Jeffery Williams’ YSL criminal trial is streaming live on Atlanta News First and the ANF+ YouTube channel
By Tim Darnell
Published: Aug. 14, 2024 at 8:02 AM EDT|Updated: 18 hours ago
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - One day removed from his former lawyer’s six-month suspension, star witness Kenneth Copeland resumed his testimony Wednesday in Young Thug’s criminal trial in Atlanta.
Jonathan Melnick, who had been representing Copeland (aka Lil’ Woody), was suspended from practicing law in Georgia for six months on Tuesday after the Supreme Court of Georgia determined Melnick did not reimburse his client for attorney fees in a Rockdale County paternity case.
Witness testimony was delayed on Wednesday after the court announced in the morning there was a technology issue.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. I cannot even imagine how many times you all have been told that over the course of this trial,” Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said to the jurors. “As with so much of this modern life, technology makes things easier for us sometimes, but it also gives us some headaches sometimes.”
Once the issue was fixed prosecutors played a lengthy police interview with Copeland from nearly a decade ago.
On Tuesday afternoon, Copeland told the court he didn’t want to continue testifying without an attorney, and asked the court to provide one. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said the court had located an attorney named Charles Engelberger, but he wasn’t available until Wednesday morning. That development halted witness testimony for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday, Engelberger was in court with his client, and said Copeland intended to continue his testimony.
Attorney for star witness in Young Thug’s trial suspended for 6 months
Witness testimony resumed Monday after an almost two-month delay which saw Young Thug’s trial get a new judge, a judge who has since denied multiple motions for a mistrial as well as defense efforts to disqualify the two leading Fulton County prosecutors. On Monday, Whitaker asked jurors if they could ignore Copeland’s previous testimony, as she decided last week Copeland was not given adequate legal representation when he first took the stand in June. All of the jurors indicated their ability to do so.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said they plan to wrap up their questions for Copeland by Friday.
On Monday, Copeland said he lied repeatedly to police about crimes he said they were trying to link to the global superstar rapper, and said he told police whatever he thought would get him out of trouble and jail.
On Friday, Whitaker rejected a motion from defense attorney Max Schardt, who is representing co-defendant Shannon Stillwell, to disqualify Assistant Chief District Attorney Adriane Love and Deputy District Attorney Simone Hylton.
Schardt alleged the prosecutors violated the Brady rule when they participated in at least one secret meeting with the trial’s former judge, Ural Glanville, and Copeland. One of those meetings took place on June 10, 2024, and that meeting eventually resulted in Glanville’s recusal.
But Whitaker also ordered the entire team prosecuting the massive RICO case to undergo training on what constitutes violations of the sacrosanct judicial rule requiring them to disclose evidence that could be favorable to a defendant.
Whitaker also denied a motion on Friday for a mistrial from Doug Weinstein, who represents Deamonte Kendrick, aka Yak Gotti.
On June 7, 2024, Copeland himself was jailed for refusing to testify. Copeland is widely believed to have informed police of alleged crimes committed by Young Thug and the alleged YSL gang. By the following Monday, Copeland had changed his tune and agreed to testify.
Then Glanville ordered Young Thug attorney Brian Steel to be held in contempt after Steel told Glanville, in open court, he had learned of the meeting, which was held without any other defense attorneys’ knowledge or forewarning. Glanville demanded to know how Steel had learned of that meeting, and Steel refused to disclose his source. Glanville then ordered Steel arrested.
Glanville’s contempt ruling against Steel has since been suspended by the Supreme Court of Georgia. Glanville eventually released that meeting’s timeline and transcript.
Williams was arrested on May 9, 2022, along with 27 other suspected gang members in Buckhead as part of a 56-count indictment. The trial’s jury selection lasted longer than any other in Georgia history, and actual witness testimony itself will likely surpass state records. Both records were set by the Atlanta Public Schools teacher scandal and trial of 2014-15.
The trial itself began on Nov. 27, 2023. Defense attorneys have repeatedly raised concerns that the trial could go on for years based on the number of witnesses the state plans to introduce.
Prosecutors are attempting to show YSL is a criminal street gang responsible for numerous offenses. Defense attorneys say YSL is not a gang but simply the name of a record label.
Young Thug himself is facing eight criminal counts under a federal law originally enacted to fight organized crime. Georgia is one of 33 states with its own RICO law, but in the Peach State, the alleged criminal enterprises do not have to have existed as long as the federal law.
Williams is also charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of codeine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm and possession of a machine gun.
Atlanta News First is broadcasting gavel-to-gavel coverage of Young Thug’s trial on ANF+ live stream and YouTube channel, and on Roku, Fire TV and AppleTV. Download our Atlanta News First app for the latest details on Young Thug’s historic trial.
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