Young Thug Trial Judge Blasts Prosecutors, Questions Whether They ‘Hide the Ball’

Young Thug’s long and troubled racketeering trial appeared on the verge of dramatic mistrial yet again Monday as an Atlanta-based judge accused a chief prosecutor of either “purposefully” misleading the court or causing chaos through apparent disorganization.

“It is baffling to me that somebody with the number of years of experience that you have, time after time after time, continues to seemingly, purposefully hide the ball to the extent you possibly can for as long as you possibly can,” Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker told Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love after one of Young Thug’s lawyers demanded the mistrial based on the way a witness was handled. “I really don’t want to believe that it is purposeful, but honestly, after a certain number of times, you start to wonder how it could be anything but that — unless it’s just that you are so unorganized that you are throwing this case together as you try it.”

Whitaker got so heated that she called a recess to seemingly cool down and consider the mistrial motion in private. When she returned, she said the trial would continue, but she wasn’t letting anything slide.

“I think my frustration was apparent a few minutes ago,” she said from the bench. “I truly am struggling with whether all of this is purposeful, or this is just really poor lawyering on the part of members of the state’s team. Either way, it’s really unfortunate. If it’s something other than poor lawyering, it’s more than unfortunate. At this point we’re going to just move on [with testimony]. I don’t know if I can stress any more than I already have how much the state’s lawyers need to make an effort to be upfront and forthright in the trial of this case.”

Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, has pleaded not guilty to the eight counts he’s charged with in the gang and racketeering conspiracy indictment first announced in 2022. Prosecutors allege Williams was the head of a violent criminal street gang named Young Slime Life. Williams currently is on trial with five co-defendants in the case after more than 20 others charged in the indictment either took plea deals or had their cases severed.

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Williams’ trial started with jury selection in January 2023 and had opening statements last November. Now the longest-running trial in Georgia history, it already has survived a prior judge getting recused from the case against his will, multiple allegations of prosecutorial misconduct lodged by defense lawyers, and highly contentious testimony from a key witness whose “I don’t recall” reply became a popular meme.

When Judge Whitaker assumed the helm of the trial in July, she said her plan was to move forward “efficiently and expeditiously” after prior setbacks. On Monday, the judge said she found herself questioning whether Love was following her order. She said that when Williams’ defense objected to a document as hearsay, the court overruled the objection and allowed Love to show the document to a witness because Love promised it wouldn’t be used to authenticate anything. The judge blasted Love for subsequently showing the document and asking the witness, Deputy District Attorney Michael Sprinkel, to connect a phone number on the document to another defendant in the case. Judge Whitaker said that appeared to be a violation of what Love promised the court.

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For her part, Love said she didn’t need the document to prove who owned the phone number. She told the court she was showing the document to help explain how Sprinkel ended up following certain leads.  

More than 70 witnesses have testified so far in the high profile trial — prosecutors have said they intend to call more than 100 left on their list. After that, lawyers for each of the six defendants will have a chance to call their own witnesses. The trial is expected to last through the end of year, possibly into February or March, Judge Whitaker has said.