Judge Glanville recused in Young Thug, YSL trial, documents show.
JUST IN: Judge removed from Young Thug trial
The state of Georgia has granted a motion to recuse Judge Ural Glanville from the YSL RICO trial.
On Monday (July 15), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports and court documents confirm. Glanville has presided over the trial since jury selection began in January 2023. The successful motions to remove him from the trial came from Thug and his co-defendant Deamonte Kendrick.
In a statement to The Journal-Constitution, Kendrick’s attorney Doug Weinstein said Glanville “was biased against Mr. Kendrick and the other defendants in this case” and that he looked forward to “trying this case before an unbiased judge to a just conclusion that will free Mr. Kendrick.”
Judge Glanville’s recusal comes in the wake of a wild twist in the case. 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 Steel be held in contempt after Steel told Glanville, in open court, he had learned of the ex parte meeting that 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. That’s when Glanville ordered Steel arrested.
Glanville’s contempt ruling against Steel has since been suspended by the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Glanville has since released that meeting’s timeline and transcript.
“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’s ruling said.
For months, defense attorneys for Young Thug and his remaining co-defendants have been making motions for a mistrial, claiming Glanville is biased against them and their efforts to prove Jeffery Williams (Young Thug’s real name) is not the head of a criminal gang known as YSL (Young Slime Life or Young Stoner’s Life).
Prosecutors, on the other hand, wanted Glanville to remain as judge, as evidenced by their responses to defense attorneys’ efforts.
Krause’s ruling came in response to a motion filed two weeks ago by Young Thug attorney Brian Steel, which called for Krause to recuse herself from making the decision on whether Glanville should stay on the YSL case. In the motion, he also called for two top prosecutors to be removed from the trial.
Steel and Young Thug’s other attorney, Keith Adams, have repeatedly moved for a mistrial, as have attorneys for some of the other defendants in the trial.
Glanville had been denying all of the repeated motions, as well as motions from Steel and other attorneys to recuse himself from the trial.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are continuing to haggle over Copeland’s police interviews and jail recordings. Steel is accusing prosecutors of coercing Copeland’s testimony, who he said was being surrounded by law enforcement and district attorney officials.
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.
Prosecutors are attempting to show YSL, or Young Slime Life, 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 Stoner Life.
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