ATLANTA — Things got heated during the YSL RICO trial after an attorney for rapper Young Thug was taken into custody in court on Monday.
Attorney Brian Steel was held in contempt of court by Judge Ural Glanville after refusing to disclose his source regarding information shared in an ex-parte meeting between the judge, the State, and key witness Kenneth Copeland.
Judge Glanville threatened Steel with contempt several times but he continuously refused. Steel insinuated that the court was committing "coercion" as no representation for his client was invited to the meeting.
"I'm going to give you five minutes. If you don't tell me who it is, I'm going to put you in contempt," Glanville said.
To which, Steel responded, "I don't need five minutes."
After the heated exchange, the court was temporarily recessed. When it was brought back into session, Glanville again asked Steel to tell him how he had found out about the private conversation.
"Mr. Steel, I’m going to ask you again. I need you to tell me how you got this information. This is so sacrosanct to have a conversation in my chambers parroted to you," Glanville exclaimed.
Steel refused a final time before motioning for a mistrial, which was later denied. He was taken into custody shortly after.
Nearly an hour later, Steel was brought back into the courtroom, and Glanville said he would be allowed to be present while the court was in session. However, Steel had until the the end of the day to reveal the source of the information, or he would be placed back in custody.
In an update Monday evening, Glanville ordered that Steel be taken into custody and held in the Fulton County Jail for "no more than 20 days for this contempt."
"Those 20 days consisting of every weekend for the next 10 weekends," Glanville added. "And you'll be reporting to 901 Rice Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318. At 7 p.m. on Fridays, you'll be released on 7 p.m. on Sundays. And it's to commence this Friday, June the 14th at 7 p.m. and not to end until Sunday, August the 18th, 2024, at 7 p.m."
You can watch the exchange unfold in the video below:
More on the Young Thug, YSL trial
On May 9, 2022, the hip-hop world was jolted with the news that rapper Young Thug—a Grammy winner, trendsetter and Atlanta icon—had been arrested.
It's been over two years now that the artist, whose legal name is Jeffery Williams, has remained behind bars. The central charge against him is that three letters with which his name has become synonymous because of his artistic success in launching the "Young Stoner Life" label, YSL, actually signalize a violent gang: Young Slime Life.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis named Williams, among other metro Atlanta rappers and those with ties to the alleged gang, to bring charges against a total of 28 people in a sweeping 88-page indictment. The case alleges that not only is Young Thug among the gang's members, but he is also its kingpin.
"He is the one they're all afraid of," a prosecutor said at a June 2022 hearing. "He's the one that's King Slime."
A long pretrial process passed to an even longer jury selection process, and across this time, the co-defendant list dwindled with plea deals and other circumstances, keeping some of the individuals charged from remaining on the case.
The trial finally began in earnest in November 2023, already considered the longest in Georgia's history.
Now that it is in full swing, 11Alive is keeping track of key developments in the case and highlighting moments in the courtroom. Follow along in the timeline below.