YSL RICO trial delayed until January 2024 after defendant was stabbed at Atlanta jail

By Alta Spells, CNN

(CNN) — A Georgia judge on Tuesday recessed the racketeering trial against alleged members of Young Slime Life, or YSL – a street gang Fulton County prosecutors say is led by Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug – until the new year, after one of the co-defendants was stabbed in jail.

The trial will resume on January 2, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville said in a brief session Tuesday, as the proceedings faced a second day of delays following the stabbing Sunday evening of Shannon Stillwell during a fight with another inmate at the Rice Street Jail.

Stillwell was hospitalized, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Monday, and his attorney said Tuesday that Stillwell was “getting healthy and stronger.”

But on Tuesday, citing a trial participant’s ongoing medical issue, Glanville told the jury he would go ahead and recess for the holidays, rather than on Friday as originally planned.

“Unfortunately, that medical condition still exists, and given the length of time that we’re going to have to probably address that, it might be just more prudent to recess you,” Glanville said.

The judge urged jurors not to discuss the trial during the holiday break, asking them to “resist the temptation to talk with your family” and to inform the court immediately if anyone tries to speak with them. Glanville also advised jurors to avoid news reports about the trial and to stay off social media during its duration.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has alleged Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, is the cofounder of a criminal street gang responsible for violent acts going back a decade. Prosecutors say YSL – the acronym for the artist’s label, Young Stoner Life Records – also stands for Young Slime Life, an Atlanta-based street gang affiliated with the Bloods, a national gang.

The artist was charged alongside more than two dozen others under the state’s expansive Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or the RICO Act. Several defendants took plea deals last December, while others were severed from the case. Stillwell is among six defendants who have pleaded not guilty to all charges and are standing trial in Atlanta.

Stillwell is facing two murder charges, among other counts. His attorney, Max Schardt, said his client was innocent of the charges during his opening statements last month.

Schardt visited Stillwell Monday to check on his recovery, the attorney said Tuesday, adding, “He is going to continue to improve.”

Another inmate, Willie Brown, has been charged with “aggravated assault and possession of prohibited items in connection to the stabbing” during a fight, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Brown has been in custody since July 2020, when the sheriff’s office said he was arrested by the East Point Police Department “for several charges.”

The fight occurred Sunday evening, the sheriff’s office said in a news release, and Stillwell was stabbed multiple times. The two were housed within the same zone at the jail, but it’s unclear what prompted the fight.

Stillwell was in stable condition as of Monday, according to the sheriff’s office. On Tuesday, the office told CNN there had been no change in his status.

CNN’s Christina Maxouris and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

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