Young Thug’s ongoing YSL RICO trial has asked for more than 500 potential jurors to come forward as the jury selection process continues to drag on.
The YSL leader — who faces eight charges, including conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and two counts of participation in criminal street gang activity, along with multiple drug and weapons offenses — has suffered a string of bad luck during the jury selection process so far.
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As the search for jurors drags on, many potential jurors have ended up being ineligible for jury duty due to strange circumstances. Thug’s lawyer Brian Steele recently claimed that a potential juror had even attempted to reach out to him via email. While the contents of the message weren’t disclosed during the hearing, it was enough for the judge to order an investigation.
To combat incidents such as the aforementioned, the Atlanta Journal Constitution report that Judge Ural Glanville is substantially widening the pool of potential jurors in order to find enough who actually qualify.
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“Judge Glanville thinks we’ll need 500-600 jurors in the pool after hardships,” reporter Shaddi Abusaid tweeted earlier this week. “Of those, ‘We’ll need to qualify close to 100 folks.’ before strikes.”
“More groups of jurors being brought in Feb. 24, March 17, April 28 and May 19,” Abusaid added.
The jury selection process has been brutal on Thugga since it began on January 9. Many potential jurors are reportedly concerned with the length of the trial, which they’ve been told could last as long as six to nine months.
One of the potential jurors also reportedly didn’t return last month after flying out to the Dominican Republic.
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Judge Glanville ordered authorities to go to her home and demand she be brought directly to court from the airport. Another juror also reportedly called in sick.
Potential jurors have already watched a three-hour video of Glanville reading through YSL’s initial sweeping indictment, which included select lyrics from Thugger’s 2016 song “Slime Shit” that prosecutors sought to have included as evidence.
In a clip leaked to social media, Glanville can be seen reciting the song’s hook, which hears Young Thug rap: “Hey, this that slime shit, hey/ Y SL shit, hey/ Killin’ 12 shit, hey/ Fuck a jail shit, hey/ … Cookin’ white brick, hey, hey/ […] I’m not new to this, hey, I’m so true to this, hey I done put a whole slime on a hunnid licks.”
The judge also read lyrics from the song’s actual verses by Lil Duke, PeeWee Roscoe and Yak Gotti, including: “Slime or get slimed/ […] In the VIP and I got that pistol on my hip/ You prayin’ that you live/ I’m prayin’ that I hit/ […] Hey, this that slime shit/ Fuck, fuck the police (Fuck ’em), in a high speed.”
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Young Thug’s attorneys filed a motion last November asking to exclude songs, lyrics, music videos and social posts from the evidence in the trial.
