Young Thug‘s lawyer has already filed for a mistrial on day one of the long-delayed YSL RICO trial.
After months of delays and over a year-and-a-half since Thug has been behind bars, the trial officially kicked off on Monday (November 27
According to Billboard, the room opened with Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love reading a passage from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book about wolf packs, then drawing the comparison to YSL, saying that Thug’s gang had similarly “operated as a pack.”
“For 10 years and counting, the group calling itself ‘Young Slime Life’ dominated the Cleveland Avenue community,” Love claimed. “They created a crater … that sucked in the youth and innocence and even the lives of some its youngest members.”
The hearing started over an hour late, however, because a juror was missing. In addition, Love did not finish her opening statements – as minutes into it, there were so many objections that Judge Ural Glanville was forced to clear the jury from the courtroom.
Young Thug’s legal team claimed that she was “burden shifting” in her explanation of the case to jurors – aka, wrongly making it appear that the defendants would need to prove that they were innocent. Eventually, Thugger’s lawyer, Brian Steel, moved for a mistrial after he claimed Love had shown jurors evidence that had already been banned from the case.
The request was denied, however – though Judge Glanville did reprimand Love and her team for how they opened. A lunch break was then called and there were “extended disputes” between both sides, and jurors returned to continue opening statements through the afternoon.
The trial is expected to last upwards of a year – and lyrics may be used throughout the state’s arguments.
While a proposed federal bill limiting the use of song lyrics in criminal proceedings is still pending in the House of Representatives, and similar bills have been introduced in states throughout the country, D.A. Willis has confirmed to NBC News that she will continue to use song lyrics as evidence against defendants if she feels they are relevant.
Earlier this month, Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Jozsef Papp took to Twitter to share some of the lyrics being used in the courtroom.
The lyrics that could potentially be used are as follows:
“I just beat a murder rap, paid my lawyer 30 for that/ Me and my slimes above the law” from 2018’s “Just How It Is.”
“Honestly truth be told YSL won’t fold/ Pick his ass off from the balcony/ YSL wipe a n-gga nose” from 2014’s “Eww.”
“I shot at his mommy, now he no longer mention me” from “Bad Boy” with the late Juice WRLD in 2021.
“I rep my life for real/For slimes you know I kill!” on 2020’s “Take It to Trial” with Gunna
“Hey, how you doing? I’m Yak Gotti/ I got bodies on bodies!” from 2015’s “Dream.”
Young Thug faces eight charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity, along with a string of drug and weapons offenses.
