The final two defendants were found not guilty of murder in the gang trial that led to rapper Young Thug’s guilty plea

ATLANTA– The long-running Atlanta gang and racketeering trial that led to rapper Young Thug pleading guilty in October ended Tuesday with a jury finding the final two defendants not guilty of murder.

Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was acquitted of all charges and Shannon Stillwell was found guilty only of weapons possession. The verdicts came nearly two years after jury selection began and a year after statements opened in a trial plagued by problems.

The original, sweeping indictment charged 28 people with conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and used song lyrics and social media posts as evidence. Young Thug, a Grammy-winning artist whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was released on probation after pleading guilty to gang, drug and weapons charges in October when negotiations with prosecutors failed.

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” who prosecutors said belonged to a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged in the 2022 death of Shymel Drinks, who prosecutors said was killed in retaliation for the murder just days earlier of two associates of a gang called YSL, which Young Thug allegedly co-founded.

Thomas was killed in a drive-by shooting outside an Atlanta barbershop. In the other murder, prosecutors say Stillwell pulled up next to Drinks and fired three shots into his car.

Stillwell was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 10 years for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon previously convicted of a felony involving a firearm, with credit for two years already served and the remainder to be served on probation.

“We always respect the verdict of a jury,” said Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Defense attorneys criticized the state for relying on song lyrics, saying they were among flawed evidence that prosecutors cobbled together along with carefully selected social media posts and unreliable witness statements to create a misleading narrative about young men create who turned to music to escape economic hardship and difficult past.

Prosecutors say Williams and two others founded Young Slime Life in 2012, which they say was linked to the national Bloods gang. The 33-year-old artist also has a record label called Young Stoner Life. Kendrick is featured on two of the most popular songs from the label’s Slime Language 2 compilation album, “Take It to Trial” and “Slatty,” as well as Young Thug’s “Slime Sh-t,” which prosecutors entered into evidence in court .

Williams took a risky “blind” plea in October – meaning he pleaded guilty without agreeing to his sentence. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker released him from prison on probation with strict conditions, including a 10-year ban from the Atlanta metro area except for certain occasions.

The trial was fraught with problems and delays and rocked the Atlanta rap scene. Growing up in a violent Atlanta housing project, Williams became a wildly successful artist, adding his own melodic twist to the modern Southern trap sound he popularized.

Kendrick’s attorney, Doug Weinstein, not only used song lyrics and posts to prove YSL was a gang, but also said at trial that prosecutors had arbitrarily thrown together alleged crimes “see what’s left” but couldn’t prove that they were connected to a criminal enterprise.

Defendants have committed crimes in the past, said defense attorney Max Schardt, but they did so to make money for themselves in communities without economic opportunities – and not to advance a gang. And the music kept some of them going.

“By and large, we know the difficulties that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rape, prison or death.”

Schardt tried to cast doubt on gang investigators and YSL employees who the state had used as witnesses. Several alleged YSL members said they lied to police to avoid going to jail, and Schardt said officers threatened them with long prison sentences if they didn’t say the right thing. He suspected that one of these witnesses might have killed Thomas.

Prosecutors said these witnesses were honest with police but lied on the witness stand and to the people who “ratted on” them. And the statements are supported by other evidence such as songs and social media posts that said the defendants were “bragging about murder.”

Prosecutors said that Stillwell and Kendrick were in the car used in the drive-by shooting that killed Thomas and that Stillwell’s social media posts indicate he was involved.

Defense attorney Doug Weinstein said there was no evidence that Kendrick ever got into that car, rather surveillance footage showed he was in his own vehicle at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors said that Kendrick turned the cars off camera and that he was the one who told his colleagues where Thomas was, thereby making him liable for his death.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys had conflicting interpretations of the remote surveillance footage in Drinks’ murder. Stillwell pulled up next to Drinks’ car, fired three shots at his car and then sped away, prosecutors said. The defense said Stillwell drove away before Drinks was shot and there was no gunshot residue in Stillwell’s car.

Jury selection for the trial took nearly 10 months, and Stillwell was stabbed in the Fulton County Jail last year, putting the proceedings on hold. Kendrick was stabbed to death in prison on Sunday.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July after defense attorneys filed a motion to remove him based on a meeting he had with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present. When Whitaker took over, she chastised the prosecution for being disorganized and failing to turn over evidence.

Brian Steel, Young Thug’s attorney, said he wanted to continue the trial because he believed they would win, but the rapper said it felt “hellish” to be in court and that he wanted to go home wanted to go to his family.

Nine people charged in the indictment, including Gunna, accepted plea agreements before the trial began. Charges against twelve other people are still pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against a defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.

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Kramon is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.