Defense attorneys for Young Thug and his codefendants have filed new motions for a mistrialfollowing an error a witness made during his testimony.
During a hearing on Wednesday, October 23, rapper Slimelife Shawty took the stand as a witness for the State. According to 11Alive, prosecutors presented several social media posts to Shawty, born Wunnie Lee, and asked him to identify people who are involved in the ongoing RICO case against Thug and his YSL crew. He accidently read an unreacted caption from a post that said "#FreeQua" aloud to the jury. Defense lawyers immediately motioned for a mistrial because the jury wasn't supposed to know who was incarcerated.
"It is painfully obvious that the state is not prepping their witnesses," said an attorney for codefendant Quardavious Nichols. "You can tell by the way the witness spoke the first time when he said 'oops am I not supposed to say that? like oh I had no idea.' Which make it obvious that the State had spoke to him, had no prepped him and this has happened repeatedly."
The jury and the witnessed were cleared from the room before Judge Paige Whitaker chastised the prosecution for their "sloppiness." In addition, Judge Whitaker told the defense that she wouldn't grant a full mistrial with prejudice in an effort to validate the work that everyone involved has put in for well over a year. However, she did say she would consider granting a mistrial without prejudice, which would end the trial with the possibility that the State could retry the case in the future.
"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 shouted.
Slimelife Shawty was one of the original 28 codefendants who were arrested and charged in the YSL RICO case along with Young Thug, Gunna and others. He was also one of the first members to accept a plea deal. Following the legal faux pas, the rapper and the jury were dismissed for the day. As of this report, Judge Whitaker has not ruled on the motions for a mistrial.
Source Site: https://www.iheart.com/content/2024-10-24-judge-in-young-thug-ysl-trial-considers-mistrial-amid-evidence-blunder/
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