The Young Thug YSL RICO trial has continued on in the discovery phase of the process, but as jury selection finally reaches its conclusion, the prosecutor’s office has come under fire for what Judge Ural Glanville deemed an inappropriate move.
Shortly after the jury — comprised of seven Black women, two white women, two Black men and one white man, per Yahoo — was seated, Judge Glanville took the prosecutor’s office to task for exponentially expanding their witness list, and for being evasive with providing evidence required by discovery.
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“I am really annoyed about this,” Judge Glanville said from the bench on Thursday (November 2). “This is ridiculous! Your witness list has grown by two-thirds since then! And I don’t know why! You’d better have a dang good explanation on the 16th, because if you don’t, I’m going to exclude it. Right now, I’m telling you: without anything further, it’s gone.”
He continued: “This is ridiculous! There is no plausible explanation I’ve gotten that would suffice, and we just keep — you just keep dribbing and drabbing out evidence. Nuh-uh.”
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Check out the video of Glanville’s tongue-lashing below. The prosecution will respond in an upcoming hearing later this month.
Young Thug: Judge criticizes prosecution for "dribbing and drabbing out evidence" https://t.co/3Yh0bOWXIApic.twitter.com/0nzr4x7vo3
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) November 5, 2023
At the crux of the YSL RICO case is the belief that Young Thug’s Young Stoner Life label is actually a cover for a larger criminal enterprise called Young Slime Life.
The Punk rapper faces eight charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity, along with a string of drug and weapons offenses.
One by one, however, the defendant list has been dwindling and is now down to only six after yet another one pleaded out on Friday (November 3).
Atlanta-area outlets reported that defendant Derontae Bebee, also known as “Bee” or “B,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, theft by receiving stolen property, violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, possession of a firearm by convicted felon, and participation in criminal street gang activity.
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He was sentenced to 15 years in total: five years behind bars, and an additional 10 on probation. One of the conditions of his plea was that he needs to cease any and all promotion of YSL in the public eye — inclusive of social media. In addition, he will be required to testify in the trials of his co-defendants if he is called on to do so. However, Beebee’s attorney told news outlets that prosecutors were clear he would not be asked to.
Previous YSL associates to take plea deals include Gunna, Young Thug’s brother Unfoonk, Slimelife Shawty (Winnie Lee), Lil Duke (Martinez Arnold).YSL co-founder Walter Murphy, and Antonio “Obama” Sumlin.
