FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A lengthy pause in Georgia's longest criminal trial ever could soon end — if Judge Shukura Ingram wants it to.
The former prosecutor, who is nearing the end of her first six-year term, was tapped to oversee the YSL RICO trial on Monday after Judge Ural Glanville was ordered off the case.
Now, Ingram must decide if and how the case involving the rapper Young Thug, also known as Jeffrey Williams, and several co-defendants should proceed.
"That's the million-dollar question. A myriad of different things can happen," said Chuck Boring, an attorney with Robbins Alloy Belinfante Littlefield and former director of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission. "There are several motions pending that were before Judge Glanville that are now going to have to be heard by Judge Ingram."
That includes motions for a mistrial and disqualification of two state prosecutors. Plus, the defendants in custody will likely make new requests for bond.
"Judge Ingram took over at some point around when the recusal motions were filed," Boring said. "Having to backpedal on that and then learn a year and a half's worth of what has happened during the trial and getting familiar with it is not going to be an easy process."
He said it's hard to tell how long that process could take.
"It really depends on the court's time, the judge's time and how much she has," Boring said. "I would imagine that something is going to be calendared pretty soon so that the judge can get a grasp on what is out there."
Ingram oversaw multiple high-profile cases during her first term on the bench, including the one involving a former East Point police officer accused of sexual assault and a woman accused of the 2022 Midtown shooting spree.
In May, she ran unopposed and was re-elected to a second term on the bench.
More on the Young Thug, YSL trial
On May 9, 2022, the hip-hop world was jolted with the news that rapper Young Thug—a Grammy winner, trendsetter and Atlanta icon—had been arrested.
It's been over two years now that the artist, whose legal name is Jeffery Williams, has remained behind bars. The central charge against him is that three letters with which his name has become synonymous because of his artistic success in launching the "Young Stoner Life" label, YSL, actually signalize a violent gang: Young Slime Life.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis named Williams, among other metro Atlanta rappers and those with ties to the alleged gang, to bring charges against a total of 28 people in a sweeping 88-page indictment. The case alleges that not only is Young Thug among the gang's members, but he is also its kingpin.
"He is the one they're all afraid of," a prosecutor said at a June 2022 hearing. "He's the one that's King Slime."
A long pretrial process passed to an even longer jury selection process, and across this time, the co-defendant list dwindled with plea deals and other circumstances, keeping some of the individuals charged from remaining on the case.
The trial finally began in earnest in November 2023, already considered the longest in Georgia's history.
11Alive has tracked key developments in the case and highlighted moments in the courtroom. Follow along in the timeline below.