One juror in the Young Thug case did not get the memo and is getting the big stick treatment after she was caught filming court proceedings in March. The YSL Rico trial has been going through jury selection since the trial began in January.
The proceedings are not to be filmed as ordered by Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville, mainly to maintain the integrity of the trial given its high-profile defendant, rapper Young Thug and also to ensure that jurors are not profiled by parties in the case (and their supporters) or become victims of witness intimidation.
However, one juror decided to push it and will now be spending a few days in County jail for contempt of court after disregarding Judge Glanville’s order.
According to a AJC report, Judge Glanville sentenced the potential juror to three days in jail after she was caught recording the proceedings with her cell phone. The potential juror, identified as juror 1004, was arrested and handcuffed in court and led away by deputies after being admonished by the judge for willfully going against his instructions issued last month when he had sentenced another juror for contempt of court.
Juror 1004 reportedly live-streamed the court proceedings she attended on March 17. In court, she admitted to making a recording but claimed that she had deleted it.
“It wasn’t live-streamed at all,” the potential juror denied. “I did take a video and then the young lady next to me said I couldn’t do that,” she added. She explained that this was her first time being called for jury duty and that she was unaware recording was not allowed.
A video recording was found in her recently deleted folder on her phone by deputies. Her excuses did not fly with Judge Glanville, who issued a long list of “ad nauseum admonitions” to potential jurors each time a new batch was called. The judge has also reiterated the same in two previous instances of jurors disobeying the orders.
“I went through a very long and arduous process of telling people what they could and could not do and you violated that,” Judge Glanville said.
The juror appeared stunned when judge Glanville ordered she to be sent to the County jail for three days instead of paying a fine.
The prosecution and defense are now going through an extensive list of potential jurors to find 14 suitable people to sit on the jury. The potential jurors are now being questioned as to potential hardships, but many of the jurors have complained they cannot afford to miss work for months or a year which the trial is estimated to take.
To this date, not one juror has been selected yet, despite the process going on for weeks. In the meantime, juror 1004 is not the only juror to face the consequences for disobeying judge Glanville’s orders. In February, one potential juror was ordered to complete 10 hours of community service as well as attend the first five days of the trial, or he would face 20 days in prison after he discussed the case with a news reporter.
The juror reportedly asked a journalist about the length of time for the hardships process in jury selection which violated the orders given by the judge,
Another juror also narrowly escaped jail time after she flew out on vacation to the Dominican Republic and did not attend court despite being ordered to. The potential juror was asked to write a lengthy essay on the importance of jury duty or face contempt of court proceedings.
