ATLANTA (CN) — Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Young Thug and his co-defendant argued Tuesday that prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to use lyrics and music videos as evidence to convict them of gang-related crimes, reviving the previously rejected argument in light of a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision.
In November 2023, Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville allowed 17 sets of lyrics to be entered into evidence and said additional verses may be admitted if prosecutors could tie them directly to the crimes in the indictment.
Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, filed a motion to strike Glanville's ruling based on a March decision by the state's highest court that found a rap video played during a murder trial unfairly prejudiced the jury deciding the case.
In a 7-2 ruling, the court reversed the murder conviction and life sentence handed to Morgan Baker, an Alabama man convicted in the fatal 2019 shooting of a security guard outside an Atlanta nightclub. The majority said the trial judge abused her discretion by allowing prosecutors to show a 33-second clip from a music video in which he waved a pistol — and the evidence presented at trial was not especially compelling, making it possible that the introduction of the music video unfairly influenced the guilty verdict.
Baker was not the artist in the video and his appearance was relatively brief, but prosecutors in the case played it to the jury three times to emphasize their portrayals of Baker as a violent gunman.
During Tuesday's hearing, Glanville expressed some skepticism as Young Thug sought to leverage the case to keep lyrics and videos out of his own criminal trial.
The judge noted that prosecutors have more to prove under racketeering statues than with a single murder charge, and that all of the lyrics and videos are still subject to foundation.
"That foundation now, according to Baker, is really tied hard to specific facts and not just generalities," Young Thug's attorney Brian Steel told the judge.
Steel rebutted prosecutors' argument that the lyrics “I never killed anybody, but I got something to do with that body,” which Young Thug rapped on the 2018 track “Anybody” featuring Nicki Minaj, constituted a confession.
The line provided no details or nexus in association with a certain crime, Steel argued, and assuming the statements amounted to an admission — and presenting them out of context — could "horrify" and prejudice the jury.
"Why do the lyrics have any probative value if it's simply cumulative?" Steel said.
"It's an artistic industry that our court, for the first time in Georgia, has said, 'We gotta be careful,'" the attorney added.
Young Thug's co-defendant Shannon Stillwell similarly claims that his rapping in a video on social media has no direct relation to the allegations against him in the indictment.
Stillwell, also known as Shannon Jackson or “SB,” faces eight counts, including two murder charges and others related to racketeering, guns and gang participation.
In the video, Stillwell is wearing a chain bearing the initials YSL — a nod to south Atlanta gang Young Slime Life, according to prosecutors — as he raps about robbing drug dealers and "keeping a stick." He says, "I just beat a murder rap, paid my lawyer 30 for that."
"You don't believe that your client's statement, 'I beat a murder rap,' might be an admission?" Judge Glanville asked.
Attorney Max Schardt said Stillwell was previously wrongfully arrested for murder. His statement was an acknowledgment of that and is irrelevant to the case.
"He doesn't admit to committing a murder — he talks about being arrested. That's the whole point," Schardt said.
Glanville disagreed that the "murder rap" statement could not be relevant to the jury, but he expressed concerns with the state's ability to lay a proper foundation surrounding Stillwell's statements about robbing drug dealers and carrying a "stick."
Senior Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Dane Uhelski argued that the statements show evidence of YSL's existence and that presenting the video is necessary for them to prove that. "Its a question for the jury," Uhelski said.
Prosecutors say YSL is responsible for a string of shootings, robberies and selling drugs. They claim Young Thug was the co-founder and leader of the gang, although he denies the charges and says YSL is the acronym of his record label, Young Stoner Life.
The criminal trial has become the longest in Georgia history. Opening statements began last November, 10 months after jury selection with repeated delays and several juror issues. Defense attorneys have urged Glanville to limit the state's anticipated 400 witnesses and to “consider the ramifications of the present pace of trial and its impact on the jury, the case, as well as the defendants.”
The 65-count indictment brought in May 2022 contains 191 “overt acts” that prosecutors contend were carried out in furtherance of the gang. Many of the acts listed in the indictment involved defendants who are no longer part of the trial, either because they accepted plea deals or have had their cases severed. All six defendants standing trial have been in jail without bond for two years.
Multiple courts across the country have sided with First Amendment advocates who say musical expression is protected speech unless it can be proven as literal, rather than figurative or fictional when using them as evidence.
In January, the federal judge in the trial over the 2002 murder of hip-hop icon Jam Master Jay, of Run-DMC fame, refused to allow the defendants' violent rap lyrics and music videos into evidence.
During a hearing on Monday, however, the Massachusetts Supreme Court appeared inclined to rule that rap lyrics a defendant wrote four years before the murder he was convicted of committing could be evidence that the killing was “premeditated.”
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