Judge Ural Glanville granted rappers Young Thug and Gunna and their YSL Rico case co-defendants a small win on Thursday (November 17) after he ruled against a prosecution motion to delay the trial by three months.
The trial date for the rappers and their co-defendants will remain January 9, 2023, and will not be pushed to March 27, 2023, as the prosecution had wanted.
District Attorney’s Office had applied for the motion to delay the trial last month, citing several reasons, including one which said that close to half of the defendants who require court-appointed lawyers had not retained counsel.
In response, Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel had responded asking the judge not to grant the motion noting that the rapper’s constitutional right to a speedy trial would be infringed.
Superior Fulton County court judge Ural Glanville on Thursday ruled on the motion and rejected the prosecution’s request. The trial will therefore begin on January 9 as previously scheduled, and Judge Glanville also set a January 5 date for jury selection.
“I’ve no-bonded basically everyone,” the judge said, according to Atlanta news reporter George Chidi. “They have a right to go to trial,” he added.
The reporter also shared that the judge will also be considering motions to sever to hold separate trials for those who are with counsel and ready for trial.
In the meantime, Prosecutors dropped a bombshell that the state had planned to call 300 witnesses during the course of the trial and noted that this could take three and half months, while Judge Glanville noted that it could take longer in his estimation, which is six-nine months.
Last month, D.A Fani Willis filed a motion of discontinuance noting that a 9th defendent might soon be out of an attorney after his lawyer filed court documents to be removed from the case. Some eight other defendants are still without legal representation. Additionally, a tenth defendant will also be out of a lawyer since his attorney is on the record for one of the other defendants in the case. Prosecutors are planning to address that issue with the judge.
The D.A had insisted as well that while she acknowledged the motions for speedy trial filed by Young Thug and other defendants, she expressed the importance of trying the defendants together in accordance to the racketeering act as the defendants were operating as a criminal enterprise.
Since that filing, Young Thug’s lawyer has been working diligently to address the prosecution evidence against the rapper.
His attorney Brian Steel had filed a motion to dismiss evidence shared in discovery by the prosecution that ties the rapper to a murder committed with a car he allegedly rented.
The motion asked the judge to not only suppress the evidence that Steel says was illegally acquired by the prosecution, but he accuse the District Attorney’s office of prosecutorial misconduct in accessing the evidence.
Both Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, and Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, were indicted in May, along with dozens of others under Georgia’s racketeering act.
Prosecutors accused the rappers and 26 other associates of being in a gang called Young Stoner Life that has wreaked havoc on Fulton County since 2012.
The 56-count indictment includes charges of murder, carjacking, armed robbery, drug dealing, and illegal firearm possession, among others.
