One of the star witnesses in the gang racketeering trial of rapper Young Thug is a bald, diminutive fellow named Lil’ Woody, a prodigious prevaricator and victim of chronic amnesia.
On Monday, as the testimony began again after a two-month hiatus, Woody, a low-level gangland accomplice born as Kenneth Copeland, continued his streak of not remembering what he told police in prior interviews through the years.
But after hours of courtroom reticence, frustration and stupor, Woody suddenly pivoted and employed a new tactic: Blame the murder on the dead guy.
Near the end of the day Monday, Woody’s “memory” suddenly returned. He told jurors he loaned a vehicle police believe was used in a fatal 2015 drive-by shooting to a childhood friend of his called “Threat.”
The Infiniti had been rented earlier for Woody at the airport by Young Thug, the Grammy-winning rapper whose real name is Jeffery Williams. Later, police say that vehicle was used in the slaying of rival gang leader Donovan Thomas, which kicked off a gang war on Atlanta’s streets.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Connecting Threat to the murder could have been a solid lead in this case. Except that Threat, AKA Travante Turner, said to be a high-ranking gang member himself, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting in Atlanta six weeks ago.
So this leaves prosecutors casting a caustic eye at Woody’s “memory.”
“Are you bringing up Threat because he’s deceased and can’t come in here to defend himself?” asked Simone Hylton, one of the Fulton County prosecutors trying the case.
The smart money would be on the answer, “Hell, yes! That’s precisely what I’m doing.”
But Woody answers very few questions in the affirmative. He told the prosecutor he didn’t know what Threat did with the Infiniti. Woody has connected other people to that vehicle in previous interviews with Atlanta detectives. Prosecutors have charged Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, known as the rapper Yak Gotti, in that killing.
Stillwell and Kendrick and three other defendants are on trial with Young Thug, who police say was the kingpin of a murderous gang called YSL.
Young Thug’s lawyer contends YSL is a music label created by Williams, a young man born into poverty on Atlanta’s Cleveland Avenue neighborhood and who became a rich and internationally famous entertainer.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Defense lawyers contend their clients are the victims of other criminals trying to wiggle out from their own crimes.
Brian Steel, Thug’s lead attorney, has said that Woody “tells lie after lie after lie” to implicate his client.
Woody would agree with that contention. In fact, he’s admitted, “I have never been truthful a day in my life.”
In the past decade, Woody has had several meetings with police, including a four-hour interview in 2021 that got leaked last year, causing him to be roundly castigated on social media as a ”snitch.”
This made the already reluctant witness even more anxious, as have other witnesses who fear retaliation.
Woody is the reason the trial, now going on its 20th month (the longest in Georgia history) was paused mid-June and started again this week. During that time, Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, who had overseen the case, was replaced after having had a meeting with Woody and prosecutors without defense lawyers present. Woody, who was reluctant, ultimately agreed to testify.
Sort of. He testified for several days in early June, dithering, misremembering and moaning about being a put-upon guest of the court.
On Monday, testimony began again under the eyes of a new judge, Paige Reese Whitaker. Woody, looking sharp in a pinstriped gray suit, returned to the stand and remained as defiant and dyspeptic as ever.
Before the jury came in, the judge nudged the witness towards testifying. She reminded him that he’s been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony and reminded him he could be jailed — again — if he refused. It wasn’t a punishment, she said, it was an “incentive.”
Woody arrived to court Monday in his pre-summer form.
Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC
Credit: Seeger Gray / AJC
Within 15 seconds (I counted) of his bottom hitting the witness chair, he muttered “I don’t recall.”
By lunch, a little more than an hour later, he had invoked that answer 82 times. By the end of the day, he had recited it — again, by my count — 208 times!
I, no doubt, missed a few. And that total does not include the “I dunnos,” “I made it ups,” “I got no clues,” and the annoyed grunts.
It was like he was giving a master class in recalcitrance.
His overarching theme was that, yes, he’s been known for stealing and shooting and the cops have been squeezing him for a decade trying to get a “big fish” — Young Thug. Woody even did a four-year prison stint on a gun charge.
Woody repeatedly has admitted his lying ways, before blurting out his recipe: “Take a little bit of the truth and put it with a lie. That’s what I do.”
“It was easy to throw the blame off on (Young Thug) to get ‘em off me,” he said, adding he’d tell police, “Thug did this. Thug did that.”
In one dicey exchange, prosecutor Hylton asked, “Is that why you’re changing your testimony? Because you’re worried about being labelled a snitch?”
If he was given truth serum, I’m sure Woody’s reply would be, “You’re damn right!”
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