Young Thug is coming home from prison after making a non-negotiated plea in the RICO trial against his record label, YSL. The rapper, born Jeffery Williams, pleaded guilty to various firearm and drug charges, along with one count of participation in criminal gang activity, while pleading no contest to a RICO charge and a gang leadership charge. He was sentenced to serve five years, commuted to time served, along with various conditions. Below, the latest on his plea and sentencing.
Young Thug’s non-negotiated plea
October 31, 5:22 p.m.: Young Thug made a non-negotiated plea in the long-running RICO trial against his record label, YSL. The rapper pleaded guilty to various firearm and drug charges, along with one count of participation in criminal gang activity. Thug pleaded nolo contendere, or no contest, to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and to a leadership charge on criminal participation in criminal gang activity. His non-negotiated plea means both the state and his attorneys can recommend separate sentences, and Judge Paige Reese Whitaker will decide on sentencing. Adriane Love, the chief deputy district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, recommended a sentence of 45 years, with 25 to be served in custody and 20 on probation. Thug’s attorneys have yet to make their sentencing recommendation.
Thug’s plea followed a moment of drama in the Atlanta courtroom. When court returned late in the afternoon on October 31, Judge Whitaker said she understood Thug’s team was at an “impasse” with the state. She then asked if he wanted to enter a non-negotiated plea. Thug appeared uncertain. Whitaker then called a recess for Thug to consult with his attorneys. When court returned about a half-hour later, Thug was prepared to enter his non-negotiated plea.
Young Thug was being tried alongside five co-defendants, in what became the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. Three of those co-defendants — Quamarvious Nichols, Marquavius Huey, and Rodalius Ryan — took plea deals earlier this week. Another co-defendant, Yak Gotti, turned down a new plea deal today, according to his attorney, Doug Weinstein. “Yak Gotti has rejected the state’s latest plea offer and fully intends to take this to the jury and get our not guilty verdicts and go home,” Weinstein told Atlanta’s WSB-TV. The final co-defendant, Shannon Stilwell, also turned down a plea deal, Law & Crime reported.
Young Thug is going home
October 31, 7 p.m.: Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced Young Thug to 40 years, to serve five, commuted to time served, allowing the rapper to leave jail for the first time in more than two years. Thug will be on probation for 15 years, with a 20-year sentence “backloaded” after. The backloaded sentence will be suspended if he does not violate the terms of his probation. As part of his probation, Thug must leave the metro Atlanta area and cannot return for ten years, barring family weddings, graduations, and funerals. He must also return four times a year to give an anti-gang and -violence presentation to children, which can include a benefit concert. He is not allowed to associate with known gang members or people named in the RICO indictment, with exceptions for his brother and for Gunna, who he is contractually obligated to work with.
Whitaker’s sentence largely reflected the one proposed by Thug’s attorneys. During the plea hearing, his attorney Brian Steel delivered a heated takedown of the state’s case, accusing them of lying and contorting evidence — including Thug’s own lyrics — to make an example of his client. “What the state of Georgia has presented to this jury and this courtroom in the past year has been full of untruths, and they know it,” Steel said. Steel emphasized that he was expecting to see the trial through, but Thug wanted to prioritize getting home to his family and taking care of his health. “He told me he wakes up every day and it’s another day in H-E-blank-blank,” Steel said.
Young Thug also addressed Judge Whitaker. Wearing a brown sweater, he was apologetic as he committed to changing his life after his requested release. “I am a smart guy, I am a good guy, and I really got a good heart, you know,” he said. “I find myself in a lot of stuff because I was just nice or cool, and I understand that you can’t be that way when you reach a certain height, because it could end bad.” He told Whitaker she was “the best thing that has happened to me” for presiding over a fair trial, and hoped he would never have to see her again, “unless it’s at a bar in the future or something.” Thug also expressed intentions to change what he raps about in the future, saying he’s “older now” and has “more to rap about.”
Delivering her sentence, Whitaker reminded Thug of his influence on children, asking him to be “more of the solution and less of the problem.” She also acknowledged that the state “does not seem to be particularly worried” about Thug being dangerous if it was willing to offer him a sentence commuted to time served in a plea deal. Steel said Thug did not agree with the state’s conditions, which involved him admitting to a leadership role in a gang.