Young Thug’s defense team has revealed the full list of witnesses he is going to call during his YSL RICO trial set to begin on January 9, 2023.
On Tuesday, attorneys for Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams Jr., released the list, which names 28 people who will take the stand in Young Thug’s defense. Many of the witnesses include music industry executives and even some of the City’s council members.
Among those who were on the list were Killer Mike, Kevin Liles, and Jerrika Karlae, who is named as Young Thug’s fiancée as well as his father, senior Jeffery Williams. Both Mike and Liles have been vocal about Thug’s arrest and RICO charges in which prosecutors list the rapper’s lyrics as evidence of his alleged crimes by YSL, which authorities say is a sophisticated gang.
The defense also says that co-defendants in the original indictment, which includes those who took plea deals like Gunna, Walter Murphy Unfoonk, and others, may also be called to the stand by the defense, but they have not named any of them as witnesses yet.
Among those on the list so far are Michael Render, also known as Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, Kevin Liles, co-founder of Young Stoner Life records, and current 300 ENT COE, who has spoken up in defense of Thug and helped to start the Protect Black Art senate bill for Atlanta, Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music,
Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Lewis, Corey Jackson, a.k.a. rapper Lil C-Note, and protégé of Young Thug, Jerrika Hauser, Williams’ fiancé since 2015, Jeffrey Williams, Young Thug’s father, Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, criminal defense attorney hired by Ross Harris, accused in the accident and death of his son, Cooper; and Ryan Duke, one of the men accused in south Georgia beauty queen Tara Grinstead’s murder, Expert Jim Persinger, Garfield Larmond, attorney Jacoby Hudson among others.
At the trial on January 9, Young Thug will be among 14 defendants who will be tried for violating Georgia’s RICO Act. The defendant’s list has been whittled down significantly by up to half after eight defendants accepted plea deals, while the remaining indictment was severed due to several defendants being without counsel or still on the lam.
In the meantime, jury selection took place on January 3 as the trial gets underway.
The prosecution witness list has not been made public yet, but there are questions as to whether any of the eight defendants who took plea deals will appear for the state. Quite a few of the defendants had included in their plea deals the right to invoke their fifth amendment rights, including the likes of Gunna and Walter Murphy.
