A judge has ruled that Young Thug‘s statement to authorities about the 2015 shooting of Lil Wayne’s tour bus can be used in his ongoing RICO case.
Judge Ural Glanville ruled last week that the July 2015 interview with Thug in the aftermath of the shooting of Lil Wayne’s tour bus will be admissible by Fulton County prosecutors, much to the dismay of Thug’s attorneys. Though he was arrested for an unrelated incident at the time, authorities used the opportunity to interview Thug for two hours about the tour bus shooting, and ultimately decided not to charge him with the crime.
Earlier this month, Thug’s attorneys attempted to have those talks deemed inadmissible for his upcoming RICO trial and argued that the remarks made by him at the time “were not voluntarily made” and the interview actually violated his right to counsel.
In his ruling, Judge Glanville noted that because he hadn’t been charged in the case, he didn’t have a right to counsel.
“Because Williams was not charged, and because no judicial proceedings had commenced against Williams, with respect to the April 26, 2015, shooting about which he was questioned, this Court finds that Williams’ questioning was not in violation of his right to counsel. Because Williams had not been charged for the [tour bus] shooting in Cobb County, his right to counsel had not yet attached — and, in fact, never did attach because Williams was never charged for those specific charges,” the judge wrote. “Accordingly, this Court finds that Williams’ right to counsel had not attached as to the April 26, 2015, incident about which he was questioned … In addition, because no judicial proceedings had been initiated involving the April 26, 2015, this Court finds that Williams had no constitutional right to counsel as to any questioning about that incident.”
Additionally, Judge Glanville ruled that even though Thug didn’t sign a Miranda waiver, his oral waiving of his Miranda rights at the time was sufficient and binding.
“‘The Court finds that because Williams orally waived his Miranda rights before speaking with Detective Raissi and Agent Cunningham, Williams’ statements to them were voluntary and thus admissible,” Glanville ruled.
