ATLANTA — A back-and-forth argument between Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville and an attorney for Jeffery Williams, also known as rapper Young Thug, set the tone for a tense week in the YSL RICO trial.
On Wednesday, Brian Steel claimed the judge embarrassed him in front of the jury, calling him unprepared.
"I'm not unprepared. I don't appreciate the court telling me that," Steel said. "I believe that this honorable court is biased against Mr. Williams and his counsel. I ask you to consider recusing yourself or don't do this again to me."
The judge said he could have explored other options, which he did not go into detail about, but didn't when Steel questioned him.
"You can imagine my frustrations because all these little delays elongate out the whole presentation in front of the jury," Glanville said. "That's for your benefit, not for mine."
The trial began in November after nearly a yearlong jury selection process. Dozens of witnesses have already taken the stand. The Fulton County District Attorney's office wanted to bring forward 700 witnesses in all before paring that number down to 400.
Just this week, an attorney representing one of the defendants, Deamonte Kendrick, filed a motion that called to limit that number even more. The motion claims the trial could last through 2027 if the pace continues as is. The motion also calls for the DA's office to present a list of witnesses, what they'll talk about and prevent any further delays to the trial.
"It's long, it's laborious, but we're up to the task," another of Young Thug's defense attorneys, Keith Adams, said. "This is no different than any other trial. It’s just much bigger and much longer. This is a huge case. I don’t know if there’s been any case in the history of the state of Georgia that’s been this big."
Adams said even with multiple defendants, thousands of documents and audio and visual pieces of evidence, there's hope the trial won't last too long.
"Everyone's doing their best to move this case along at the best possible pace it can go given the dynamics," Adams said. "If you were to ask me how long I think we're going, I'd say there are a number of months to go. I think we'll be done quite frankly way sooner than 2027."
Judge Glanville's staff sent 11Alive a statement saying:
"It would be highly inappropriate for Chief Judge Glanville or any member of his staff to comment on an ongoing trial."
11Alive also reached out to the DA's office for comment but did not hear back.