Young Thug co-defendant pleads guilty, has murder charge dropped in lengthy gang case

The nearly 2-year-old trial is already the longest in Georgia history. Jury selection began in January 2023.

In exchange for his guilty plea, Fulton County prosecutors agreed to drop a murder charge and several weapons charges against Nichols. He was sentenced to 20 years, with seven to serve in custody and the balance on probation. He will get credit for the nearly three years he has already spent behind bars, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker said.

The plea followed days of negotiations between defense attorneys and prosecutors. Attorneys have remained relatively tight-lipped about those discussions.

Nichols was one of 28 people charged in the sweeping indictment that stunned Atlanta’s hip-hop community when it was handed down in May 2022.

Defense attorney Bruce Harvey said his client had a rough upbringing. His mother died in prison and his father was fatally shot by Atlanta police when Nichols was just 4 years old. He was raised by friends and family in the Atlanta area.

Nichols has a wife and three children, the youngest of whom is 8, his attorney said.

“He has come to this point in his life from a very humble beginning,” Harvey told the judge. “He is an intelligent young man who I believe has a future.”

Days shy of his 30th birthday, Judge Whitaker instructed Nichols to “make this a birthday present to yourself and to your children and to your wife and family.”

“Leave whatever you used to do behind you,” she told him. “Continue to make your children proud of you and set a good example for them.”

Nichols initially faced seven counts in the indictment, including conspiring to violate the state’s RICO act, murder, two counts of participating in a street gang, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

As part of the deal, Nichols is no longer charged in the March 2022 killing of Shymel Drinks, who prosecutors alleged was an associate of a rival gang. And unlike previous defendants who accepted plea deals, Nichols will not be required to testify or acknowledge that YSL is a gang, his attorney said.

Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC

Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC

Of the 28 people initially charged, nine defendants took plea deals before trial began and 12 others are being tried separately. Another defendant, Cordarius Dorsey, had his charges dropped after being convicted of an unrelated murder.

Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, has been in jail since May 2022.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis depicted the indictment as a crackdown on Atlanta’s gangs. She also defended her decision to use the rapper’s own lyrics against him, saying, “if you decide to admit your crimes over a beat, I’m going to use it.”

Prosecutors accuse the 33-year-old of being the leader of Young Slime Life, which they contend is a criminal street gang responsible for a spate of robberies, shootings and the deaths of several people. Williams’ attorneys maintain that YSL, or Young Stoner Life, is simply the name of the star’s record label.