ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the long-running organized crime and gang prosecution against Young Thug and others has been removed from the case after two of the defendants asked to recuse himself because of meetings between prosecutors and state’s witnesses.
Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Granville put the Atlanta case on hold two weeks ago to give another judge a chance to consider the defendants’ motion to recuse themselves. Judge Rachel Krauss granted the motion Monday and ordered the court clerk to assign the case to another judge.
Krauss did not criticize Judge Granville for holding the conference, saying he had “no doubt that Judge Granville can proceed fairly in this case,” but wrote that “the need to maintain public confidence in the judicial system” weighed in favor of removing Judge Granville from the case.
The ruling is sure to cause further delays in a trial that has already dragged on for more than a year. Jury selection began in January 2023 and took nearly 10 months. Opening statements took place in November, and prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses to make their case since then.
Grammy Award-winner Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, was charged two years ago with a wide-ranging indictment alleging that he and more than two dozen associates conspired to violate Georgia’s anti-organized crime laws. He also faces gang, drug and firearms charges and is on trial along with five others who were indicted with him.
Lawyers for Young Thug and co-defendant DiaMonte Kendrick filed a motion to recuse Glanville. They said the judge held a conference with prosecutors and prosecution witness Kenneth Copeland, but the defendants and defense were not present. The defense argued that the conference was “improper” and that the judge and prosecution were trying to pressure the witness into testifying.
Glanville maintained that the meeting was adequate and that no one gained a tactical advantage as a result.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office, which is prosecuting the case, has argued that Glanville should not have to resign.
The Associated Press reached out to lawyers for Glanville and Young Thug for comment on Monday’s ruling. A spokesman for Willis’ office declined to comment.
“While I have great respect for Chief Judge Granville and his service to this community and our country, he has simply become prejudiced over the course of this trial,” Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein, said in an email. He said he looks forward to hearing the case “before an unbiased judge,” but that the only fair outcome at this point is a “mistrial and bail” for Kendrick, who has been incarcerated for more than two years.
In his order, Judge Krauss wrote that he “generally agrees” with Judge Glanville’s assessment of the appropriateness of the meeting, finding that there was nothing inherently improper about the meeting or what was discussed, and that the meeting “could, and perhaps should, have been held in open court.”
But when Judge Glanville denied Judge Kendrick’s recusal motion in his courtroom, he “explained the context, questioned the veracity of the allegations, and otherwise explained his decisions and actions, and argued why those actions were appropriate.” Citing case law, Judge Kraus wrote that when judges disclose information about their potential recusal, “they must do so in as objective, dispassionate, and non-contentious a manner as possible so as not to be perceived as a hostile witness or advocate.”
Young Thug has enjoyed huge success since he began rapping as a teenager and is the CEO of his own record label, Young Stoner Life (YSL). His label’s artists are considered part of the “Slime family” and his compilation album, Slime Language 2, rose to number one on the charts in April 2021.
But prosecutors say YSL is also an abbreviation for Young Slime Life, a violent Atlanta-based street gang affiliated with the national Bloods gang that they say was founded by Young Thug and two others in 2012. Prosecutors say the individuals named in the indictment committed violent crimes, including murders, shootings and carjackings, to raise money for the gang, boost its reputation and expand its power and territory.
Young Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steele, acknowledged in his opening statement that his client’s songs describe violent acts, including murder, but said they were merely artistic expressions drawn from his difficult childhood and were not a record of his own actions.