Fulton DA Fani Willis ‘respects’ YSL verdicts | Georgia’s longest-ever trial ends

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia’s longest trial in history ended Tuesday when the jury in Atlanta’s internationally watched YSL trial returned verdicts for the last two co-defendants, Deamonte (aka Yak Gotti) Kendrick and Shannon (aka SB, aka Shannon Jackson) Stillwell.

Kendrick was found not guilty on all charges:

• One count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) act
• One count of murder
• One count of participation in a criminal street gang activity
• Three counts of violating the Georgia controlled substances act
• Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony
• Possession of a machine gun
• One count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon who was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or possession of a firearm

Stillwell was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon previously convicted involving the use or possession of a firearm. He was found not guilty on:

• One count of RICO violation
• Two counts of murder
• Two counts of participation in a criminal street gang activity
• One count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony

>> WATCH:

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced Stillwell to 10 years in prison with two years time served and the rest to be served on probation.

Stillwell’s attorney, Max Schardt, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client now has a second chance at life. Schardt said he believes the verdict is fair and just.

“Absolutely, the jurors... we asked so much of the jurors and they really scrutinized the evidence and they demanded real evidence, and it wasn’t there,” he said.

Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein, was also pleased with his client’s verdict and said the fight against using rap lyrics in court shouldn’t stop.

“This DA’s office used his song, his rap, ‘Take It to Trial,’ against him,” Weinstein said. “And Deamonte took it to trial and showed the DA’s office what they can do with that lyric.”

Jeff DiSantis, a spokesperson for Fulton County DA Fani Willis, told the Associated Press, “We always respect the verdict of a jury.”

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr. (aka Big Nut), who prosecutors said was in a rival gang, according to the Associated Press. Stillwell also was charged in the 2022 death of Shymel Drinks, who prosecutors said was killed in retaliation for the killings days earlier of two associates in a gang known as YSL.

Thomas was killed in a drive-by shooting outside an Atlanta barbershop. In the other killing, prosecutors alleged Stillwell pulled up next to Drinks and shot three rounds into his car.

The verdicts came after about a week of jury deliberations and one day after Kendrick was stabbed while being held at the notorious Fulton County Jail. Stillwell also had been stabbed inside the same facility almost a year ago.

Fast facts about the YSL trial

• The trial’s jury selection lasted longer than any other in Georgia history.
• Actual witness testimony itself also surpassed state records.
• Both records were set by the Atlanta Public Schools teacher scandal and trial of 2014-15.
• Days since indictment: 939
• Days since jury selection: 699
• Days since opening statements: 372
• Days of Young Thug’s actual trial: 170

The verdicts returned bring a close to Georgia’s longest trial in history, a judicial proceeding whose witness testimony began Nov. 27, 2023, and whose central figure once was international recording superstar Young Thug.

Jeffery Williams (Young Thug’s real name) and several others had been facing multiple organized crime, weapons and drug-related charges. Williams was arrested on May 9, 2022, along with 27 other suspected gang members in Buckhead as part of a 56-count indictment. He spent more than two years behind bars before his release.

Williams received a 40-year prison sentence from Whitaker who, in less than a year, took charge of what had become an unorganized, unruly judicial proceeding. Williams will serve 15 years on probation, and Whitaker said if Williams is successful on his probation, the rest of his sentence will be commuted to time served.

As part of his plea deal, Young Thug has to stay away from his hometown of Atlanta for the next 10 years; can’t flash any criminal gang signs (real or suspected); perform 100 hours of community service for the next 15 years; and can’t have any guns around, according to the conditions of his plea deal and probation.

Williams’ plea deal came only hours after three other YSL co-defendants — Quamarvious Nichols (aka Qua), Rodalius Ryan (aka Lil Rod) and Marquavius Huey (aka Qua) — took plea deals.

Prosecutors had been attempting to show YSL (Young Slime Life) is a criminal street gang responsible for numerous offenses. Defense attorneys argued YSL was not a gang but simply the name of a record label, Young Stoner Life, a label to which Yak Gotti himself had been signed.

Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was the trial’s first judge but was recused earlier this year because of a private, ex parte meeting he held with prosecutors and a key witness, Kenneth (aka Woody, aka Lil Woody) Copeland.

You won't believe everything that happened in the YSL trial

Brian Steel, one of Young Thug’s attorneys, vehemently objected to the meeting, which led Glanville to order Steel’s arrest in open court on contempt charges. The Supreme Court of Georgia eventually reversed Glanville’s order. Glanville himself was recused in one of the most bizarre episodes in a trial that featured more than its fair share of drama and upheaval.

From the Associated Press:

The trial shook Atlanta’s rap scene. Williams grew up in an Atlanta housing project ridden with violence and became a highly successful artist who added his own melodic twist to the modern Southern trap sound he helped popularize.

Along with using lyrics and posts to prove that YSL was a gang, prosecutors threw together random alleged crimes “see what sticks” but did not prove they were connected to a criminal enterprise, Kendrick’s attorney Doug Weinstein said during closing arguments.

While defendants did commit crimes in the past, Stillwell’s defense attorney Max Schardt said, it was to make money for themselves in communities stripped of economic opportunity, not to advance a gang. And music let some of them move on.

“As a whole, we know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rap, prison or death.”

Schardt sought to cast doubts on the gang investigators and YSL associates the state brought in as witnesses. Several alleged YSL members testified they had lied to police to stay out of prison, and Schardt said officers had threatened them with long prison sentences if they didn’t say the right thing. He suggested one of those witnesses could have killed Thomas.

Prosecutors said those witnesses were honest with police but lied on the stand, in front of the people they had “snitched” on. They said their statements were corroborated by other evidence such as songs and social media posts where they said defendants were “bragging about murder.”

Stillwell and Kendrick were in the car used in the drive-by shooting that killed Thomas, and Stillwell’s social media posts indicate he was involved, prosecutors said.

Defense lawyer Doug Weinstein said there was no evidence that Kendrick ever got in that car, and surveillance footage shows he was in his own vehicle around the time of the shooting. Prosecutors said Kendrick switched cars off-camera and that he was the one who told his counterparts where Thomas was, making him liable for his death.

As for Drinks’ murder, prosecutors and defense attorneys had conflicting interpretations of the distant surveillance footage. Stillwell pulled up next to Drinks’ car and fired three rounds, then sped away, prosecutors said. The defense said Stillwell drove away before Drinks was shot and that there was no gunshot residue in Stillwell’s car.

Download our Atlanta News First app for all of the details on the historic YSL trial.