Rapper Young Thug accepts plea deal in Georgia RICO case

Atlanta rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, has agreed to a plea deal and changed his plea to guilty on gang charges in Fulton County, Georgia.

Williams pleaded guilty in court Thursday afternoon.

“Is it your decision to waive those rights and plead guilty because you are, in fact, guilty?” asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker.

“Yes,” Williams said, before his attorney weighed in on one of the points.

According to an ABC affiliate in Atlanta, WSB-TV, which was in the courtroom Thursday, the rapper's plea deal is non-negotiable, meaning the final sentencing decision rests with the judge.

He pleaded nolo contendere to two counts, including violating the RICO Act, which is a plea of ​​no contest or no defense, meaning the defendant neither admits nor denies the allegations against him, reported WSB TV.

The terms of the contract are unclear. ABC News has reached out to Williams' attorney, Brian Steel, for further comment.

Williams was initially charged on May 10, 2022, with conspiracy to violate the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gangs. He was later charged in another case with participation in street gang activity, three counts of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a machine gun.

Before the agreement was reached, Williams had pleaded not guilty and his attorney had repeatedly told ABC News that his client was innocent of all charges.

During the racketeering trial, which began in November 2023 and was Georgia's longest-running trial to date, prosecutors alleged that the Grammy-winning rapper was known as the co-founder and “professed leader” of an alleged criminal street gang in Fulton County, Georgia as “Young Slime Life” or “YSL”.

“The members and employees of YSL moved like a pack with Jeffrey Williams at the helm,” Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love claimed during opening statements.

Love alleged that YSL's alleged members committed “criminal street gang activity” – that is, crimes designed to further the purpose and policies of YSL itself.

“For 10 years, the group that called itself Young Slime Life dominated the Cleveland Avenue community in Fulton County,” Love said Monday. “And has created a crater in the middle of the Cleveland Avenue community in Fulton County that has sucked away the youth, the innocence and even the lives of some of its youngest members.”

The Grammy-winning rapper was charged in May 2022 in a sweeping RICO indictment in Fulton County, Georgia. He was among 28 people charged but stood trial alongside five defendants after many of the defendants reached plea deals while the judge ruled that others should be tried separately.

The rapper's star power brought national attention to this case and the prosecutor's controversial use of his lyrics, as well as lyrics sung by some of his defendants, as alleged evidence in the case brought the case even further into the national spotlight.

The use of lyrics sparked outrage among free speech advocates and prominent musicians and producers in the hip hop world, who argued that rap music and the writing process were a form of artistic expression and not necessarily a reflection of reality.

Prosecutors argued in the indictment that social media posts, images and various song lyrics published by several defendants, including Young Thug, were “overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy” to violate the RICO Act.

Although the scope of the charges went far beyond the use of rap lyrics, the inclusion of lyrics sparked outrage among artists across the music industry and helped launch a movement that became known as “Protect Black Art.”

Steel filed a motion in December 2022 asking Judge Ural Glanville, who was removed from the case after meeting with a witness and prosecutors, to prohibit prosecutors from using song lyrics as evidence.

Steel argued: “[Lyrics] cannot be used as evidence of a crime if they are only related to music/freedom of expression/speech/poetry.”

Glanville denied the request in a November 2022 ruling, which found that 17 song lyrics mentioned in the indictment could be provisionally included in the trial.

“I conditionally admit these outstanding texts, conditional upon or subject to a foundation properly laid by the state or the proponent wishing to admit this evidence,” Glanville said.

The judge added that if prosecutors intend to include additional lyrics as part of the alleged evidence in this case, they may be presented to the judge for consideration.