GA - Rapper Young + others indicted on RICO & other charges, May 2022. Trial ongoing April 2023, interruptions, lawyer arrested. Fulton County. #2

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Court is underway. Attorneys have started the morning talking about the use of lyrics by the state.

The morning started with a funny comparison by attorney Bruce Harvey referencing Gladys Knight and the Pips.


"I just beat a murder rap, paid my lawyer 30 for that." It's one of the lyrics rapped by Shannon Stillwell being argued this morning.Judge Whitaker said she doesn't see any reason to revisit the previous ruling made by Glanville on lyrics and has moved on.


Attorney Bruce Harvey wants the lyrics to just be used against Stillwell, and not his client Quamarvious Nichols, who Harvey claims is just a person in the background of the music video.Whitaker answered that Nichols "chose to be on the background" of the video.


Before lunch, attorneys argued over jail calls. Lunch break until 1:15 p.m.



There seems to be some internet problems at the courthouse. (It’s not unusual for those to happen)“I’m not really sure why Fulton County can’t provide stable WiFi in the courthouse. It’s a continual problem,” Judge Whitaker said.


Before they broke for the day, Prosecutor Hylton said the goal for the state to be done with direct examination of Kenneth Copeland by early afternoon for defense attorneys to begin cross-examination.


Court will resume at 9 am tomorrow.


@JozsefPapp_
 
@JozsefPapp_

Judge Whitaker is on the bench and they will continue to go through evidence and any objections. Whitaker seems to be getting annoyed that attorneys were supposed to do some stuff last night and they didn't.

Young 's attorney Brian Steel has to step out of court for a bit, so his wife, Colette Steel, who is also an attorney, will be in to assist.
 
@JozsefPapp_


Most of the day has been spent arguing over phone calls prosecutors allege Shannon Stillwell and Quamarvious Nichols were involved in.Most are being admitted by Judge Whitaker over attorneys Bruce Harvey and Max Schardt’s objection.


The state keeps arguing that the phone calls are “in furtherance of the conspiracy” so they should be admitted.“Buzzwords go both ways baby,” Harvey said referring to the state’s continuous argument including most of the same words.


Some fireworks at the end of the day as Attorney Bruce Harvey and Max Schardt continue to object over some of the calls the state wants to introduce making assertions about what each call means.Whitaker said she is taking the words from both sides as arguments, not fact.
 
@cathyrusson

I will never understand those who won't watch the #YSL #YoungThug trial. It's history-making for so many reasons. I catch up at night and on weekends when other parts of my job get in the way. No one will stop me from seeing this to the end. Not even really, really old age.


4:45 PM · Aug 26, 2024
 
Monday, August 26, 2024

@cathyrusson

Steel plans to have Woody under cross-exam for at least all day tomorrow.

JUROR ISSUE DETAIL: The judge won't allow our camera back on but we can report the issue. The woman was on medical leave with her employer when selected for this jury. She recently found out they won't continue to pay her (not sure starting when) and possibly shouldn't have been paying her because of the medical leave. She then decided to recently apply for another job out of state and just found out she got it. She says this trial will now be a financial hardship for her. The judge said she'd inquire with her employer and excused her for the day.


The state doesn't oppose dismissing the juror. Attorney Matthews speaks for the defense after they huddled up and said they are holding off on their opinion until they hear back from the juror after she gets more information from her new employer.


Other juror issues discussed: Juror wanted to know will Election Day be a full day off, she said no would be a half day. The juror wanted to work an election polling. Another juror wanted to leave 2 days a week at 2pm to referee games, that request is denied. Another juror thought they would have work training, the court asked them if they could move the training to scheduled days off already on the calendar. They will follow up. Another juror may need a medical procedure soon; they will keep the court updated.


Court is now adjourned until 9am tomorrow.


Remember, the state still has more than 100 witnesses left after Woody.
 
Tuesday, August 27, 2024

@JozsefPapp_

Steel asks Copeland about being mentioned on Young ’s “Halftime” song.Copeland said there is no truth to the lyric: “Lil whodie done pull up and pop at his noggin.”“I would never,” Copeland said.



Judge Whitaker just said a juror had to go to the hospital last night and court might be ending early today after the juror asked them if they could break early today.


Seems like the juror is feeling okay today and they plan to continue on until the juror tells them otherwise.


Steel is now asking about Copeland’s social media pages.


Steel is playing snippets of the interviews and exhibits the state played during Copeland’s direct examination.


Copeland testified he was told that Donovan Thomas and his friends were planning to hurt him the day that Thomas was killed.


Whitaker said the plan is to go on for about 45 minutes before dismissing the jurors for the day.No word on what is going to happen with juror #387 from yesterday yet.

Copeland just went on a rant talking about how he spent most of 2015 in and out of jail and talking to police during those interviews.He also said he is tired of being on the stand and repeated that he lied to police during those interviews.

“I’m tired of keep relieving this stuff. I’m tired of it. I’m sitting here, I got cramps, I got knots in my stomach,” Copeland said. “I haven’t eaten nothing. I tried to eat yesterday, I haven’t ate today.”


“I’m in pain right now,” Copeland said.“I understand it might be my fault, I’m telling y’all I made it up, I lied. Damn man, this is crazy,” Copeland said.


Copeland said Rice Street/Fulton County Jail is the worst place in the world and DeKalb County is just as bad or even worse.Steel is trying to get to Copeland’s motivation to testify but the state objected and Whitaker told him to move on.

Steel brought up that Copeland was charged with murder in the death of Donovan Thomas, four months after the June 10, 2015 interrogation. Copeland acknowledged that he was told about the charge.


“Jeffery Williams wasn’t charge with the murder of Donovan Thomas right?” Steel asked Copeland.“I don’t know, not to my knowledge,” Copeland replied.


Steel is going through Copeland’s plea deals and convictions over the years.


Whitaker said court is done for the day and jury will return tomorrow at 9 a.m.


Steel expects to be done with his cross-examination by 11 a.m. and before lunch. Attorneys Doug Weinstein and Careton Matthews said they will cross-examine Copeland for about 20-30 minutes. Attorney Max Schardt said he might need a full day.


It appears the next witness for the state is Antonio Sledge, who took a plea deal in Dec. 2022.
 
@JozsefPapp_

Before they start, #YoungThug’s attorney Brian Steel asked Judge Whitaker for clarification on whether or not he can ask Kenneth Copeland about Judge Glanville’s involvement in the ex-parte meeting.Whitaker told him he can’t question him on Glanville stuff.



9:04 AM · Aug 28, 2024
 
Wednesday, August 28, 2024

@JozsefPapp_

Steel feels he should be able to ask to show how Glanville and the state were allegedly working together and coerced Copeland to testify at the meeting.


Steel is playing Copeland’s jail calls.


Copeland said that Young never hired him a lawyer throughout his all legal problems.


“When you said that Mr. Garlington told you that Mr. Kendrick and Mr. Stillwell were in the vehicle that shot at and killed Donovan Thomas, was that true or was this part of this lie?” Steel asked.“I told them I made it up. He never told me they did it,”Copeland replied.


Going back to some other stuff, Copeland feels the state was the one who leaked the 2021 interrogation video and he said it made him look like a snitch.The state actually accused the defense of leaking the video and putting their witness “in danger.”
 
@JozsefPapp_

Brian Steel is done cross-examining Kenneth Copeland, now attorney Doug Weinstein is asking Copeland questions.


Copeland once again repeats that the Fulton County Jail is the worst place in the world.


Copeland said he was a bulls*** artist and would tell police anything.


Weinstein referenced the interview Copeland did during the hiatus.

“I don’t know why they put me on the stand,” Copeland said to Weinstein’s last question.Now, attorney Careton Matthews is questioning Copeland.


Matthews is asking Copeland about a social media picture that shows him with his client Marquavius Huey.


Matthews is done with his questioning.
 
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Testimony Continued...

@JozsefPapp_

Attorney Keith Adams said they are oppose to the juror being removed. However, not all defendants agree.


Max Schardt is oppose to the juror being removed.Doug Weinstein is not oppose to the juror being removed.


Angela D'Williams asked for further questioning of the juror to ensure that she wouldn't hold it against them if she were to stay.Careton Matthews said they want her to stay, while Nicole Westmoreland said they are not oppose to the juror being removed.


Whitaker said they plan to take it up later.


Before the jury and Copeland is brought back out, Attorney Max Schardt is arguing to admit certain stuff, including a Fulton County Jail jumpsuit but Whitaker is not allowing him to use the jumpsuit.Schardt will begin his cross-examination of Copeland.


Copeland said he doesn't want to be on the stand because what he said in 2015 was all lies, including the stuff Garlington allegedly told him about Shannon Stillwell.


Copeland testified that he lied to police about Young , Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick.


Schardt is now asking Copeland about the June 10, 2024 ex-parte meeting with prosecutors and Judge Glanville.

Copeland keeps saying that he kept telling the state that everything he told police in 2015 was a lie.

"My life has never been easy," Copeland said as Schardt starts to ask him about his personal life.


Copeland testified that he doesn't stop at red lights because he is worried of someone pulling up and shooting at his car.


Copeland testified that he would lie on June 10, 2015 and told police anything he could to ensure he wouldn't be put back at the Fulton County Jail


Copeland repeats that it was a lie that Garlington told him Shannon Stillwell, Deamonte Kendrick and others were involved in the murder of Donovan Thomas.


Garlington is part of the group of defendants named in the indictment that were severed.He was severed for not having an attorney by December 2022.


Schardt is asking a lot of questions about the interviews Copeland had with investigators in 2015, making emphasis on the “threats” of imprisonment investigators gave Copeland during those interviews.


Copeland said he felt those “things” investigators told him during the interviews was his chance to get out of the situation by finessing the police and telling them what he thought they wanted to hear.


Schardt was going to ask about the October 2021 interview between Copeland and investigators, the one that was leaked online, but Copeland asked to speak to his attorney before answering the question.Schardt said he has about an hour to an hour 1/2 still to go.


Whitaker said they can either continue with the cross-examination or deal with the juror issue. Schardt asked to continue with his cross-examination, but if he somehow finishes before 5, they might deal with the juror issue today.

Schardt is asking Copeland about the shooting of Rich Homie Quan’s father barbershop he was involved in and testify about but Copeland does not want to answer questions about it.


Copeland seems tired of answering questions about the Rich Homie Quan father’s barbershop shooting.


"They were calling you a liar, at the same time, they were asking this jury to believe what you're saying, isn't that true?" Schardt asked about Fulton DA's office prosecuting Copeland on charges of false report of a crime."Yeah," Copeland said.


Schardt asked a series of questions about Copeland being the one that had a problem with Donovan Thomas, before he was killed. Copeland didn't answer the questions but Schardt continued to ask questions.


Max Schardt is done with his cross examination of Copeland. The state will do redirect on Copeland Tuesday morning. Judge Whitaker asked the juror with the new job in Arkansas to stay behind.


Whitaker asked for the cameras and audio to be off.

Judge Whitaker decided NOT to excuse juror #387 since she was not in a dire situation.Court resumes Tuesday at 8:45 a.m.
 

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