On Wednesday, July 10, 2024, Atlanta News First reported that Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel filed a motion calling for changes in the handling of the rapper’s high-profile RICO trial.
Steel filed an over 200-page motion late on Tuesday that made two major requests. First, he called for Judge Rachel Krause to recuse herself from deciding whether Chief Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville should be removed from overseeing the trial of Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, and other alleged members of his YSL record label.
Steel argued that Judge Krause should recuse herself because she sits on the same Fulton County Superior Court bench as Judge Glanville and because Glanville contributed $2,000 to Krause’s reelection campaign in April 2024. If Krause recused herself, another judge would make the decision on Glanville’s impartiality.
Steel’s second major request was for Williams to be released from jail and for all charges against him to be dropped, citing prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. He also wants prosecutors Adriane Love and Simone Hylton removed from the case.
The motion came in response to Judge Glanville recently putting the high-profile RICO trial on indefinite hold until the decision is made on his own recusal. Glanville had denied all previous defense motions seeking his recusal up until this point.
At the center of the latest delays is a secret June 10th ex parte meeting between Glanville, two prosecutors, a key witness named Kenneth Copeland who was cooperating with the prosecution, and the witness’s private attorney. Defense attorneys argue this private meeting without their presence was inappropriate and grounds for a mistrial.
If the case proceeds, jury selection has already set new state records for length. Prosecutors argue YSL is a criminal street gang, while the defense claims it is simply a record label. Young Thug specifically faces eight felony counts under Georgia’s RICO statute, originally intended for organized crime.
The motion and latest trial delays add yet more drama to one of the most closely watched cases in the country involving a prominent hip-hop artist. With the trial now indefinitely on hold pending important decisions about judicial impartiality, it remains unclear when or how the complex RICO proceedings against Young Thug will resolve.
Source: Atlanta News First
