Jury to continue deliberating Monday in year-long YSL gang racketeering trial
Jurors last week reviewed surveillance videos from a fatal drive-by shooting in 2015.
Jurors in Atlanta, Georgia, will continue deliberating Monday in the YSL gang racketeering conspiracy and murder trial following a year of testimony and 10 hours of closing arguments.
Two defendants remain after four defendants pleaded guilty or no contest recently, including rapper Jeffery “Young Thug” Williams: Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon “SB” Stillwell.
Their charges include criminal gang activity and conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. Stillwell also is charged with two counts of murder for the Jan. 10, 2015, shooting death of Donovan Thomas and the March 14, 2022, shooting death of Shymel Drinks. Kendrick is charged with Thomas’ murder but not Drinks’.
Closing arguments on Nov. 25 ended a tumultuous year-long trial that included the rare mid-trial recusal of the trial judge as well as a trove of reluctant prosecution witnesses, contradictory testimony and consistent complaints from defense lawyers about late evidence disclosures and missing police reports.
The new judge, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, criticized prosecutors for their “ginormous” case and once said they spent the trial throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks. She’s also said convictions in the case could be overturned on appeal because of actions taken before her.
On Nov. 5, a juror sent a note to the judge asking to leave the case “due to the length of this trial and how the state has handled this case” and said he would “be biased toward any decisions moving forward.”
He was not removed from the jury.
“Frankly, if y’all are presenting the case in a way that’s driving a juror crazy, that’s on you,” Whitaker told prosecutors.
Instead, Whitaker told him the trial likely would finish before the end of the year, and he said he can stay on the case and assess the evidence with an open mind.
According to prosecutors, YSL is both the record label Young Stoner Life and the criminal street gang Young Slime Life, which they say Williams promotes in his music. Williams was the most high-profile defendant, and the six-time Grammy winner left the trial and jail on 15 years probation Oct. 31 after pleading guilty to three drug charges, two gun charges and a gang crime charge as well as no contest to leading criminal street gang activity and conspiracy to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law.
Three other defendants, Quamarvious Nichols, Marquavius Huey and Rodalius Ryan took plea deals. But Kendrick rejected an offer that would have sent him to prison for 15 years for racketeering conspiracy and voluntary manslaughter, and Stillwell rejected an offer that would have put him behind bars for 40 years and reduced his two murder charges to voluntary manslaughter.
To convict on the racketeering charge, jurors must unanimously agree that at least one so-called “overt act” was done in furtherance of the conspiracy and occurred after 2017. There are 191 in the indictment that range from social media posts to attempted murder, but Judge Whitaker eliminated some that were connected to the drug and gun charges she declared Kendrick not guilty on and reduced to lesser-included charges for Stillwell.
Closings focus on two murders 7 years apart
Much of the prosecution’s closing argument and rebuttal last week focused on the fatal shootings of Thomas and Drinks and the gang feud that festered in the seven years between.
Thomas, 26, was the leader of gang called Inglewood Family Bloods. Williams’ lawyers say they were friends, but prosecutors say Williams was feuding with Thomas as Thomas became concerned about rapper Dequantes “Rich Homie Quan” Lamar possibly leaving his music label.
Thomas was close with rapper Rayshawn “YFN Lucci” Bennett, and YFN and YSL associates still referenced his murder in social media posts seven years after his slaying. Prosecutors believe the years-long feud led to Drinks’ murder, including the stabbing of Bennett in February 2022 while he was in protective custody inside the Fulton County Jail.
Jurors heard a recorded phone call of inmate Chris “Bhris” Eppinger, a YSL associate who is in jail accused of shooting a police officer, asking another YSL associate, Antonio “Obama” Sumlin, for permission to stab Bennett. Defense attorneys say he asked for payment, not permission.
Prosecutors say news of Bennett’s stabbing led YFN associates to murder two YSL associates — Christian McMiller and Darius Ford — in a drive-by shooting on Interstate 75/85 on March 11, 2022.
Drinks, 23, had been pictured on Instagram with YFN associates celebrating the murders.
Prosecutors say Stillwell shot Drinks merely because he was associated with YFN and Stillwell wanted to avenge McMiller’s and Ford’s murders. McMiller had “been around since 2009” and was close with Williams, Hylton said, whom prosecutors still allege was controlling YSL and ultimately responsible for the gang violence.
“This is Mr. Williams’ long friend. Old friend. Good friend. And he gets murdered by YFN associates. Oh, you got to pay for that,” Hylton said.
After McMiller and Ford died, Stillwell posted on Instagram that he wouldn’t be the only one crying. He also texted his girlfriend, Taisha Alexander, about going “opp hunting,” and they rented a white Audi in Florida and illegally tinted the windows.
Alexander testified they rented the car after she shot a woman who tried to rob her and was fearful people were still after her, but prosecutors argue Stillwell wanted the Audi to use in his “opp hunting” gang revenge plan.
Prosecutors also have a recording from a court-authorized wire tap in which YSL associate Damekion “Lil Dee” Garlington says of Stillwell shortly after McMiller’s and Ford’s murders, “You know him. You know what he on. He on looking for them folks who killed our boys. That’s what he on.”
Surveillance videos show Stillwell’s rented Audi at a gas station where Drinks was before the murder. Videos also show the Audi stop briefly next to Drinks’ car at the intersection where Drinks was found dead, then accelerate suddenly through a red light and onto a nearby freeway.
Stillwell’s lawyer, Max Schardt, has focused on a third car that appears after Stillwell leaves. The car stops briefly by Drinks’ vehicle, then as fourth car turns around and leaves the area. Schardt suggested to jurors that the driver of the third car, who has never been identified, is the true killer.
But prosecutors say other evidence implicates Stillwell such as his social media activity before the murder and his actions afterward, which include recording a song at a music studio shortly after the shooting. In the song, Stillwell raps, “Pop that shit. I really got options. Poor little opps. Look how they just dropping.”
“Poor little opps. Look how they just dropping,” Hylton repeated in her rebuttal.
“Those are his words. After he just executed a man at a light. He going to the studio to rap about it,” she said.
Stillwell also fled police a few days later and tried to hide evidence, which Hylton said shows consciousness of guilt.
She called Drinks’ murder “100 percent gang related.”
“There’s no evidence about any kind of disagreement or anything with Shymel Drinks. They did it for YSL. They did it to get revenge,” Hylton said.
Kendrick’s lawyer Doug Weinstein cited the prosecution’s use of rap lyrics as evidence when he urged jurors to acquit on all charges.
“When you go back and deliberate, I believe that you can go back and send the message: Attacking people for their music and their lyrics and their art is wrong,” Weinstein said. “Targeting only people of color for their music and lyrics is wrong.”
In rebuttal, Hylton said she was taken aback by Weinstein’s statement because she is “a person of color.”
"The majority of this prosecution team are people of color. And we are not targeting people of color. We are targeting gang members who decided to wreak havoc on the communities in Fulton County,” Hylton said, adding that most of the victims in the case are people of color.
Hylton told jurors the defense is “trying to deceive you to tell you that this is all about rap music, rap business.”
“It is not. This is about death. How many dead bodies at the hands of YSL? How many people shot at the hands of YSL? They are a gang by every definition of the word,” said Hylton, who is the current president of the National Association of Black Prosecutors.
Prosecutors also point to Kendrick’s and Stillwell’s tattoos as evidence of their gang affiliation, including YSL tattoos and SLATT tattoos. Detectives testified that SLATT stands for Slime Love All The Time.
They also said YSL members have ESPN logo tattoos to signify Every Slime Play Nasty. Weinstein, however, suggested in cross-examination that Kendrick, a star high school football player who was offered scholarship to the University of Georgia, has it because he’s a huge sports fan.
‘This aint rap. This is a confession.’
Assistant District Attorney Christian Adkins began his closing argument by telling jurors the case is about “deception, intimidation, destruction and death.”
“Deception of the youth who get enamored with what is presented publicly and then deceived when they become a part of the criminal enterprise. Deception for law enforcement to not uncover the actions that they commit, and deception in this very courtroom with witnesses that have sat right before you to try to continue that enterprise,” he said.
Adkins introduced a song by Stillwell by telling jurors, “After publicly bragging and boasting about murders, what is their viewpoint on being held accountable? Well, take their own words. Don’t just take mine.”
Adkins then played a video of Stillwell rapping into the camera in 2019, “I just beat a murder rap. Paid my lawyer 30 for that. Me and my slimes above the law.”
Hylton said Stillwell was referring to the fact that at the time, he hadn’t been convicted of Thomas’ murder. She played two other songs in which she argues Stillwell references Thomas’ murder.
“This aint rap. This is a confession. Over a beat,” Hylton said.
Under the YSL indictment, five men are charged with Thomas’ murder: Kendrick, Stillwell, Demise “Nard” McMullen, Justin “Duwap” Cobb and Javaris “Tuda” Bradford. McMullen, Cobb and Bradford are among 11 defendants awaiting trial; Whitaker has a status conference scheduled for Tuesday.
Kendrick “alerted them about where Donovan Thomas was,” Hylton said, then waited 40 minutes at a gas station before exiting a Pontiac Bonneville and going to the Infiniti with Stillwell, from which the shots were fired that killed Thomas. Under Georgia’s murder law, Kendrick is “just as guilty as the ones who pulled the trigger.”
But Weinstein said Kendrick is innocent and that prosecutors cannot prove he was inside the Infiniti. Schardt has told jurors that YSL associate Kenneth “Woody” Copeland, who testified under a plea deal and immunity from prosecutors, killed Thomas, and he’s pointed to Copeland’s theft of Thomas’ chain and his ongoing feud with Thomas’ associates.
Gunmen targeted Copeland and other YSL associates shortly after Thomas’ murder because “the streets knew what it took the state and the government a long time to figure out,” Hylton said. They also shot at Williams’ family members’ home.
Copeland spoke to police several times after Thomas was killed, including just hours after the shooting. Jurors saw hours of the videos during trial as Copeland insisted on the witness stand that he lied to police when he implicated Kendrick and Stillwell.
Jurors in their deliberations are at least partly focused on Kendrick’s activity at the gas station.
They asked on Wednesday to view the videos of Kendrick getting in the car at the gas station, without specifying which car. They watched the videos of Kendrick entering the Pontiac, including the final video that shows him walking off camera, then getting in the Pontiac and driving away. They also watched at their request video of the shooting that killed Thomas.
They stopped deliberating about 3 p.m ET on Wednesday because of Thanksgiving and did not deliberate on Friday.
Also Wednesday, jurors asked about an issue that caused a stir on social media: Williams’ Richard Mille watch, which has implied was stolen by police during the May 2022 raid on the rapper’s home that led to his arrest.
Neither Schardt nor Weinstein called witnesses or presented evidence about the watch, but Weinstein asked police prosecution witnesses about it in cross-examination. Detective Mark Belknap testified he didn’t take the watch and he doesn’t know anyone who did.
Marissa Viverito, a gang investigator with the Atlanta Police Department, said she believes police never removed the watch from the home.
Weinstein asked in his closing argument where the watch is, and jurors on Wednesday wanted to know if he said “the” watch or “his” watch.
In a discussion outside the jury, Whitaker told Weinstein the watch is “a total red herring, and good for you for distracting them, but that is not an element of anything they’re to be considering.”
Weinstein said the missing watch goes to witness credibility, and that he said “the” watch. Whitaker ended up telling the jury that he said “the” but reminded them that “nothing the attorneys say is evidence.”
It’s always impossible to know why jurors ask the questions they ask, but online trial watchers have pointed out that the gang charge against Kendrick hinges on marijuana found in Williams’ home during the May 2022 raid.
Weinstein said in his closing argument that prosecutors have no evidence connecting the marijuana to Kendrick, who ran from the home when police arrived and was not directly seen possessing the drugs. Some have speculated online that at least some jurors could be trying to connect Kendrick to the marijuana through the watch.
The jury is continue deliberating at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT on Monday. I’ll stream any courtroom action on my YouTube channel.
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