Young Bashkasan sat silently at the defense table Thursday, flanked by his two attorneys as they reviewed the documents in front of him. This was the main point the criminal case of a rap superstar had turned the entire courtroom on his side.
Young Thug, who faces the potential of decades in prison for allegedly violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, stared at the table when Georgia Supreme Court Justice Paige Whitaker confirmed she would change her high-profile gang conspiracy charge to guilty. let him decide the case and the punishment.
“Did I get the wrong information?” – he asked. However, the rapper remained hesitant.
Sensing the struggle of Young Gulu, the referee announced a time-out. personally, Grammy Award-winning composerReal name Jeffery Lamar Williams, continued to agonize with his attorneys over whether to accept a “blind” plea — meaning his defense and prosecutors could not negotiate a sentence and it was left up to a judge instead. That option only emerged after the prosecution made a costly mistake last week, opening the door to a possible mistrial.
About 25 minutes later, Young Thug returned to the courtroom and stood in front of Whitaker. Yes, he was ready to put his fate in his hands.
In the end, the risky strategy paid off with a surprising decision: The judge ordered no prison time, instead ordering Young Hurricane to serve 15 years of probation with several conditions — but warning that he could face 20 years in prison if he doesn’t comply. . they are.
“I take full responsibility for my crimes and charges,” said Young Thug, 33, of Whitaker. He pleaded guilty to various drug, weapons and gang-related charges, but pleaded no contest to other gang and racketeering conspiracy charges. (He accepted the conviction without entering a plea, but pleaded not guilty.)
One of Young Thug’s attorneys, Keith Adams, told NBC News on Friday that his client said what he would do because some of the musician’s supporters want him to fight the charges to the end.
“His family wanted him to continue. But he is an adult and had the opportunity to analyze all options,” said Adams, adding that “it was not an easy decision.”
And there was an open question about what Whitaker might impose as punishment for the rapper.
Although the defense petitioned the judge for house arrest, the prosecution asked for a 45-year prison sentence with 25 years of imprisonment and 20 years of probation.
“It was a matter of whether or not we were going to put our fate in the judge’s hands,” Adams said.
The Fulton District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit against Young Thug and an initial slate of 26 defendants was brought by District Attorney Fanny Willis, bringing further attention to her office, which was under investigation for the stalled cases earlier this year. lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on state racketeering charges It is related to the 2020 elections.
Young Thug was accused of leading a street gang, Young Slime Life, or YSL, whose members allegedly committed illegal and violent acts such as murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking and carjacking. Prosecutors said YSL began in late 2012 in the Atlanta neighborhood with members affiliated with the national Bloods gang.
Most of the defendants have been in prison since 2022, and the trial was set to begin in early 2023 with jury selection, but the trial was halted after some of them accepted pleas or chose to have their cases tried separately. Since opening statements began in November 2023 against Ganj Bashkesan and the five co-defendants, the criminal case It became the longest period in the history of Georgia.
Without what happened last week, even getting to the point of a plea deal would have seemed unthinkable.
While on the stand, state witness Wunnie Lee, a rapper known as Slimelife Shawty, was asked by the prosecution to review his social media posts in front of the jury. But Lee accidentally provided an unedited version of the post that referenced the hashtag #freequa, which could be attributed to the defendants. Guamarvious Nichols and Markavius Huey.
The post has been edited for jury duty. But in Lee’s apparent reference to Qua, prosecutors allowed the jury to assume the defendants were in jail, a detail that should have been withheld because it was considered prejudicial.
The prosecutor’s misstep was big enough that Whitaker suggested he consider a mistrial.
And behind the scenes, Adams said, Whitaker suggested that prosecutors “take a serious look” and have conversations with the defendants’ legal teams about plea deals.
They come and go for days. At first, Nichols agreed to accept the plea; then another defendant, Rodalius Ryan; and then the third, Huey.
Adams said he and Young Thug’s other attorney, Brian Steel, wanted their client to remain in court. Adams believed the plea deals were a way for the prosecution to “save face” not only after last week’s misstep, but also after other issues that included a denial of a trial. previous judge in July.
Georgia attorney Andrew Fleischman, who is not involved in criminal cases, said the threat of a mistrial likely puts “a ton of pressure on both sides” to reach a settlement.
For Young Bashkasan, the lure of getting out of trial by way of a “blind” plea was important, as opposed to waiting until the end of the trial with only the possibility of acquittal.
During Young Thug’s sentencing Thursday, Steel explained that while he “vehemently” disagreed with some of the prosecution’s claims about the rapper’s criminal case, the chance to see his client’s six children was too much for him.
“He told me, ‘If I can go home, I can’t wait another three months because I have children who are suffering.’ I have work to do,” Polad told the judge.
Young Thug was released from the Fulton County Jail Thursday evening. As part of his probation, he must perform community service, cannot associate with affiliated gang members and cannot travel in metro Atlanta.
a press conference on Thursday eveningYoung Thug’s father, Jeffery Williams Sr., said he was upset about the travel ban and blamed Willis in particular. The district attorney is running for a second term as a Democrat in Tuesday’s election, but Williams said she is supporting Republican challenger Courtney Cramer. Both campaigns could not immediately be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Williams would like to see her son’s name officially cleared in court.
“I feel so good that he’s going home. However, I still wanted to fight,” said Williams. “But that’s his decision.”