Rapper Young Thug was denied bond for a third time on Thursday as his attorney made another effort to secure the Atlanta artist’s freedom while awaiting trial on racketeering charges.
Thug is currently held at the Fulton County jail, and his attorney’s application was denied, according to Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillion, who reported from court. Young Thug’s application comes just days after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disclosed that documents shared in Discovery were leaked and posted on social media. The documents identified a YSL member who cut a plea deal to testify against Thug and other YSL members.
The D.A said that the leak has caused the prosecution witness to receive death threats against his person and his young children and leading to the D.A taking measures to protect the witness and his family.
Young Thug’s third application came up before Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville, who is the same judge that denied his other two bond applications as well as all the members of the YSL gang.
The decision to deny the rapper’s third bond application has not been shared yet, but the rapper previously was denied bond after his arrest in May, and later in June, he was again denied as the judge agreed that Thug posed a danger to witnesses should he freed on bond.
In his second bond hearing, lead prosecutor Don Geary led a lengthy submission where he shared that Thug was a powerful leader in the YSL criminal enterprise. Geary also told the court that the rapper was a leader that could influence others to act on his behalf to intimidate or harm witnesses.
The prosecutor also said that other YSL members had proffered testimony against Young Thug, and many of them have expressed fear for their lives, and some were also threatened. However, the attorney said he had no evidence Thug had been responsible for any of the threats.
“Since the last time I was in front of the court, we have evidence and information of even more threats to our witnesses, but I want to be clear I have no evidence directly that Mr Williams made a threat or directed anybody to make a threat but our witnesses are being threatened with violence, serious violence and death.”
“We have taken proffers from fellow gang members of Mr Williams, Some are on this indictment, some are not, they are stated uniformly Mr. Williams is dangerous, they are afraid of him, that if they cross him he would kill them and their family,”
At the time, the judge had stated his main reason for denying Thug bond for the second time, noting that the rapper’s past threat contained in a chat is “still being talked about so that is of a concern for this court in regards to the dangers and threats to persons in the community…that is the court’s major concern.”
The trial in the YSL RICO case is set for January 9, 2023, while Thug is also facing a raft of new charges for multiple guns found in his home at the time of his arrest.
