The hotly-anticipated trial of the rapper Young Thug is underway in a courtroom in Atlanta, Georgia, following almost a year of delays.
Back in May 2022, Young Thug, real name Jeffery Williams, was arrested and charged in a sprawling RICO indictment along with 27 other defendants.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis – who is using the same law to prosecute Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state – accused the suspects of being part of a criminal street gang named YSL.
According to prosecutors, the gang is responsible for a series of violent crimes, including murders, shootings, carjackings and racketeering.
Young Thug has denied the accusations and insisted that YSL is simply Young Thug’s record label – Young Slime Life.
After several defendants took plea deals or had their cases severed, the Grammy Award-winning rapper and five others are finally going on trial.
The trial is off to a rocky start. A late juror delayed the trial by an hour and a half. The prosecution faced three objections from the defence, all of which were sustained, and the defence motioned for a mistrial, but the bid was denied.