ATLANTA — The Fulton County District Attorney's Office has filed to drop the charges against more than half the remaining YSL defendants following the almost entirely not-guilty verdicts delivered by a jury for Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell.
Of the original 28 men indicted in the YSL case, most went to trial and took plea deals along the way. But 11 defendants initially indicted at the case's outset were severed, or removed, from the case for various reasons -- such as illness or not having legal representation.
Now, of those 11, the DA's Office is moving to dismiss six of the cases with a motion for "nolle prosequi" -- literally meaning "not wish to prosecute."
The six defendants are Justin Cobb -- who actually was never caught and arrested on the original indictment -- Khalieff Adams, Javoris Bradford, Jayden Myrick, Jevon Fleetwood and Damone Blalock.
The motions do not acknowledge the not-guilty verdicts for Kendrick and Stillwell as a motivation, instead stating that dropping these cases would "reduce the number of defendants for which the Fulton County Sheriff will have responsibility during this trial; and this fact necessarily reduces the potential for safety and security concerns in the trial of this case."
Cobb had faced two counts (RICO violation and murder); Adams four counts (RICO violation, attempted murder, two counts of participation in criminal street gang activity); Bradford two counts (RICO violation and murder); Myrick five counts (RICO violation, attempted murder, possession of weapon by incarcerated individual, two counts of participation in criminal street gang activity); Fleetwood one count (RICO violation); and Blalock one count (RICO violation).
Earlier this week the jury in the nearly two-year overall YSL trial (almost a year of jury selection followed by a year of trial proceedings) found Kendrick, aka Yak Gotti, not guilty on all counts and Stillwell not guilty on all but one count (he was found guilty possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and sentenced to two years in prison, for which he was given credit for the two years he already served while in jail without bond during the trial).
Young Thug, the highest-profile among the case's original defendants, was among the few not to take a guilty plea. Instead he entered a non-negotiated guilty plea -- as well as no contest to the most serious charges he faced -- in a successful legal maneuver to obtain a more favorable sentence directly from Judge Whitaker than prosecutors were offering in plea deals.
It's unclear when Judge Whitaker may issue a decision on the six new motions filed by the DA's Office.