Young Thug YSL Trial Faces Potential Mistrial Due to Prosecution Mishap

The ongoing RICO trial against Young Thug and the alleged YSL street gang has hit another snag, with a possible mistrial looming due to a significant error by the prosecution. The trial, which began in November 2023 and is already the longest in Georgia state history, encountered the latest issue when a witness, rapper Slimelife Shawty (whose legal name is Wunnie Lee), accidentally read an unredacted version of a social media post aloud to the jury.

Lee, who was initially one of the 28 co-defendants but took a plea deal in 2022, was asked to identify others involved in the case based on social media posts. However, he read a caption that included the hashtag #FreeQua, which was not supposed to be revealed to the jury. This mishap led the defense teams to quickly move for a mistrial, arguing that the jury should not have been informed about which defendants were incarcerated.

Judge Paige Whitaker excused the jury and witness, and strongly admonished the prosecution for the mistake. “What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness so everyone would not have wasted 12 months of their lives in this trial,” Whitaker said. While she did not agree to a mistrial with prejudice, she left open the possibility of a mistrial without prejudice, which would allow the state to retry the case.

The trial was adjourned shortly after the incident, with proceedings expected to reconvene. This development adds to the complexity and length of a trial that has already been marked by numerous challenges and delays.