Judge sanctions Young Thug trial prosecution, revokes witness’ probation
The judge in rapper Jeffery “Young Thug” Williams’ gang racketeering conspiracy trial in Atlanta sent a key prosecution witness to prison for five years on Friday for testifying against his plea agreement.
Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge’s probation revocation occurred one day after Judge Paige Reese Whitaker struck a retired police investigator’s testimony from the trial record because he commented in front of the jury that defendant Shannon Stillwell had been in prison.
Whitaker on Monday rejected prosecutors’ request to reconsider her decision to bar future testimony from the investigator.
Sledge, who was Young Thug’s head of security, was charged in the racketeering conspiracy case alongside Williams and Stillwell, but he took a plea deal in December 2022 that released him from jail on probation and required his testimony in trial. He agreed to testify to many incriminating things regarding the Young Slime Life gang that prosecutors accuse Young Thug of leading.
Here are some screenshots from Sledge’s plea agreement, via the Twitter account ThuggerDaily:
Previous YSL associates who’ve testified under plea deals haven’t testified the way prosecutors hoped, but Sledge’s testimony was the most blatant in how it contradicted his plea agreement. In cross-examination, Stillwell’s lawyer Max Schardt questioned Sledge about the factual acknowledgments and why he accepted them though he disagreed with them.
“Some of the acknowledgments that you did not agree with the state refused to change, correct?” Schardt asked.
“Yes,” Sledge answered.
“And you wanted to go home?” Schardt asked.
“Yes,” Sledge answered.
“Did you let your disagreement with the factual acknowledgments stop you from entering that plea?” Schardt asked.
“No,” Sledge answered.
“Why?” Schardt asked.
“Because I wanted to go home to my sick mother,” Sledge answered.
Judge Whitaker on Friday referenced Sledge’s “solemn oath” when he acknowledged the facts in his plea agreement and that failure to abide by his terms could lead to his probation being revoked. She likened his conduct to perjury and said “there is just not a proper regard for the judicial system and the seriousness with which an oath in court needs to be taken.”
“We’ve got to take seriously the court system,” she said.
Sledge was arrested in the courtroom. Whitaker revoked five years of his 30-year probation term. He’s already been on probation for about two years, so he’ll be credited for that and have about 23 more years of probation when he’s released.
Sledge’s imprisonment occurred at the end of a long week. Prosecutors have expanded their trial team in an apparent effort to speed testimony and get more summary witnesses in, as if they’re finally realizing their case is so sprawling it might be impossible for jurors to piece it all together.
Prosecutors called 19 witnesses on Tuesday, Oct. 15, which is the most ever in the 147 days court has been in session since late November 2023. Judge Whitaker is a much better judge than the judge who got recused in July, and the trial days are longer, busier, and consistently start at 5:45 a.m. my time. I’m busy each day covering the proceedings through TikTok and YouTube.
My YouTube channel continues to grow in subscribers and views, and my TikTok page has almost 232,000 followers and counting. Right now it feels like a full-time job because of the pace of the trial, and it continues Monday at 5:45 a.m. PT.
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