FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Jurors in the YSL RICO trial involving rapper Young Thug returned to the courtroom for the first time in nearly two months.
They have a new judge and new rules -- but the same courtroom and the same reluctant witness returning to the stand.
RELATED: Here's what was said in YSL RICO trial today after jurors return after more than month of delays
That witness was Kenneth Copeland -- better known as Lil Woody. During his testimony, he said he constantly lied to the police in order to protect himself and his family and that jurors shouldn't believe any of his previous statements. He also told the court he blamed rapper Young Thug for crimes he said he didn't commit.
"The police kept locking me up for whatever they could," he stated. "And they keep bringing up thug name, so what I did to get them off me was 'Thug did this, Thug did that.'"
Within the first few minutes of testifying on Monday, Lil Woody fought the truthfulness of statements he had previously made.
"Detective Thorp. . .his brain was the size of a squirrel brain, so you can just tell him anything, and he's gonna go for it," Lil Woody stated during his testimony.
Prosecutors want his interviews with police in 2015 to help build their case, which alleges YSL is a gang led by the rapper Young Thug -- not a record label -- and is responsible for several violent crimes.
"The police told me they want a big fish. And I'm a little fish," he said. "When they told me that, my only motive was to convince them that I was telling them the truth about this guy in my mind."
Lil Woody, who cannot be prosecuted for anything he says on the stand, told prosecutors that he didn't recall the answers to their questions dozens of times and begged them to leave him alone.
"You ask me about 2015? I have got my life together. Y'all trying to put this on my conscience," he said. "Y'all trying to put people's lives in my hands . . . I'm tired of y'all because y'all know y'all are wrong."
He said he accused multiple co-defendants in this case of various crimes without any specific evidence and that although it may seem like he's now trying to protect Young Thug, he said he cares about the truth.
"It may seem like I'm trying to help Thug out. I'm not trying to help him out. I don't care nothing about him or what he got going on," Lil Woody stated. "I care about the truth. The truth was I was going through a phase in my life, and I have put all the blame on him. I don't know what he did. I don't know what he got going on. But y'all got me on this stand, and I'm telling the God-honest truth."
About ten minutes into Lil Woody's testimony, the defense team motioned for a mistrial. However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker denied their request and kept the trial moving forward. The judge had to start Monday's proceedings by introducing herself in the initial judge was removed from the case. She also told jurors to disregard any testimony and evidence that came after the 3 p.m. break on Wednesday, June 12, which was the last break for that day. This testimony would have included previous testimony made by Lil Woody.
More on the Young Thug, YSL trial
Back 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. And the case alleges that not only is Young Thug among the gang's members, he is 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.
Now that is in full swing, 11Alive is keeping track of key developments in the case and highlighting moments in the courtroom. Follow along in the timeline below.