Defendant in YSL gang and racketeering trial stabbed while awaiting jury verdict

One of two men who was indicted along with rapper Young Thug and is awaiting a jury verdict was stabbed in jail but is expected to be in court Monday, his lawyer said.

Lawyer Doug Weinstein confirmed that his client, Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was stabbed Sunday. Jurors are returning Monday to continue deliberating whether to convict Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell on gang, murder, drug and gun charges.

Natalie Ammons, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, said in an email that Kendrick and another detainee got in a fight at the jail’s south annex in Union City, Ga. Kendrick was treated for “minor injuries from a sharp object,” she wrote. An investigation into the fight is underway, she said.

The two were among 28 people indicted along with Young Thug in May 2022 on charges including conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Jury selection for the trial of six of those defendants began nearly two years ago, and opening statements were a year ago.

Four of the defendants, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty in October. The rapper, whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was freed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

The jury started deliberating last Tuesday afternoon and was dismissed at 5 p.m. Jurors deliberated for about six hours Wednesday before breaking for the Thanksgiving holiday. They were returning Monday to continue deliberating whether to convict Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell on gang, murder, drug and gun charges.

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” in an Atlanta barbershop. Prosecutors say Thomas was in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks in retaliation for the murders of two YSL associates days earlier, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug co-founded a criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they said was associated with the national Bloods gang.

Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, for Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2 — Take It to Trial and Slatty, and another Young Thug song that prosecutors played during their closing.

The trial has been plagued by problems and delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months, and Stillwell was stabbed last year at the Fulton County jail, which paused trial proceedings.

Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July because he had a meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defence lawyers present.

Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors over moves such as not sharing evidence with defence lawyers, once accusing them of “poor lawyering.” But the trial sped up under her watch.