The new judge presiding over the racketeering and gang prosecution of rapper Young Thug and several other defendants says she plans to move forward with the trial, which has dragged on for more than a year.
ATLANTA– The new judge presiding over the racketeering and gang prosecution of rapper Young Thug and several other defendants said Friday that she plans to move forward with the trial, which has dragged on for more than a year.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker held a hearing with prosecutors and defense attorneys to understand the pending issues she needed to address and set some ground rules.
Whitaker received the case after the first judge to oversee it, Chief Judge Ural Glanville, was removed. Two defendants had requested his recusal, citing a meeting the judge had with prosecutors and a state witness.
Jury selection began in January 2023 and lasted almost ten months. Opening statements were in November and the prosecution has since presented its case, calling dozens of witnesses.
Whitaker said she was skydiving and had not been following the case.
The case is currently on hold and jurors are scheduled to appear in August. Whitaker said she plans to start court promptly at 8:45 a.m. She also asked for a “realistic” witness list from lawyers, including what they expect those witnesses to say.
She noted that she had the power to exclude evidence and said she could use that.
“I have to try to be efficient with the jury’s time,” she said.
Young Thug, a Grammy winner whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was charged two years ago in a sweeping indictment accusing him and more than two dozen others of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He is also accused of gang, drug and gun crimes.
He is on trial, along with five other people charged with him.
Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel has said his client is innocent and wants to clear his name through a fair trial.
