New judge in Young Thug trial signals testimony could resume next month

ATLANTA — An Atlanta-area judge appointed this week to take over the criminal racketeering and gang conspiracy trial of rapper Young Thug signaled Friday she hopes to resume testimony in the case next month but acknowledged she first needs to consider defense motions for a mistrial that could still halt proceedings.

In a 90-minute status hearing with attorneys in the case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said she hopes to bring jurors back on Aug. 5, at the earliest — nearly two months since they last heard testimony in the case. She repeatedly warned both prosecutors and the defense that she didn’t want to waste any time getting the proceedings back on track.

But Whitaker also nodded to defense attorneys who are pushing to scrap the existing trial and start again — motions that she plans to take up in a series of hearings later this month to tackle all pending issues over the trial, witnesses and evidence before she orders the jury to return to work.

“I would like for us to, if we’re going to be moving forward with this case, to be able to move forward with it and have all of whatever this is going to be out of the way,” Whitaker said.

In what was her first appearance on the bench since being assigned to the case Wednesday, Whitaker repeatedly suggested that if the trial does proceed, it will move at a brisker pace than before, emphasizing the need to be “efficient” and to stop “wasting” the jury’s time.

“I mean, this case has been going on for how long?” Whitaker said at one point, with a laugh.

The answer is 18 months and counting, making this the longest-running criminal trial in Georgia history.

Whitaker was assigned to the case two days after Judge Ural Glanville, who had presided over the case for two years, was removed mid-trial amid complaints he and prosecutors held an improper meeting with a key prosecution witness.

She was the third judge tapped to take on the case. The matter was originally transferred Monday to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram, but she abruptly recused on Wednesday, pointing to an earlier drama in the case in which her courtroom deputy was accused of having a romantic relationship with one of Young Thug’s co-defendants.

The deputy was later fired and arrested, and the co-defendant, Christian Eppinger, saw his case severed from Young Thug’s. But Ingram said in a written order the possibility that her former deputy could be called as a witness in the case could “undermine the public’s confidence in the impartiality of the proceedings” because of their former connection.

Whitaker is a former Fulton County prosecutor who also previously worked for the Georgia attorney general’s office. She was appointed to the bench by then-Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) in 2017 and has twice been reelected to full four-year terms.

There had been some speculation about whether Whitaker would remain on a case that has been riddled with endless drama since the rapper’s arrest more than two years ago. On Wednesday, word circulated that several attorneys involved in the case, including Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel, had sponsored a fundraiser for Whitaker’s 2022 reelection campaign. But prosecutors have not raised any objections.

The case has been slow-moving with jury selection that dragged on for 10 months, weeks-long breaks in testimony and other delays. Eight months after opening statements, prosecutors were only halfway through their witness list of more than 200 people when Glanville abruptly halted proceedings on July 1 in response to defense motions that he recuse. The jury last heard testimony on June 17.

Several attorneys involved in the case as well as outside legal experts have questioned the impact of that long break and whether jurors have been able to avoid coverage about the disruption in the case, which has been major news in Atlanta.

Steel has filed numerous motions for a mistrial, and he and other attorneys have renewed those motions in recent days. Late Thursday, Steel again filed a motion to remove Adriane Love, an assistant Fulton County district attorney who is leading the case, and another prosecutor who were in last month’s secret meeting with Glanville and Kenneth Copeland, a former Young Thug associate and key witness.

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In a motion last week, Steel gave notice that he plans to call Glanville and Love as defense witnesses to question them under oath about the meeting with Copeland and any other private meetings related to the case that he says defendants should have been privy to.

An immediate question is whether Whitaker will proceed with the current jury and continue with the case or start over — as some defense attorneys have argued, citing issues with Glanville’s handling of the proceedings. If the trial is further delayed, Steel and other attorneys are expected to press for their clients to be released on bond — a move that is likely to be vigorously opposed by prosecutors.

In the hearing Friday, which was not attended by Young Thug or any of his co-defendants, Whitaker asked all of the attorneys to introduce themselves and to inform her about their pending motions as she seeks to quickly get up to speed on the case.

She declined to take up any of the “substantive” issues, including the motions for mistrial, pushing consideration of those requests to a series of hearings beginning July 30 when she said she wants the attorneys to “litigate” any remaining conflicts that could delay the proceedings if they ultimately resume.

Some defense attorneys are seeking to have Whitaker revisit some of Glanville’s past rulings, including on evidence, but she suggested Friday she is not inclined to look back — a move that could be fodder for the defense as they seek to halt proceedings.

“Obviously, I’m parachuting in, and I’m just going to have to pick up from that. I am not going to go back,” Whitaker said. “I cannot go back and reconsider every evidentiary ruling that’s already been made.”

While she postponed major decisions in the case, Whitaker strongly signaled she plans to run the courtroom far differently than Glanville, who was known for rarely starting court on time. Whitaker, who began Friday’s hearing two minutes early, admonished attorneys that court would begin each scheduled day at 8:45 a.m. and that she would not put up with tardiness. She also lectured the parties on eating in the courtroom. “We’re not at a movie. We’re not going to be eating popcorn,” she said.

In what seemed to be an order directed at Young Thug, who often attends court in elaborate outfits, Whitaker ordered defense attorneys to clean out courthouse closets where their clients’ trial attire was being stored, saying their wardrobe had grown too unwieldy. “We shouldn’t have 20 outfits for everybody,” she said.

Whitaker also banned Young Thug and his co-defendants from using headphones to listen to music during proceedings. When a defense attorney told her they’d been doing that to combat “boredom” in the courtroom, Whitaker smiled, and replied, “Well, we won’t be bored from here on out.”

The Young Thug prosecution is one of two high-profile criminal racketeering cases being led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D). Last summer, the veteran prosecutor brought charges against former president Donald Trump and more than a dozen of his associates, alleging that they criminally conspired to try to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.

That case is now frozen, as Trump and others appeal a judge’s decision to allow Willis to continue prosecuting the case amid complaints that she had an improper romantic relationship with the former lead prosecutor she appointed to the case. There have been growing concerns among supporters of Willis that the Young Thug case might also be derailed, providing more ammunition to her political critics in a year where she’s seeking reelection as Fulton County’s top prosecutor.

Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, and 27 associates were charged in May 2022 as part of a sweeping grand jury indictment that alleged the rapper and his co-defendants were members of a violent criminal street gang in Atlanta.

Prosecutors have alleged Young Thug was head of the gang, known as YSL, or Young Slime Life, and have charged him with criminal racketeering, gang conspiracy, and drug and weapons charges, while others were charged with other violent crimes, including murder and attempted armed robbery.

Young Thug’s attorneys have contended that YSL is merely a record label and have attacked prosecutors for introducing Young Thug’s lyrics as evidence at trial, arguing that his rhymes were merely artistic expression, not literal recountings of criminal acts.

The rapper is standing trial with five co-defendants, after others had their cases severed. All have pleaded not guilty.

On Friday, Whitaker suggested to both prosecutors and defense attorneys that they might use the weeks before the jury returns to reconsider plea offers. “That might be fruitful,” she said.

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