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On Thursday, the unthinkable happened: Young Thug was set free.
The rapper, who had been in jail continuously since May of 2022, took a plea deal—albeit a highly unusual one—in the long-running YSL racketeering trial. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker’s ruling was complicated, but it amounts to Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) not having to serve any more time behind bars, and being on extremely tight probation restrictions for the next 15 years, with the threat of 20 years’ prison time if he steps out of line.
Many observers, especially those who hadn’t been paying attention to every twist and turn of the trial, had one major question: how did this happen?
The answer to that question comes down to two very dramatic days: June 10 and October 23.
目次
The secret meeting that led to a judge being recused
On the morning of June 10 of this year, the then-judge of the case, Ural Glanville, had a secret meeting in his chambers with one of the state’s witnesses, Kenneth “Lil Woody” Copeland. Copeland agreed to testify in the trial, but had changed his mind at the last minute and refused. This led to him spending the weekend before this now-famous meeting in jail.
But after Copeland and two deputy district attorneys met with Judge Glanville, the witness reversed course and testified.
Thug’s attorney Brian Steel found out about the meeting and confronted the judge about it, saying he should have been included in it. But Judge Glanville was primarily concerned with how Steel found out about the meeting, rather than its propriety. When Steel refused to say how he knew about the meeting, Glanville sentenced him to 20 days in jail—a decision that was recently overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court.
Glanville’s meeting, and his outburst that followed, set in motion a chain of events that led to him being recused from the case the following month. That paved the way for his replacement, Judge Whitaker.
Whitaker inherited a trial where the prosecution seemed to be taking forever to make its case, and repeatedly made attempts to speed it up. She would berate prosecutors for what she viewed as their delaying tactics, calling the state’s presentation “haphazard.”
Why the #FreeQua slipup is important
Judge Whitaker’s frustration rose to a boiling point on October 23, when prosecutors made one very major mistake that ultimately set Thug’s freedom in motion.
On that day, the man on the witness stand for the state was Wunnie “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee. While testifying, he was shown a social media post that he was supposed to read to the jury.
The only problem was, there were two versions of the post. There was a redacted version that the jury was seeing on a screen in front of them. And there was an unredacted version that, due to prosecutorial oversight, Lee had on a piece of paper and proceeded to read from.
There was one difference between these two versions of the same social post: the unredacted version had a hashtag on it that said “#FreeQua.” According to some reports, the “Qua” referred to was one of Thug’s co-defendants, Marquavius Huey, who was apparently locked up at the time the post was made. However, there was a second codefendant in the trial also nicknamed “Qua”—Quamarvious Nichols. This is why the hashtag was redacted—so the jury wouldn’t be prejudiced against either Huey or Nichols, believing one or both of them had been incarcerated at some point.
But Lee read the hashtag out loud to the jury, since he was given an unredacted version of the post while on the stand.
That slipup led Nichols’ attorney Nicole Westmoreland to demand a mistrial.
“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell, your honor,” she said. “The state presented to the witness, I guess, the unredacted version [of the exhibit], didn’t prep him to not comment on it, and he did.
“Now the jury has repeatedly heard about Mr. Nichols being in jail, being in prison. And you cannot unring that bell…It is painfully obvious that the state is not prepping their witnesses.”
Judge Whitaker slammed prosecutors for the mistake.
“You should have presented [Lee] with a document that had that part redacted. It’s just sloppy…It should have occurred to you,” she said.
How Young Thug and Brian Steel’s gamble paid off
That mistake seemed to be a tipping point for Whitaker. She ended the day by asking defense attorneys if they wanted to request a mistrial without prejudice, meaning that the trial would be over, but the state would have the option to begin proceedings all over again. The mere fact of Whitaker presenting that option to the defense seemed to signal that she was ready to grant a mistrial if asked.
The defense lawyers didn’t answer immediately. But the specter of a mistrial appeared to supercharge plea negotiations. On October 29, Nichols pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO statute.
The following day, Qua number two, Marquavius Huey, pleaded out, as did Rodalius “Lil Rod” Ryan.
Just one day later, Thug’s plea negotiations irrevocably stalled out. The state was willing to set him free, but under conditions he couldn’t agree to.
“Jeffery Williams was not going to say things that they wrote for him, that they wanted him to say, that was their theory, when it wasn’t true,” said one of Thug’s lawyers, Keith Adams, at a press conference following the judge’s decision.
Steel, for his part, called the state’s offer “outrageous.”
“They would let him out of custody, but they would have a tether around him so tight that it’s unconscionable,” he said.
So Thug took a gamble, entering a non-negotiated plea. That meant that Whitaker would listen to both sides, and then sentence Thug herself.
The state pushed for a heavy sentence. They asked for Thug to be incarcerated for 20 years, and serve an additional 25 on probation. Thug’s team asked for something closer to what he actually got: five years, commuted to time served, plus probation, charity requirements, and a period of house arrest.
One factor that weighed heavily on Judge Whitaker’s decision was the fact that the state had already offered a deal that would let Thug go free.
“It is not lost on the court that the state, had they been able to come to agreement on certain special conditions…was willing to give a sentence that permitted Mr. Williams to walk out of the door today; and therefore does not seem to be particularly worried that Mr. Williams, if on the streets, would be a danger to society,” she said. “I’m taking that into consideration in crafting my sentence.”
With that, Whitaker entered a decision that allowed Thug to plead nolo contendre to the two main charges against him: conspiracy to violate the RICO act and leading a criminal gang. That means he’s not admitting guilt, but is accepting the consequences. He pleaded guilty to six other charges. And he got five years, commuted to time served, plus 15 years’ probation and a number of special conditions — with 20 years of “backloaded” prison time to be served if he violates those conditions.
“I promise you, I won’t ever be in this type of situation again,” Thug said during the sentencing hearing. “I’ve learned from my mistakes.”
“I come from nothing and I’ve made something,” he continued. “I didn’t take full advantage of it. I’m sorry.”
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On Thursday, the unthinkable happened: Young Thug was set free.
The rapper, who had been in jail continuously since May of 2022, took a plea deal—albeit a highly unusual one—in the long-running YSL racketeering trial. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker’s ruling was complicated, but it amounts to Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) not having to serve any more time behind bars, and being on extremely tight probation restrictions for the next 15 years, with the threat of 20 years’ prison time if he steps out of line.
Many observers, especially those who hadn’t been paying attention to every twist and turn of the trial, had one major question: how did this happen?
The answer to that question comes down to two very dramatic days: June 10 and October 23.
The secret meeting that led to a judge being recused
On the morning of June 10 of this year, the then-judge of the case, Ural Glanville, had a secret meeting in his chambers with one of the state’s witnesses, Kenneth “Lil Woody” Copeland. Copeland agreed to testify in the trial, but had changed his mind at the last minute and refused. This led to him spending the weekend before this now-famous meeting in jail.
But after Copeland and two deputy district attorneys met with Judge Glanville, the witness reversed course and testified.
Thug’s attorney Brian Steel found out about the meeting and confronted the judge about it, saying he should have been included in it. But Judge Glanville was primarily concerned with how Steel found out about the meeting, rather than its propriety. When Steel refused to say how he knew about the meeting, Glanville sentenced him to 20 days in jail—a decision that was recently overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court.
Glanville’s meeting, and his outburst that followed, set in motion a chain of events that led to him being recused from the case the following month. That paved the way for his replacement, Judge Whitaker.
Whitaker inherited a trial where the prosecution seemed to be taking forever to make its case, and repeatedly made attempts to speed it up. She would berate prosecutors for what she viewed as their delaying tactics, calling the state’s presentation “haphazard.”
Why the #FreeQua slipup is important
Judge Whitaker’s frustration rose to a boiling point on October 23, when prosecutors made one very major mistake that ultimately set Thug’s freedom in motion.
On that day, the man on the witness stand for the state was Wunnie “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee. While testifying, he was shown a social media post that he was supposed to read to the jury.
The only problem was, there were two versions of the post. There was a redacted version that the jury was seeing on a screen in front of them. And there was an unredacted version that, due to prosecutorial oversight, Lee had on a piece of paper and proceeded to read from.
There was one difference between these two versions of the same social post: the unredacted version had a hashtag on it that said “#FreeQua.” According to some reports, the “Qua” referred to was one of Thug’s co-defendants, Marquavius Huey, who was apparently locked up at the time the post was made. However, there was a second codefendant in the trial also nicknamed “Qua”—Quamarvious Nichols. This is why the hashtag was redacted—so the jury wouldn’t be prejudiced against either Huey or Nichols, believing one or both of them had been incarcerated at some point.
But Lee read the hashtag out loud to the jury, since he was given an unredacted version of the post while on the stand.
That slipup led Nichols’ attorney Nicole Westmoreland to demand a mistrial.
“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell, your honor,” she said. “The state presented to the witness, I guess, the unredacted version [of the exhibit], didn’t prep him to not comment on it, and he did.
“Now the jury has repeatedly heard about Mr. Nichols being in jail, being in prison. And you cannot unring that bell…It is painfully obvious that the state is not prepping their witnesses.”
Judge Whitaker slammed prosecutors for the mistake.
“You should have presented [Lee] with a document that had that part redacted. It’s just sloppy…It should have occurred to you,” she said.
How Young Thug and Brian Steel’s gamble paid off
That mistake seemed to be a tipping point for Whitaker. She ended the day by asking defense attorneys if they wanted to request a mistrial without prejudice, meaning that the trial would be over, but the state would have the option to begin proceedings all over again. The mere fact of Whitaker presenting that option to the defense seemed to signal that she was ready to grant a mistrial if asked.
The defense lawyers didn’t answer immediately. But the specter of a mistrial appeared to supercharge plea negotiations. On October 29, Nichols pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO statute.
The following day, Qua number two, Marquavius Huey, pleaded out, as did Rodalius “Lil Rod” Ryan.
Just one day later, Thug’s plea negotiations irrevocably stalled out. The state was willing to set him free, but under conditions he couldn’t agree to.
“Jeffery Williams was not going to say things that they wrote for him, that they wanted him to say, that was their theory, when it wasn’t true,” said one of Thug’s lawyers, Keith Adams, at a press conference following the judge’s decision.
Steel, for his part, called the state’s offer “outrageous.”
“They would let him out of custody, but they would have a tether around him so tight that it’s unconscionable,” he said.
So Thug took a gamble, entering a non-negotiated plea. That meant that Whitaker would listen to both sides, and then sentence Thug herself.
The state pushed for a heavy sentence. They asked for Thug to be incarcerated for 20 years, and serve an additional 25 on probation. Thug’s team asked for something closer to what he actually got: five years, commuted to time served, plus probation, charity requirements, and a period of house arrest.
One factor that weighed heavily on Judge Whitaker’s decision was the fact that the state had already offered a deal that would let Thug go free.
“It is not lost on the court that the state, had they been able to come to agreement on certain special conditions…was willing to give a sentence that permitted Mr. Williams to walk out of the door today; and therefore does not seem to be particularly worried that Mr. Williams, if on the streets, would be a danger to society,” she said. “I’m taking that into consideration in crafting my sentence.”
With that, Whitaker entered a decision that allowed Thug to plead nolo contendre to the two main charges against him: conspiracy to violate the RICO act and leading a criminal gang. That means he’s not admitting guilt, but is accepting the consequences. He pleaded guilty to six other charges. And he got five years, commuted to time served, plus 15 years’ probation and a number of special conditions — with 20 years of “backloaded” prison time to be served if he violates those conditions.
“I promise you, I won’t ever be in this type of situation again,” Thug said during the sentencing hearing. “I’ve learned from my mistakes.”
“I come from nothing and I’ve made something,” he continued. “I didn’t take full advantage of it. I’m sorry.”
and integrate them seamlessly into the new content without adding new tags. Ensure the new content is fashion-related, written entirely in Japanese, and approximately 1500 words. Conclude with a “結論” section and a well-formatted “よくある質問” section. Avoid including an introduction or a note explaining the process.
