Jeffrey Williams, better known as award-winning recording artist Young Thug, has remained in jail since May 2022 when he and more than two dozen others were charged under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) Act. On Monday, November 27, Williams finally had his day in court as opening statements were made in the artist’s high-profile trial. However, things didn’t go as many had planned as the first day of trial was filled with accusations, a missing juror, plenty of objections and a motion for a mistrial.
Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love wasted no time sharing her thoughts about Williams and his co-defendants. Love said Williams and his associates “operated as a pack” as they “created a crater in the middle of Fulton County’s Cleveland Avenue community that sucked in the youth.”
“For ten years and counting, the group calling itself ‘Young Slime Life’ dominated the Cleveland Avenue community,” Love told the jury, according Jewel Wicker and Bill Donahue of Billboard.
“They created a crater … that sucked in the youth and innocence and even the lives of some its youngest members.”
Love alleges Williams and others were members of a criminal enterprise known as Raised On Cleveland (ROC), but a division within the group led to the creation of YSL and the award-winning artist was “proclaimed [its] leader.” From there, the state claims members of the organization engaged in criminal activities, including armed robbery, hijacking, motor vehicle theft, illegal possession of firearms and murder.
“The state is alleging that these defendants, they had an agreement – unspoken, but no less an agreement – to obtain property, things of value, cell phones, cars, stolen guns, through a pattern of illegal activity,” Love said.
Love also alluded to a 2015 shooting in which the tour bus of Lil’ Wayne was filled with bullet holes during a stop in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Bullets, for nothing, except to show their dominance,” Love claimed, according to Christina Maxouris of CNN.
“That act was intended to show their solidarity, their willingness to act on the behalf of, their willingness to exact violence upon anyone who threatened the position of the criminal street gang calling itself Young Slime Life.”
The prosecutor also accused members of YSL of being involved in the murder of a man named Donovan Thomas in 2015. In an effort to prove her point, she referenced song lyrics in which Young Thug rapped about a hundred rounds being fired at a Tahoe while alluding to the fact Thomas was in a Tahoe when he was killed.
“Through the music that he has been blessed with the opportunity to be able to release and gain wealth from, through that music, through that blessing, the evidence will show that Jeffery Williams led a group of people that wreaked utter havoc on Fulton County,” she continued, according to Christina Maxouris of CNN.
Attorneys representing Williams, who has denied any involvement in the crimes Love referenced, attempted to motion for a mistrial after claiming the state presented evidence to the jury that had been previously barred from court. While the motion was dismissed, Judge Ural Glanville condemned the state for how its opening statements were prepared. 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles also took time to condemn the state’s use of Young Thug’s lyrics in court.
“If this were country music, rock music…we wouldn’t be here,” he stated, according Jewel Wicker and Bill Donahue of Billboard.
The trial is set to continue tomorrow as proceedings could last as long as six months. If convicted, Williams could spend the rest of his natural life in prison.
