Jury are deliberating in the long-running YSL gang and racketeering trial

ATLANTA (AP) — Deliberations are underway in Atlanta after a year of testimony in the gang and racketeering trial that originally included the rapper Young Thug.

Jurors are considering whether to convict Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, on gang, murder, drug and gun charges. The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Opening statements in the trial for six of those defendants happened a year ago. Four of them, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. The rapper was freed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

Both seemed to be in good spirits Tuesday morning after closings wrapped the previous night. Kendrick was chatting and laughing with Stillwell and his lawyers before the jury arrived for instructions.

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” in an Atlanta barbershop.

Prosecutors painted Stillwell and Kendrick as members of a violent street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, co-founded in 2012 by Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. During closings on Monday, they pointed to tattoos, song lyrics and social media posts they said proved members, including Stillwell, admitted to killing people in rival gangs.

Prosecutors say Thomas was in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged in the 2022 killing of Shymel Drinks, which prosecutors said was in retaliation for the killing of two YSL associates days earlier.

Defense attorneys Doug Weinstein and Max Schardt said the state presented unreliable witnesses, weak evidence and cherry-picked lyrics and social media posts to push a false narrative about Stillwell, Kendrick and the members of YSL.

Schardt, Stillwell’s attorney, reminded the jury that alleged YSL affiliates said during the trial that they had lied to police. Law enforcement played a “sick game” by promising they would escape long prison sentences if they said what police wanted them to say, Schardt said. He theorized that one of those witnesses could have killed Thomas.

The truth is that their clients were just trying to escape poverty through music, Schardt said.

“As a whole, we know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rap, prison or death.”

Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, an acronym of Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial” and “Slatty,” which prosecutors presented as evidence in the trial.

Weinstein, Kendrick’s defense attorney, said during closings it was wrong for prosecutors to target the defendants for their music and lyrics. Prosecutor Simone Hylton disagreed, and said surveillance footage and phone evidence supported her case.

“They have the audacity to think they can just brag about killing somebody and nobody’s gonna hold them accountable,” Hylton said.

The trial had more than its fair share of delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months, and Stillwell was stabbed last year at the Fulton County jail, which paused trial proceedings.

Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July because he had a meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present.

Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors over moves such as not sharing evidence with defense attorneys, once accusing them of “poor lawyering.” But the trial sped up under her watch.

In October, four defendants, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty, with the rapper entering a non-negotiated or “blind” plea, meaning he didn’t have a deal worked out with prosecutors.

Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against 12 others are pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon