The long-running gang and racketeering trial that led Atlanta rapper Young Thug to plead guilty in October ended on Tuesday with the last two defendants found not guilty of racketeering, murder and gang-related charges.
Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was acquitted of all charges and Shannon Stillwell was found guilty only of gun possession.
The verdicts came nearly two years after jury selection began and a year after opening statements in a trial plagued with problems. The original, sweeping indictment used song lyrics and social media posts as evidence and charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Young Thug, a Grammy-winning artist whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was set free on probation after he pleaded guilty in October to gang, drug and gun charges.
Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in a 2015 drive-by shooting outside an Atlanta barbershop that killed Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” who prosecutors said was in a rival gang.
Stillwell was also charged with fatally shooting Shymel Drinks at a red light in 2022, allegedly in retaliation for the killings days earlier of two associates in a gang known as YSL, which prosecutors said was co-founded by Young Thug.
Stillwell was sentenced to the 10-year maximum for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon previously convicted of a felony involving a gun, with credit for the two years he already served and the balance to be served on probation.
Nine of the defendants, including the rapper Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began, and four more pleaded guilty during the trial, in October. Charges against 12 others remain pending.
Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case. That left Kendrick and Stillwell, both of whom were stabbed while in jail — Stillwell last year and Kendrick on Sunday.
District attorney used same law to charge Trump
Tuesday’s verdicts were a major setback for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Critics had criticized her use of the state’s anti-racketeering law, which she also used to bring charges against president-elect Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
“We always respect the verdict of a jury,” said Jeff DiSantis, a spokesperson for Willis.
Defence attorneys said the state relied on faulty evidence — song lyrics, cherry-picked social media posts and unreliable witness testimony — to create a misleading narrative about young men who turned to music to escape economic hardship and difficult pasts.
The jury’s decision left Kendrick’s mom, Tasha Kendrick, in tears.
“I’m just thankful for a lot of things right now,” she said. “My emotions are all over the place right now.”
Prosecutors said Williams and two others founded Young Slime Life in association with the national Bloods gang in 2012. The 33-year-old artist also has a record label called Young Stoner Life.
Deamonte Kendrick is featured on two of the most popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2 — Take It to Trial and Slatty — as well as Young Thug’s Slime Shit, which prosecutors presented as evidence.
Williams entered a risky “blind” plea — meaning he pleaded guilty without an agreement on his sentence — in October.
Young Thug let out of jail with tight restrictions
Judge Paige Reese Whitaker let him out of jail on probation with tight restrictions, including a 10-year ban from metro Atlanta except for certain occasions.
The trial shook Atlanta’s rap scene.
Williams grew up in an Atlanta housing project and became a highly successful artist who added his own melodic twist to the modern Southern trap sound he helped popularize.
Front Burner22:14Young Thug and lyrics on trial
Atlanta rappers Young Thug and Gunna are among 28 people that a U.S. grand jury indictment accuses of being part of a criminal street gang.
The alleged members of the Young Slime Life gang are charged under Georgia’s racketeering law known as RICO, which is similar to federal laws introduced in the 1970s to combat the mafia. The 56-count indictment includes allegations of murder and attempted armed robbery.
Some of the evidence of gang activity cited by prosecutors are lyrics from artists like Young Thug. Today, journalist and commentator Jacques Morel discusses why prosecutors are bringing lyrics into courtrooms, and why the practice seems to target Black men and hip hop artists.
During closing arguments, Stillwell’s defence attorney Max Schardt sought to cast doubts on the gang investigators and other state witnesses.
Several alleged YSL members testified they had lied to police to stay out of prison. Schardt said officers had threatened them with long prison sentences if they didn’t say the right thing.
Prosecutors said those witnesses were honest with police but lied on the stand, in front of the people they had “snitched” on.
They said their statements were corroborated by other evidence such as songs and social media posts where they said defendants were “bragging about murder.”
Prosecutors threw together lyrics, social media posts and irrelevant evidence to “see what sticks,” Weinstein argued, but did not prove they were connected to a criminal enterprise.
Both defence attorneys said Kendrick and Stillwell have other pending charges, but hope to get them released from jail as soon as possible.