ATLANTA — The third day of the trial against Young Thug and five others accused of activity in an alleged YSL street gang heard witness testimony Wednesday.
The first two days of the trial saw opening statements by prosecutors and the defense attorneys for the six individuals, including Young Thug, who have gone to trial from an original 28 co-defendants indicted in the spring of 2022.
The first witness called was Atlanta Police Department Detective Mark Belknap who spoke of his expertise in investigating gangs.
Portions of his testimony can be heard in the YouTube playlist below. Amid his testimony, a court camera recorded a glimpse of the jury. In an effort to protect the integrity of the jury, 11Alive will not show those portions of the detective's interview.
After a recess, a judge asked that witness testimony remain audio only for the rest of the day. Court will reconvene Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
REWATCH: Day 3 witness testimony in Young Thug, YSL RICO Trial
Below, find the portion of the day's testimony from the latter half of the day along with clips from the detective's testimony.
Prosecutors, in their opening statement, cast Young Thug as "King Slime" of a Young Slime Life street gang that "created a crater in the middle of Fulton County's Cleveland Avenue community" with crime and violence.
"YSL, as the evidence will show -- they didn't move individually," lead prosecutor Adriane Love said. "The members and associates of YSL they moved like a pack, with the defendant Jeffery Williams as its head."
Brian Steel, the attorney for the Atlanta rapper -- whose legal name is Jeffery Williams -- sought to flip that narrative on its head. He described the painful conditions out of which the rapper arose, defended the content of his music on the YSL label as art inspired by those difficult circumstances.
"These are the people he knew, these are the stories he knew, these are the words that he rhymed -- this isn't a ballad or a book, these are phrases in a song and whatever the listener takes from it, you will learn, is what the songs mean," Steel said, addressing the jury. "This is art. This is freedom of speech in America."
Steel asserted the case is simply the product of biased police and an overly aggressive district attorney's office.
"Jeffery has been targeted," he said.
Attorneys for defendants Deamonte Kendrick (another rapper, who performs by the name Yak Gotti), Marquavius Huey, Shannon Stillwell and Rodalius Ryan also gave opening statements over the first two days of the trial. The lawyer for Quamarvious Nichols waived his opening statement.
A number of music industry and cultural figures have testified on Young Thug's behalf at previous proceedings and could again testify at trial. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have a witness list with hundreds of people on it.
The testimony process that will begin Wednesday is expected to last months, well into 2024.