Jury in rapper Young Thug's RICO trial sees investigator's harassing texts to witness
The trial in Atlanta, Georgia, could extend into 2027 if the jurors don't drop out, which most trial watchers assume will happen sooner than later.
The Young Thug racketeering conspiracy trial in Atlanta is a daily showcase of dysfunction, and Monday may have marked a new low as jurors saw harassing text messages an investigator sent a woman who was later jailed to force her testimony.
Identified in trial as A. Bennett, the woman testified last month about being sexually harassed by an investigator with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Young Thug’s lawyers obtained copies of the texts between Bennett and Investigator Rasheed Hamilton after complaining to the judge, and Keith Adams asked her about them on Monday.
“Hit me up if you’re bored later. We’re not gonna talk shop,” Hamilton wrote to Bennett.
Bennett testified that Hamilton told her he wanted to “date” her as he spoke with her about her possibly testimony in the trial against Thug and his five co-defendants, Rodalius Ryan, Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, Marquavius Huey, Shannon Stillwell and Quamarvious Nichols.
“Did he address you as ‘mama’ on more than one occasion?” Adams asked.
“Yes,” Bennett answered.
Adams continued.
“And this is February 7 of 2024, this year, when the investigator for the DA’s office is supposed to be talking to you about a case, but in fact, is calling you talking to you about going on a date. Is that true?” he asked.
“Yes,” Bennett answered.
Adams asked if Hamilton wanting to date her came “into your mind as you’re thinking about whether you have to come in here and testify or not.”
“Yes,” she answered.
Also, to make matters worse, Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love has emphasized throughout her questioning that Bennett said to tell the judge he can kiss her ass, but Adams established on Monday that she didn't say that, she instead complained about the harassment and asked a judge to call her.
Additionally, Adams on Monday highlighted texts between Bennett and Love in which Love isn’t nearly as bad as Hamilton but still seems too personal in a blatant attempt to win over a witness in a criminal prosecution. (Prosecutors argued the messages were innocuous niceties irrelevant to the trial.)
As I explained in an interview on LiveNOW from Fox, Bennett was arrested on a material witness warrant after prosecutors persuaded Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville she otherwise wouldn’t show up to testify.
As is typical in this trial, Bennett could have been a one- or two-day witness, but her testimony instead stretched over several days and led to problem after problem, including a failed recusal motion against Love that was argued over the course of an hour last Thursday. (At issue were Love’s questions to Bennett about their pre-trial interactions, which Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel argued made Love an unsworn witness.)
After a night in jail, Judge Glanville released Bennett to a hotel. Then when the trial was recessing for a week, he allowed her to go home on an ankle monitor but no restrictions on her movement, so long as she promised to show up to court to finish testifying on Monday, which she did.
Bennett is a witness to a shooting at her apartment in 2013 that prosecutors say was the work of Young Thug, his brother and Walter “DK” Murphy. Prosecutors say it was Murphy who fired a shot into Bennett’s wall, which Bennett now claims was a random shooting from outside her apartment.
One incredible fact is that the shooting is NOT part of the indictment. The indictment has 65 charges, and there are 191 overt acts supporting the rackteering conspiracy charge. We’re 55 days into trial and nowhere near the end of the prosecution’s case. Love last week estimated 153 remaining witnesses over 120 days, and that’s a laughably conservative estimate.
Still, Love and her team decided they needed to call Bennett to discuss an uncharged shooting, which opened the door for appalling testimony about their investigator and his tactics. As I said in a recent podcast interview, prosecutors are managing this case so poorly it’s almost like they don’t actually want to win.
Also, after showering Bennett with niceties before trial and saying her face wouldn’t be shown on the live stream, Love surprised her with an old video of her flashing gang signs, and her (much younger) face was clear as day on the live stream.
Regarding the length of the trial, defense attorney Doug Weinstein, who represents Yak Gotti, filed a motion to restrict the number of remaining witnesses, writing, “At the present, representative rate, it will take until approximately October 2026 to complete the presentation of State’s witnesses.”
Judge Glanville said last week he’ll consider the possible cumulativeness of testimony as it arises. He urged the attorneys to be better prepared, but he didn’t acknowledge the fact that he has never once started court on time the entire trial, and it’s he who insists on taking several “comfort breaks” every day.
Glanville also suggested holding court on Saturdays and Sundays, but we’ll see if that actually happens.
I continue to post copious amounts of clips on TikTok and YouTube, and people continue to be stoked about it. I’m up to 73,000 followers on TikTok, and I’m nearing 12,000 subscribers on YouTube. (Similar content, different formats.) I’m also now taking paid subscriptions on TikTok for $2.99 a month, for access to exclusive live discussions and analysis of the trial. You can be one of my first subscribers.
Looking ahead, I am reporting and writing a profile of Judge Glanville that will highlight a lot of recent testimony.
In the meantime, I leave you with these clips of state’s witness Adrian Bean, driver of the Nissan Altima that crashed into a laundromat on Sept. 11, 2013, and may or may not have been carrying Young Thug. Bean sang like a canary in a 2013 police interview, but he insisted during his multi-day witness stand appearance that he “don’t remember nothing about 2013.”
The final clip highlights Steel’s relentless lawyering and also why prosecutors complain about him testifying through his questions.
Coming soon to the witness stand: DK Murphy, Thug’s co-defendant who took a plea deal in December 2022. His testimony is expected late this week or next week, and he could be the best witness since his fellow confessed Young Slime Life gang co-founder, Trontavious “Tick” Stephens.
I’m streaming live on YouTube early Tuesday. You can watch here:
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