It’s completely fair if you have no idea what’s going on with Young Thug and his YSL RICO case these days. It’s been more than two years since he was first arrested. In that time, there’s been nearly 10 months of jury selection and more than six months of witness testimony. In the past month alone, there have been three judges in this case, with the most recent one, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, taking the reins less than two weeks ago. Even she’s forced to play catch up right now before things can move forward.
With Whitaker hearing several motions this week—including requests for a mistrial—and the jury scheduled to return soon, we asked a number of legal experts to weigh the likelihood that a mistrial will be declared. While nothing in this case has been predictable thus far, they say a mistrial seems unlikely for now. And, even if one is granted, that’s no guarantee that prosecutors won’t attempt to try the case again.
It’s completely fair if you have no idea what’s going on with Young Thug and his YSL RICO case these days. It’s been more than two years since he was first arrested. In that time, there’s been nearly 10 months of jury selection and more than six months of witness testimony. In the past month alone, there have been three judges in this case, with the most recent one, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, taking the reins less than two weeks ago. Even she’s forced to play catch up right now before things can move forward.
With Whitaker hearing several motions this week—including requests for a mistrial—and the jury scheduled to return soon, we asked a number of legal experts to weigh the likelihood that a mistrial will be declared. While nothing in this case has been predictable thus far, they say a mistrial seems unlikely for now. And, even if one is granted, that’s no guarantee that prosecutors won’t attempt to try the case again.
Why are defendants asking for a mistrial?
To understand what’s to come for the YSL defendants, you need to know what’s been going on in this case for the past month.
Defense attorneys have alleged that Judge Ural Glanville held a “secret” meeting with witness Kenneth “Lil Woody” Copeland, Copeland’s attorneys and prosecutors that defendants had a right to be privy to. They say this, along with the fact that they believe Glanville “coerced” Copeland to testify during the meeting, was a violation of their client’s rights to a fair trial. They subsequently requested the judge recuse himself on June 12, but the request was denied. Copeland went on to testify in front of the jury for several days after the meeting.
At the beginning of July, Glanville placed the trial on hold until another judge decided on his recusal. He was subsequently recused. Then the new judge assigned to the case recused herself, too. The third and current judge, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, was assigned to the case on July 17. She asked defense attorneys to file any outstanding motions regarding the case so that she can begin hearing them this week.
Last week, YSL co-defendant and rapper Yak Gotti’s (real name Deamonte Kendrick) attorneys filed a motion for a mistrial in the case. The motion partially focuses on whether or not jurors will be able to disregard the testimony they heard from Copeland after Yak Gotti’s first motion to recuse Glanville was denied on June 12. In a hearing regarding the motion this week, Young Thug’s attorney stressed that, unlike his co-defendant, he is “not asking for a mistrial.”
Cortney Lollar, a Georgia State University professor who focuses on criminal law, procedure and evidence, says it’s “fairly unrealistic” to ask a jury to disregard critical testimony such as Copeland’s, although courts tend to be “very invested in the idea that if the jury is told by the court to disregard something, they can and will.”
“I think most practicing lawyers think it is really hard to unring a bell once rung, especially given what I understand to be the critical nature of Kenneth Copeland’s testimony to the prosecution’s case,” she adds. “It’s like telling a jury ‘don’t think about the big pink elephant over there’—for most people, that’s all they can think about after being told that.”
But attorney Max Schardt, who represents co-defendant Shannon Stillwell, said he only wants this case to end in a mistrial if the state is unable to bring the case again. “Mr. Stillwell does NOT wish to demand a mistrial, absent jeopardy attaching,” the attorney said in his recent motion for a fair and constitutional trial. “Mr. Stillwell has been incarcerated since and has suffered through the duration of this case. Starting a trial all over again is not a viable option for Mr. Stillwell. Furthermore, the defense has completely neutralized all testimony and documentary evidence presented against Mr. Stillwell thus far. In other words, the defense is winning this trial.”
How likely is the judge to grant one?
Legal experts in Georgia say the new judge will have a lot to consider when deciding whether or not she should grant a mistrial for the longest trial in Georgia history.
Ultimately, Lollar believes Whitaker is “unlikely” to grant one at this time, partially based on the amount of time and resources that have already been spent on this case.
“I know some commentators think the odds are better for a mistrial this time than with the earlier motions. I generally agree with that. However, I’m still not sure the judge will grant a mistrial at this point,” she says. “Most judges are really reluctant to go that route if they can at all avoid it, and that’s going to be particularly true in a trial of this scope and length. That said, if a mistrial is not granted, and a conviction later results, the failure to grant the mistrial will certainly be an issue raised on appeal.”
Gerald Griggs, Georgia NAACP president and a defense attorney, agrees. “I think that even though [the motions have] a compelling argument, it will probably not win the day,” he says.
What happens if a mistrial is granted?
Even if Judge Whitaker grants a mistrial, that doesn’t mean Young Thug’s legal troubles are over. Both Griggs and Lollar say they believe the state would seek to retry the case against the defendants.
“They would absolutely try it again. I don’t think the District Attorney’s office’s position has changed,” Griggs says.
The attorney has firsthand experience trying a RICO case in Fulton County. He represented one of the defendants in the 2014 RICO case against Atlanta Public School teachers in Fulton County. Notably, Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney who brought the charges against Young Thug and his co-defendants, was the lead prosecutor for the APS trial.
“This [trial] is a career maker and a career ender. To try a RICO case like this, you are in it for the long haul, regardless of how long it takes,” he adds. “APS is the perfect example. A decade [after the trial ended] and they still were forced to enter those pleas. I don’t think YSL is going to go anywhere other than back to another trial if it ends in a mistrial.”
And, Griggs, notes that if the APS teachers involved in that nearly-eight-month-long cheating trial—previously the longest trial in Georgia history—were tied up in a decade of appeals, the YSL case could drag on for even longer.
“The evidence so far has been scant. And it feels like we are wasting exorbitant amounts of taxpayer dollars,” Griggs adds.
Still, Lollar says a new trial could give prosecutors a chance to better reassess their witnesses and reflect on the rest of their case, too. “Prosecutors will certainly have a better sense of their witnesses’ strengths and weaknesses—at least the witnesses who have already testified,” she says.
The professor says the state could also consider offering plea deals or dismissing the charges against some of the defendants in order to make the case more manageable the next time around. “That said, given the massive scope of this case, how much the state already has invested in it, and the apparent determination of the state to push forward regardless of cost, there really is a question as to whether prosecutors will weigh things with as level a head as they would in the ordinary case,” she adds. This case has garnered so much publicity and has already taken such an investment of resources, it’s possible the state may double down and decide to retry all the same defendants who are currently being tried.”
Griggs says there’s no reason that this trial, including the lengthy jury selection, has taken this long. If a mistrial is granted and a new case is brought against Thug and his co-defendants, offering plea deals or re-evaluating witnesses might help cut down on the trial length for this complex case.
What happens if this trial moves forward?
Prosecutors have asked the state to deny the requests for a mistrial, maintaining that their meeting with Copeland, his attorneys and Judge Glanville was proper and saying neither the “temporary recess” or a new judge necessitates one. Still, it remains to be seen what will happen in the coming months if the trial continues on under Judge Whitaker.
Attorney Griggs seems to side with Shannon Stillwell’s attorney Max Schardt when it comes to who is currently winning the case, though. “From the evidence I have seen, I don’t think the state has proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt on any of the defendants, especially with the star witness Lil Woody. That was must-see TV and I’m sure the jury had a field day with that. If that’s their star witness, then you continue on with this trial and hopefully get an acquittal for your clients,” he says.
Professor Lollar says Judge Whitaker has a tough task ahead of her if this case continues, especially because she’ll have to catch up on more than six months of witness testimony and previous rulings from Judge Glanville. “I think it would be really tough for a judge to truly ever catch up. And, in the event of a conviction, it creates an even greater likelihood for the case to get overturned on appeal,” she says.
It’s hard to speculate on how long the rest of the trial would take under Whitaker, but Thug’s most recent request for a bond was denied by her this week. For now, he’ll be forced to await the end of trial from Cobb County Jail.
If the motions for a mistrial are denied and the judge is able to rule on the remaining motions in front of her this week, the jury will return the week of Aug. 5.
Of course, the jury will notice there’s a new judge presiding over the case now. “The jury is going to have in the back of their minds, something happened for the judge to be removed,” Griggs says. “The question is, is that going to weigh in favor of the state or in favor of the defendant?”