being handcuffed after multiple people were heard screaming at each other inside the courtroom.
Those that were placed into cuffs were seen being walked out of the courtroom.
The sheriff's office also confirmed Thursday that scene was started by the discovery of marijuana with defendant Rodalius Ryan.
Despite the trial entering its fourth month of jury selection, attorneys predict that the jury selection process could continue through the summer.
In total, 14 defendants will stand trial, including rapper Young Thug. They are accused of using his YSL record label to run a gang.
Manettas has previously spoken to 11Alive about the drawn-out jury selection process.
"It got started pretty quickly, as far as the pre-trial aspects," Manettas said. "But now this jury selection has now been the longest in Georgia history already, and I don't know if we're halfway done or not."
Manettas said hundreds of people have been questioned since January on any medical, financial or caretaker conflicts. The judge overseeing the trial said the current hardship phase could last through the summer.
"At that point, the individual phase will begin where each of the 14 defense teams and the state are allowed to ask the jurors who survived the hardship phase anything we want about any of their answers in the questionnaire, which has 258 questions," Manettas said. “None have been questioned about the questionnaire or their individual biases, exposure to the case in the media. It’s only been hardship so far. No one has been individually examined.”
Manettas said trial-specific questioning could begin a month later to try and narrow down a jury pool. Many law experts predict the trial itself could take months and will cost millions of dollars to conduct.
At least one defense attorney, Angela D'Williams (who represents Ryan), has filed a motion seeking to withdraw from the case citing its length and the stretch that places on attorneys who are working under public defender contracts.