ATLANTA (CN) — A fellow Superior Court judge removed the Georgia judge overseeing the criminal racketeering case against Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Young Thug from the case Monday amid complaints he and prosecutors improperly held a meeting with a key prosecution witness.
The rapper and his co-defendant, Deamonte Kendrick, filed the recusal motions after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville held a private meeting on June 10 with prosecutors and a key state witness, Kenneth Copeland, in his chambers.
Glanville defended his conduct when he denied an initial recusal motion from Kendrick, claiming that it was within his authority as judge and that it did not give the prosecution any tactical advantage.
However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause said in her order that in Glanville “added facts, provided context, questioned the veracity of allegations and otherwise explained his decisions and actions and argued why those actions were proper,” which violates Georgia statutes establishing that a judge cannot rule on their own recusals.
Krause wrote that she generally agreed with Glanville regarding the propriety of his role in the meeting, but it was the judge’s conduct after the meeting that guided her to ultimately remove Glanville from the case.
“In presenting his record as to the recusal issues and in ruling on Kendrick’s motion, Judge Glanville ‘evaluated and accepted the truth of his own factual allegations, mandating his recusal,’” she wrote.
“This court has no doubt that Judge Glanville can and would continue presiding fairly over this matter if the recusal motions were denied, but the ‘necessity of preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system’ weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville from further handling of this case,” Krause added.
According to the Fulton County Clerk of Court, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram, who was appointed to the court in 2018, has now been assigned to the case. She previously served as a Fulton Magistrate Court Judge since May 2015.
The order did not specify when the case proceedings will resume in the already lengthy trial.
During the meeting at issue, Glanville met with Copeland, his counsel and state prosecutors to discuss the risks of Copeland refusing to testify and allow him to ask questions before taking the stand.
Defense attorneys did not participate in the meeting and were not aware that the meeting was taking place.
Brian Steel, attorney for Young Thug, and Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein, argued they had a right to be present for the meeting and accused the judge and prosecutors of coercing the reluctant Copeland into testifying by threatening him with indefinite jail time if he refused.
On July 1, the trial reached its 100th day of actual proceedings, the same day Glanville announced he would halt the case to allow a different judge to determine whether he would remain on the case after the recusal motions were filed.
The high-profile case has become the longest-running criminal trial in Georgia’s history. Prior to his recusal, Glanville had already received public criticism over his handling of the case, with jury selection taking a drawn-out 10 months, other extensive delays and his permitting prosecutors to present certain sets of music lyrics as evidence.
The 65-count indictment brought in May 2022 contains 191 “overt acts” that prosecutors contend were carried out in furtherance of a gang known as “Young Slime Life,” or “YSL.” A total of 28 defendants were named, but many are no longer part of the trial, either because they accepted plea deals or have had their cases severed. All six remaining defendants standing trial have been in jail without bond for two years.
Prosecutors say the gang is responsible for a string of shootings, robberies and selling drugs across Atlanta. They claim Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, was the co-founder and leader of the gang, although he denies the charges and says YSL is merely the acronym of his record label, Young Stoner Life.
The case is being prosecuted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is also pursuing racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump and several of his allies for attempting to overturn his defeat to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.