ATLANTA — The longest-running criminal trial in Georgia's history came to an abrupt end on Tuesday as a jury, who'd undergone a nearly yearlong selection process and then a further year of trial proceedings, delivered an almost entirely not-guilty verdict to the final two defendants in the case.
And the verdict on the criminal proceeding itself, from high-profile members of the Atlanta legal community, was withering: "Biggest flop of a RICO case in U.S. history!" was how attorney Ashleigh Merchant put it.
Merchant, who played a central role in the Fulton County prosecution of Donald Trump when she revealed the relationship between DA Fani Willis and former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, further called the YSL trial an "overcharged made up case."
"The state should be ashamed and give everyone back the stuff they stole from them through seizure," she said.
Anthony Michael Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University, called the outcome a "total embarrassment for the Fulton County District Attorney."
Another Georgia State legal professor, Chris Timmons, argued however "you can't look at the verdict in a vacuum" and noted the DA's Office "obtained multiple guilty pleas during the process."
"That said, this trial should have been two months; not two years," Timmons added.
Several defendants took guilty pleas throughout the trial, though its highest-profile defendant -- rapper Young Thug -- entered his own non-negotiated guilty plea in a successful maneuver to obtain more favorable sentencing direct from Judge Paige Whitaker than what was being offered by prosecutors.
As part of the guilty pleas, no defendants were ultimately found responsible for two murders incorporated into the case -- those of Donovan Thomas in 2015 and Shymel Drinks in 2022.
Five men had been charged in the 2015 Thomas murder -- including Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell, found not guilty on Tuesday. The other three defendants charged in that murder were either severed from the case or never caught. In the murder of Drinks, Stillwell was found not guilty, Quamarvious Nichols took an earlier guilty plea that saw the murder charge dropped and the other two men charged were earlier severed from the case.
"Unfortunately the Fulton County DA’s office dragged the Thomas and Drink’s family into this and gave them hope (again) that this time justice will be served. My heart and deepest condolences go out to those families, don’t give up my prayers go out to yall #YSL" X user @RealKingJayar noted.
Courtney Kramer, who ran against DA Willis in the election last month for district attorney in Fulton County and lost, called the YSL trial a "waste of taxpayer dollars" and "waste of time for all of the jurors and defendants."
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.