Young Thug‘s ongoing RICO trial has become involved in more controversy after Atlanta rapper Slimelife Shawty was accused of snitching on YSL.
Shawty, who has worked with the likes of Future, Lil Durk and Nardo Wick, testified on Wednesday (October 23) that Thug’s YSL (Young Stoner Life) label is also a gang.
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When asked by prosecutors if YSL was a gang outside of its musical output, the rapper replied: “Some people treat it like that.”
He then added: “I treated it that way, before,” clarifying that he treated being in YSL as a “gang.”
#Slimelifeshawty takes the stand in #Ysl case & testifies that himself and other’s treated #Ysl if it was a gang. 😑 pic.twitter.com/H6nVdjXNZK
— FOREVER I ❤️ ATLANTA🖤 (@REALSHITTATL) October 23, 2024
After his testimony, some people online called out Slimelife Shawty, claiming he snitched on Young Thug by calling YSL a gang.
Prosecutors allege the crew, led by Thug, are an organized street gang behind a series of violent crimes in the Atlanta area, including murder and armed robbery.
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Shawty quickly hit back at the allegations, writing on his Instagram Stories: “Ain have to tell on nobody duck n-gga, every n-gga that den like me only happy cus that belt been off that behind, I can @ both u duck n-ggas and make y’all remember.
“You n-ggas belong to (Get Low Records) cus that’s all y’all ever did, I can merch it. I’m chillin tho I luv you all.”
Slimelife Shawty had more to say after testifying in the YSL Rico trial. pic.twitter.com/KUJ40qE6eE
— No Jumper (@nojumper) October 24, 2024
The long and controversial trial is potentially heading to a mistrial after Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said in court that she was considering a mistrial without prejudice, which would allow the state to retry the case at a later date.
The defense had no immediate answer to whether they wanted to request one, and court adjourned for the day on Wednesday despite Young Thug’s representatives earlier calling for a mistrial.
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The issue began when Slimelife Shawty was shown a social media post while on the witness stand as an exhibit for him to help present to the jury. The original post contained the hashtag #FreeQua, referring to a jail sentence for one of Thug’s co-defendants, Marquavius Huey.
However, the version of the post that was being shown to the jury had the hashtag redacted because the jury is not allowed to believe that either Huey or a different “Qua” 2 who is also a defendant, Quamarvious Nichols, have been incarcerated.
Shawty was asked to read the IG post and — reading from a version provided to him, not the one being shown to the jury — he read out loud the “Free Qua” hashtag.
That led to Nichols’ attorney Nicole Westmoreland asking for a mistrial.
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“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell, your honor,” she said. “The state presented to the witness, I guess, the unredacted version [of the exhibit], didn’t prep him to not comment on it, and he did.”
Judge Whitaker then criticized prosecutors for the slip-up: “You should have presented [the witness] with a document that had that part [the hashtag] redacted. It’s just sloppy… It should have occurred to you.”
