What on Earth Is Happening in the Young Thug Trial?

Opening Arguments

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has used Georgia’s RICO statute against everyone from public school teachers to environmental protesters to a former President of the United States. This week we examine Willis's massive 88-page RICO indictment of rapper Young Thug and 27 other associates of YSL, the Atlanta record label which her office alleges is also operating as a violent street gang. Matt shakes his geriatric millennial first at the scourge of mumble rap before breaking down what has already become the longest criminal trial in Georgia history and the injustice of prosecutors using an artist’s lyrics against them in court.

Finally, we break down this month’s most listener-requested story: judge Ural Glanville’s inexplicable decision not only to secretly meet with a prosecutor and one of the state’s most important witnesses without defense counsel present, but to sentence Young Thug’s attorney to 20 days in jail simply for noticing that he wasn’t supposed to. What is going on here, and could there possibly be a good explanation for it?

• Georgia’s RICO statute

• RICO Indictment of “Cop City” opponents (8/29/2023)

• YSL Indictment (5/9/22)

• Young Thug’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert (7/27/2021)

• GA Code Rule 2.9 - Assuring Fair Hearings and Averting Ex Parte Communications

• Breaking Down the Origins of Mumble Rap (video), Genius.com

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