Since his trial is pushed back until next year, Pooh Shiesty is making a renewed push to be released from custody on bail.
The rapper, born Lontrell Williams, is still behind bars as multiple co-defendants in his case have been granted pre-trial release. On June 11, Shiesty’s legal team filed a formal motion in U.S. District Court so that he could join them.
Shiesty’s trial, for the alleged robbery and kidnapping of Gucci Mane and his associates, is now set to begin on Feb. 22 of next year. It had previously been set for this July, but was pushed back this week due to the case’s complexity. Despite the seriousness of the charges, Shiesty’s attorneys believe that he should be able to prepare for his defense from his home rather than while sitting in jail.
“Lontrell needs to be out so he can fight for his freedom,” wrote his attorney, Kent Schaffer, in a statement.
For his renewed bail application after previously failed attempts, Shiesty’s team proposed several strict conditions to ensure that the rapper returns to court come trial time. He agreed to submit to regular drug testing, have major travel restrictions, and wear a GPS monitor for 24-hour surveillance — not to mention his willingness to avoid all contact with the cases’ co-defendants or alleged victims.
The underlying case centers on an incident at a Dallas recording studio on Jan. 10, 2026, when prosecutors allege Shiesty arranged a meeting with Gucci Mane under the pretense of a contract negotiation.
When he wasn’t released from his contract, Shiesty allegedly produced a "Draco" AK-style pistol and forced Guccci to sign the release paperwork at gunpoint. Shiesty also allegedly took Gucci’s wedding ring, watch, earrings, and cash. Another victim, identified only as M.M., was reportedly choked to near unconsciousness during the encounter.
In Shiesty’s application, he made several claims about the weakness of the case against him. Gucci Mane, the application says, went on social media and denied that the event happened — and even showed off the very same jewelry that had allegedly been stolen in the incident. In addition, no contract release paperwork, or video of Gucci confirming Pooh Shiesty’s release from his label, was ever found. Shiesty’s legal team also questions why he’s considered dangerous when the feds took almost three months to arrest him after the studio incident.
“The FBI knew about this alleged offense on the night it occurred,” the application says. “The Government did nothing… The Government cannot have it both ways: if Mr. Williams was truly the violent threat the Government now portrays, the decision to leave him unsupervised in the community for eighty days is inexplicable. If that decision was reasonable, then the Government's current dangerousness argument is overstated.”
Though Shiesty has yet to be released from detention, his co-defendant, rapper Big30, walked out of jail on June 4 after a judge rejected the government's flight risk and community danger arguments that previously kept him incarcerated. Similarly, Shiesty’s father, Lontrell Williams Sr., also secured a bond and was released last May after a federal judge denied the government's request to revoke his release. Pooh Shiesty’s alleged “right-hand man,” Kedarius Waters, is also out on bond.
