Lead prosecutor Adriane Love’s opening statements last week referenced wolves.
“YSL operated as a pack,” Love said after reading from Rudyard Kipling’s “Law of the Jungle” as the trial of Young Thug and five codefendants got under way. Young Thug, she said, was the leader of said pack.
On the second week of trial, Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, came to court in a wolf sweater.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
The sweater, adorned with a cartoon wolf with vinyl records is an AMIRI piece that retails for $1,190. Williams’ girlfriend, singer Mariah the Scientist, told Channel 2 Action News’ Michael Seiden that she bought it for Williams two weeks before trial began and the wolf image was “pure coincidence.”
After a memorable first week of trial, here are some other highlights from the second.
The wrong man. Atlanta police investigator Stephen McKesey testified on Wednesday and got a key detail wrong. He mistook a defense attorney for Young Thug’s brother.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
McKesey was testifying about a 2020 argument outside a gas station that led to Quantavious Grier, who is Young Thug’s brother, being arrested on a gun charge.
“Can you look around this courtroom and tell me if you see Quantavious Grier today?” defense attorney Careton Matthews Sr. asked.
The investigator said he had seen Grier in the courtroom. The problem: Grier is in prison, having violated conditions of a plea deal he struck in December 2022. McKesey had mistaken defense attorney Lamar Gardner for the former defendant.
“They look alike,” McKesey said. “They look like they could be brothers.”
One juror was excused. Judge Ural Glanville announced Monday that a juror was being excused after being hospitalized over the weekend.
Another asked the judge for lunch.
“I know is kind of a long shot but could we get lunch, maybe once every two weeks or something?” a juror asked before being dismissed for the day on Tuesday.
The usually no-nonsense Glanville responded with mirth.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, man, trying to ask me for lunch,” he quipped. “We used to be able to provide lunches because I had a juror account; I don’t at this point in time.”
Then said, once jurors start deliberating, the court might be able to arrange a meal. For now, jurors can bring what they’d like for lunch with them to court each day.
Stay off social media. Testimony on Wednesday was delayed after a juror thought she saw something that alarmed her: Herself.
She’d glanced one of the monitors in the courtroom and became concerned when she realized she and other jurors could be seen. The juror brought it to the attention of a deputy and noted an October social media post from a blogger who had filmed a video of the screen in another courtroom.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Glanville ended up asking each juror if they had heard the conversation between the juror and the deputy. Each said they had not. The juror who brought up the monitor told Glanville that she could remain fair and impartial.
Before they were dismissed, Glanville told jurors to stay off social media and news apps for the duration of the trial.
“It’s just too much a temptation,” Glanville said. “We do not want you to be exposed to any third-party sources of information.”
