Closing arguments begin in Georgia's longest criminal trial

ATLANTA (CN) — After a year of trial, prosecutors presented closing arguments Monday against the last two defendants accused of participating in a street gang called “YSL,” bringing Georgia’s longest criminal trial closer to an end.

Of the 28 people initially indicted, Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, also known as “Yak Gotti," are the only two defendants left standing trial. They are accused of participating in a criminal street gang called “YSL” or “Young Slime Life,” responsible for a string of shootings, drug dealings and robberies across Atlanta over the past decade.

The gang caused “deception, intimidation, destruction and death,” Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Christian Adkins told jurors during his closing statement.

Grammy-award winning hip-hop artist Young Thug was accused of being the leader of the purported gang, but accepted a plea deal last month and was sentenced to serve 15 years of probation.

Both remaining defendants are charged in the fatal drive by shooting of Donovan “Nut” Thomas outside of an Atlanta barber shop in January 2015. Prosecutors say the car used for the murder was rented under Young Thug’s real name, Jeffrey Williams, and that Thomas was a rival gang member.

Jurors were shown a picture of Thomas’s gravestone with “Slatt” spray painted over it, which is also tattooed on Kendrick’s forearm. Prosecutors said “Slatt” stands for “Slime Love All The Time” and that the photo shows the murder was done to assert the gang’s status.

But Kendrick’s attorney Doug Weinstein argued there is no evidence of his client being in the type of vehicle used in the murder or any DNA evidence tying him to the crime. He bashed the state’s presentation of YSL tattoos and clothing depicting the word “slime” as evidence of gang involvement as “absurd.”

Weinstein’s closing arguments closely mirrored those of Stillwell’s attorney, Max Schardt. Both argued the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that their clients “knowingly and willfully” participated in the racketeering conspiracy.

“There’s no doubt that people seen in social media posts and people with YSL tattoos have committed crime. No ones disputing it,” Schardt said.

“But those are isolated crimes by individuals or a group of individuals that have nothing to do with an alleged conspiracy,” he added.

The defense attorney argued that YSL is not an organized group, but a group of young men who grew up poor in the same area and strove to be successful musicians like Young Thug did.

After prosecutors were controversially permitted to use the defendants’ lyrics as evidence in the case, Schardt said that Stillwell’s lyrics like “I just beat a murder rap" is not a confession, but what sells in the rap music industry. Prosecutors argued that several of Stillwell’s lyrics are of him bragging about getting away with murder.

Schardt also told jurors to question the motives and credibility of the state’s more than 175 witnesses, telling them, “you don’t have to believe what they said.”

He and Weinstein pointed to one of the state’s central witnesses, Kenneth Copeland, also known as Lil’ Woody, who testified that he lied to the police in earlier interviews, giving them names of “bigger fish” they wanted in order to keep himself from going back to jail.

Copeland had also been threatened by prosecutors with jail time if he refused to testify during a secret meeting in Judge Ural Glanville’s chambers that led to the former judge’s removal from the case in July.

Schardt contended Copeland is the one who killed Thomas, noting that he was involved in a heated conflict with Thomas and his peers over items Copeland reportedly stole from Thomas’ car shortly before his murder.

However, Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Simone Hylton argued Copeland was at his girlfriend’s house at the time of the murder.

Stillwell also faces charges in the murder of Shymel Drinks, which prosecutors said was committed along with three other defendants on March 14, 2022.

Adkins said the four rented a vehicle to murder Drinks in a manner eerily similar to the murder of Thomas.

“It’s amply clear this murder is gang related,” Adkins told the jury.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker acquitted Kendrick on charges related to possession of codeine and cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of a machine gun, which were found in the search of Young Thug’s home in May 2022.

Whitaker said the jury will begin deliberations tomorrow. If convicted of all charges, both Stillwell and Kendrick face life in prison, plus additional time.

Following nearly a full year of jury selection, the trial kicked off in November 2023 and became the state’s longest criminal trial after being hindered with delays and calls for mistrials.

Another famous rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, was also charged in the sprawling racketeering indictment brought in 2022.

Kitchens was one of several defendants who accepted plea deals from the state over the past two years. Another 12 defendants had their cases severed for various reasons, and one defendant had his charges dropped after being convicted of two unrelated murders in Georgia and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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