Calling his jail conditions “inhumane” and “torturous,” attorneys representing Atlanta rapper Young Thug filed an emergency motion Friday to have him granted bond.
The 30-year-old, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, was one of 28 people named in a sweeping gang indictment handed down by a Fulton County grand jury earlier this week.
He remains held at the Cobb County jail as he awaits a bond hearing in Fulton County Superior Court.
The bombshell indictment made public late Monday centers on alleged members of the Young Slime Life gang, which is accused of engaging in criminal activity across Atlanta dating back more than a decade. Prosecutors say YSL claims affiliation with the national Bloods gang and is partially responsible for Atlanta’s recent surge in violence.
The Grammy winner is charged with participating in criminal street gang activity and conspiring to violate Georgia’s criminal racketeering law, but the indictment also outlines more serious crimes allegedly carried out by members of the group ranging from drug possession to murder.
Williams is accused, among other things, of renting an Infiniti Q50 sedan that was used in a 2015 deadly drive-by shooting that killed alleged rival gang member Donovan Thomas Jr. Williams’ attorney, Brian Steel, denies the charges and has said he will fight to have his client exonerated.
Credit: Fulton Co. Sheriff's Office
Credit: Fulton Co. Sheriff's Office
In the bond motion filed Friday, attorneys said Williams spent the past four days in isolation “as if he is a forgotten person alone in the world.”
The motion contends an overhead light is kept on 24 hours a day, preventing the rapper from sleeping. Williams’ attorneys also said he is being served “inedible” food, and hasn’t been given the opportunity to exercise, shower or interact with anyone other than his lawyers.
The filing also pushes back on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ decision to use Williams’ popular lyrics against him, saying the rapper was “lawfully exercising his freedom of speech and expression in his profession as a musical artist.”
“The state seeks to insinuate criminal conduct from quotations from song lyrics and social media posts,” the motion said. “To weaponize these words by charging overt acts to support a supposed conspiracy is unconscionable and unconstitutional.”
Also charged in the sprawling indictment were fellow Atlanta rapper Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Giavanni Kitchens, and Christian Eppinger, who is accused of seriously wounding an Atlanta police officer in a February shooting.
In addition to the charges listed in the indictment, Williams faces seven new counts stemming from his arrest Monday evening and the subsequent search of his Buckhead home, authorities said. Those charges include drug and weapons possession, as well as three more gang-related offenses.
Warrants allege police found nearly 1,300 grams of marijuana, 31 bottles of Promethazine syrup and six guns, including a 9mm Glock equipped with an illegal “converter switch” that transforms the semi-automatic pistol into a “machine gun.” Police also said they discovered 20 bottles of “YSL Slime Drink” containing THC.
“The failure to schedule a bond hearing for this innocent man, coupled with the inhumane and unconstitutional treatment of Mr. Williams, mandates that this Honorable Court grant bond until a hearing can be held,” the motion said.
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