ATLANTA — Jurors returned a verdict on Tuesday in the long-running RICO trial against the alleged "Young Slime Life," or YSL street gang.
On their fourth day of deliberations Tuesday, the jury determined the final two remaining defendants in the case, Deamonte Kendrick (aka Yak Gotti) and Shannon Stillwell, were almost entirely not guilty.
Outside the courtroom, Max Schardt, Stillwell's attorney, praised the jury's dedication, saying, "I think the fact that they deliberated for four days and the amount of time that they put in, they certainly scrutinized everything, and they did their jobs as jurors."
As for the verdict itself, Schardt added, "The message that was sent to me is that my client has a second chance at life, and we're just so thankful for that...we appreciate all the people who have been supporting us throughout this process."
Also giving thanks was Kendrick's lawyer, Douglas Weinstein, who said, "We're thrilled. He's been looking forward to getting out, getting back to his music, getting back to his family...I got to thank Judge Whitaker; the entire case changed when she took over."
Others in attendance at the courthouse were Young Thug's father, who had touched on his son's own plea deal in the trial just weeks prior. "He did what he felt like he wanted to do. He's grown; he made his own decision."
Deamonte Kendrick's mother also gave a passionate speech, thankful that her son can go free.
"I stood by my son. It was his decision not to take the plea...They used my son's rap lyrics against him. How dare they do that? It's freedom of speech....I'm thankful, I'm grateful!... Every day, I stood up with him. Every night, I prayed with him."
She closed out by saying, "I had good days, I had bad days, I had emotional days but damned to death if I was going to give up."
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YSL Trial Timeline
More on the trial:
The case centered on the prosecution's theory that YSL represented "Young Slime Life," a Cleveland Avenue-centered street gang that had been responsible for several crimes across the years, including serial theft and drug trafficking, as well as the murder of Donovan Thomas, a key event in the State's accusations.
Both Kendrick and Stillwell had been among five men charged with murder in the Thomas killing.
Defense lawyers meanwhile consistently painted the case as an overreach, as an attack on First Amendment expression rights -- with the indictment using Young Thug lyrics in many instances as evidence -- and as founded on flimsy evidence.
The case was organized under Georgia's RICO statute, and violation of RICO was a central charge against each defendant who was indicted as an alleged YSL gang member.
For much of the year that trial testimony was ongoing, rapper Young Thug was the center of its universe. The highest-profile of the original 28 defendants, he ultimately pleaded guilty in late October to some of his charges in a legal maneuver to obtain a more favorable sentence than prosecutors were offering in plea deals. It succeeded, and Young Thug -- whose legal name is Jeffery Williams -- left the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he was held without bond for the duration of the trial, for the first time in more than two years.
Another high-profile defendant in the case, the rapper Gunna, was one of the earliest to take a plea deal.
Twenty-four of the other 26 defendants slowly peeled off the case, either through plea deals or earlier in the process when many were severed from the case for reasons such as not having legal representation. One defendant was never caught.
For the better part of the final period of the trial, there were six defendants -- Young Thug and five others. The case finally began to head toward a finish line when a possible mistrial issue arose in October involving evidence inappropriately shown in court.
After that, Quamarvious Nichols, Rodalius Ryan and Marquavius Huey pleaded guilty under negotiated terms. Then Young Thug entered a non-negotiated guilty plea -- as well as no contest to the most serious charges he faced -- in his successful bid to gain his freedom from Judge Paige Whitaker.
Whitaker had only taken over the case this summer. It had to that point been marked by an element of chaos and discord, as defense attorneys and prosecutors routinely traded accusations of inappropriate tactics and conduct, and Judge Ural Glanville often showed visible frustration at trying to keep the trial on its rails.
He, however, was recused, under order of another Fulton County judge, from the case in July after an ex-parte meeting between Glanville, prosecutors, and a key witness. The meeting became the subject of deep contention in the trial, as defense lawyers argued it was improper to the point of requiring Judge Glanville's removal -- which Judge Rachel Krause partially agreed with, stating in her order that she had no doubt he "can and would continue presiding fairly over this matter" but that "the 'necessity of preserving the public's confidence in the judicial system' weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville from further handling of this case."
Jury selection on the case began in January 2023, setting in motion what would itself be a nearly yearlong process. Just shy of two years later, the YSL RICO trial is the longest criminal proceeding in Georgia's history.