Last 2 defendants await their fate as long-running YSL trial ends after a year of testimony

ATLANTA — Prosecutors said Monday that the last two defendants in a long-running gang and racketeering trial committed murder on behalf of an Atlanta street gang co-founded by rapper Young Thug.

But defense attorneys said the state slapped together cherry-picked social media posts and song lyrics with unreliable witness testimony to paint a misleading narrative about young men from tough upbringings who tried to escape poverty through music.

It's now up to a jury to decide whether to convict Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, on gang, murder, drug and gun charges. The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The trial for six of those defendants began a year ago. Four of them, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after weeks of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

The trial has been plagued by problems and delays. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, who took over the case in July after the original judge was recused, often lost patience with prosecutors.

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as ''Big Nut,'' in an Atlanta barbershop. Prosecutors say Thomas was in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks in retaliation for the murders of two YSL associates days earlier, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, co-founded a criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they said was associated with the national Bloods gang. Young Thug's record label is also known as YSL, for Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label's compilation album Slime Language 2, ''Take It to Trial'' and ''Slatty,'' and another Young Thug song that prosecutors played during their closing.

Doug Weinstein, Kendrick's defense attorney, said it was wrong for prosecutors to target the defendants — all Black — for their music and lyrics.

Prosecutor Simone Hylton said the case was about ''real bodies,'' not a ''song over a beat.''

"We are targeting gang members who decided to wreak havoc on communities in Fulton County," Hylton said. ''And those communities that they violated, those communities were communities of color.''

Prosecutor Christian Adkins said YSL was a violent gang that operated through ''deception, intimidation, destruction and death.''

He pointed to social media posts in which he said showed members admittedly killed people in rival gangs and said their clothes and tattoos were ''walking billboards'' for YSL.

Weinstein and Stillwell's defense attorney, Max Schardt, said prosecutors threw a bunch of separate alleged crimes, many from around a decade ago, into an indictment without showing that they were connected to a criminal enterprise.

"The state has spent the past year with a hammer in their hand banging on a square peg that they call evidence," Schardt said.

But ''that square peg does not fit in that round hole,'' he said.

Alleged YSL affiliates said during the trial they lied to police to avoid long prison sentences. Schardt theorized one of those witnesses killed Thomas. He framed Stillwell, Kendrick and others as a part of his string of lies to avoid the threat of prison, Schardt said.

But Hylton said that witnesses and others lied on the stand when they were in front of the people ''they snitched on,'' not to the police.

Before he got ''sucked up in this targeting of Jeffery Williams,'' Weinstein said Kendrick was focused on the rap career that helped him move on from his troubled past after plans to play football at the University of Georgia fell through.

His client wasn't even in the car used in the drive-by shooting that killed Thomas, Weinstein said. But prosecutors said Kendrick was the one who alerted his counterparts about Thomas' whereabouts before he was murdered.

''He's just as guilty as the ones who pulled the trigger,'' Hylton said.

Schardt said surveillance footage showed Stillwell drove away from Drinks' car before he was shot, and there was no gunshot residue found in Stillwell's vehicle. Hylton said the footage proved Stillwell fled the scene at 90 miles per hour through a red light after shooting at least three rounds into Drinks' Nissan.

Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against 12 others remain pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Tuesday. If they do not reach a verdict Wednesday, they will return after Thanksgiving.

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon