A juror in the ongoing “Young Slime Life” gang and racketeering trial has been excused from the case after moving to another county three months into proceedings.
Juror No. 204, who works as a store manager, signed a lease in Cherokee County that begins on Monday, Chief Judge Ural Glanville said.
The woman first notified the court of her plans to move last August during the tedious 10-month jury selection process. A defense attorney for Atlanta rapper Young Thug asked to have the juror excused at the time, but she was ultimately selected to hear the trial.
Judge Glanville raised concerns that a verdict handed down by a non-Fulton resident could be deemed invalid.
“My preference would be to leave her, but I don’t think I have a legal basis … My concern would be that if she is here at the time of the verdict she would not be a qualified juror because she would not be a (Fulton) resident,” Glanville said Friday.
At the end of Friday’s proceedings, Glanville told her that she can’t discuss the case until the trial is over.
“As much as we don’t want to see you go, we understand that you have made a life decision to move to another county,” Glanville told the juror before she was dismissed.
Prosecutors said they reviewed case law to determine whether the woman was still eligible to serve after moving out of the county mid-trial, but apparently found nothing to justify keeping her on.
“The state has no objection to the court excusing juror 204 for residency requirements,” Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love said.
There are 16 jurors remaining in the high-profile case now, 12 trial jurors and four alternates.
A total of 18 jurors were initially selected for the trial, including six alternates, but one juror was dismissed in December after she got sick and had to go to the hospital.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The sweeping RICO indictment handed down in the spring of 2022 charged 28 people, including Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. The Grammy-winning musician is accused of being the co-founder and leader of Young Slime Life, which prosecutors say is a criminal street gang based in south Atlanta. Defense attorneys say YSL stands for Young Stoner Life and is simply the name of Williams’ record label.
Williams is currently standing trial along with five others in what has become the lengthiest criminal proceeding in state history. Since opening statements were given Nov. 27, jurors have heard testimony from 48 witnesses, including alleged victims, law enforcement and gang experts. They also heard from former defendant Trontavious Stephens, who spent several days on the stand.
Prosecutors expected to call hundreds more witnesses in the coming months.
The trial has been marred by repeated delays, including the lengthy jury selection process, an attorney’s courthouse arrest, a deputy who was accused of having a romantic relationship with a former defendant and at least one jailhouse stabbing.
Several prospective jurors were held in contempt of court for various reasons, including one woman who was ordered to write a 30-page essay after she traveled to the Dominican Republic instead of of returning to jury selection.
Another man was reprimanded for messaging a reporter after the judge instructed potential jurors not to follow the case in the media or discuss it with anyone. And a third was handcuffed in court after Glanville said she willfully violated his instructions by filming court proceedings with her phone. She spent about five hours in custody at the courthouse before apologizing and saying she’d learned an important lesson.
Another potential juror was detained for six hours over emails Glanville said were sent to court staff. Fulton prosecutors also surveilled a potential juror under for more than a month over concerns about whether he actually lived in the county.
