The longest trial in Georgia’s history came to an end Tuesday morning after a Fulton County jury acquitted the two remaining “Young Slime Life” defendants of murder, gang and racketeering charges.
The jury deliberated about 16 hours over four days before acquitting Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick of the most serious charges they faced. Kendrick, who raps under the name Yak Gotti, was acquitted of all charges and Stillwell was convicted of a single count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
He was sentenced to 10 years, but Judge Paige Reese Whitaker gave Stillwell credit for time spent in jail during the lengthy trial. The balance of his sentence will be served on probation, she said.
Kendrick’s mother, Tasha Kendrick, was jubilant in the hallway after her son was acquitted on all counts.
“My baby’s coming home,” she shouted, wiping tears from her eyes.
After the verdicts were read aloud, Stillwell threw his arms around his attorney and the two shared a long hug. Kendrick clasped both hands together and mouthed “thank you” to the jury.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Meanwhile, members of the prosecution team appeared stunned after spending about two years selecting a jury and trying the case. The investigation into YSL itself lasted the better part of a decade, several law enforcement officers testified at trial.
“We always respect the verdict of the jury,” a spokesman for Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis said in a statement.
Opening arguments took place more than a year ago with six defendants, but four of them — including Atlanta rapper Young Thug — pleaded guilty in October.
Both Stillwell and Kendrick were accused in the January 2015 shooting of Donovan Thomas, who prosecutors said was the leader in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged in the March 2022 killing of Shymel Drinks, and both men faced gang and racketeering charges.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Prosecutors had accused Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, of being the leader of YSL, which they argued is an Atlanta-based street gang responsible for a spate of robberies, shootings and the deaths of at least three people.
Williams and three co-defendants pleaded guilty in October. He was sentenced to 15 years of probation and banished from metro Atlanta for the next decade.
Before this case, Stillwell’s attorney, Max Schardt, said the longest trial he had ever taken part in lasted six weeks. That’s still long by most standards, he said. For Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein, the sprawling gang and racketeering case was his first criminal trial.
Both lawyers said they were thankful and relieved by the outcome of the case. And both praised the job Judge Paige Reese Whitaker did after taking over the trial more than halfway through. The previous judge, Ural Glanville, was removed over his handling of a recusal motion that stemmed from a secret meeting he held with prosecutors and a key witness.
“The real change happened when Judge Whitaker took over the case,” Schardt said after the verdict. “That was a turning point.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
He said he is grateful that his client can put all of this behind him.
“I’m not blind, nor do I believe my client is blind to the fact that he’s getting a second chance at life,” Schardt said. “Moving forward, we just need to take advantage of the blessing that’s been given to us.”
Weinstein said the appointment of Judge Whitaker midway through the case was “a blessing.”
“Getting a new judge on this case absolutely turned the case around,” he said. “We had a judge who would not put up with the poor conduct at times from the state’s team.”
Whitaker repeatedly scolded prosecutors for being disorganized and withholding certain evidence required to be turned over to opposing counsel before the start of trial. She also required the prosecution team to come in and watch a remedial training video on how to do their jobs.
“The change in judge has been everything,” Weinstein said. “All we needed was a fair trial. That’s all we needed.”
Both Weinstein and Schardt spoke with some jurors in the courtroom after the verdicts were delivered. The attorneys said they were appreciative that the jurors were willing to sacrifice more than a year of their time, essentially putting their personal lives on hold to come to court each day.
Weinstein said some of the jurors complained about the pace of the state’s case and the amount of evidence presented by the prosecution.
Over the course of the yearlong trial, prosecutors presented countless social media posts, called more than 175 witnesses and introduced rap lyrics as evidence.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
“They were wondering, ‘why are we watching this?’” Weinstein said of the jury. “Why are we spending three or four weeks on a car that slammed into the side of a dry cleaners?”
He said the consensus was that prosecutors introduced evidence that seemed irrelevant at times.
“Cases where you throw everything against the wall and you steal a year of 16 or 18 citizens’ time, that’s not the way a trial should be put on,” Weinstein said. “And I think the state learned that as well.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
There were 28 defendants charged in the sprawling Fulton County indictment handed down more than 2½ years ago, including popular rapper Gunna. The charges stunned the hip hop community, especially after Willis announced she plan to use rap lyrics as evidence in the case.
In the end, none of the defendants were convicted based on rap lyrics.
Eleven of the original 28 charged by Willis are still awaiting trial and after the verdict was announced Tuesday defense attorneys representing some of them shook hands and fist-bumped each other in the hallway.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Kendrick is a close friend of Young Thug. He was arrested in May 2022 during a raid at the rapper’s Atlanta home. The verdict comes two days after Kendrick was stabbed during a jailhouse fight at the south annex in Union City, where he was being held, according to his attorney. Stillwell was also injured last December during a mid-trial stabbing at the main jail on Rice Street. His injuries delayed proceedings for about a month.
Prosecutors said on the night of Jan. 10, 2015, YSL members gathered at a Texaco gas station near a southwest Atlanta barbershop where Thomas was killed in a drive-by shooting. The Infiniti sedan used in the fatal shooting had been rented by Young Thug, prosecutors argued at trial.
Attorneys for both Kendrick and Stillwell say their clients still have other pending charges, but hope to get them released from jail as soon as possible.
