The tension in the YSL trial has been slowly building because everything in this case has finally reached a boiling point.
Attorney Brian Steel, representing rapper Young Thug in a massive RICO case, has once again asked for a mistrial — this time alleging that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville is “biased” against him.
“It gives me no pleasure to say this,” Steel said. “I believe this honorable court is biased against Mr. Williams and/or his counsel.”
Not surprisingly, Glanville swiftly denied the motion, but the fact that it was made at all speaks to the stakes in what has become Georgia’s longest-ever criminal trial. Steel said that Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, can’t get a fair trial based on how he says the judge addressed him in front of the jury during proceedings.
Williams, who has been in custody since May 2022, is facing eight counts, including one count of participating in the RICO conspiracy; one count of participating in a criminal street gang; three counts of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act; one count of possession of a firearm while committing a felony; and one count of possession of a machine gun. The prosecution has insisted YSL is a street gang; Williams and his co-defendants have said it’s nothing more than a record label.
Second request for a mistrial
It’s the second time that Steel has asked for a mistrial, but the first in which he questioned the judge’s personal integrity. His first motion for a mistrial came last November on the first day of the trial, on the grounds of multiple “inaccurate” slides on the prosecutor’s PowerPoint, adding that he believed it was intentional. While Glanville chided the district attorney’s office for its oversight in that instance, Glanville denied the motion because opening statements aren’t considered evidence.
Steel said Glanville called him “unprepared” in front of the jury. Though Glanville pointed out that he had also chastised the prosecution for missteps during the case, Steel countered that Glanville had never done so in front of the jury. Steel became so heated on one occasion that he told the judge to his face that he was “wrong.”
Glanville countered that he had shown restraint.
“Mr. Steel, I’m not trying to personally insult you or hurt your feelings. Okay?” the judge said. “Again, you are you are a grown professional advocate. I’m a grown professional jurist and people say things to me that border on the lines of I could take action or not. You’ve certainly said some of those things to me during the trial this case [and] I have let them go.”
Attorney insists, ‘I am prepared’
Glanville defended his fairness by comparing himself to a referee.
“And you may not like some of the rulings that I make, and you may not like the way that the way that the trial is going at a particular point in time, and this is for all advocates — Miss Love and, and her colleagues, I’m told them the same thing,” Glanville said. “But I think that, you know, my job is to referee, is to give you a fair a fair trial. And that’s what I’m gonna do.”
Said Steel: “Well, I hope that’s true. But you just told the jury, I’m unprepared. And I am prepared. I don’t understand why you would say that.”
Steel added that he wasn’t concerned about his personal feelings but feared it could bias the jury against Williams.
“I don’t think it’s a fair forum for Mr. Williams,” Steel said. “I don’t want to ask for a mistrial. But I have no choice when the court is saying what it said and I’m not gonna repeat it in front of a jury; that’s hurtful. And I’m not saying me. I mean, regardless of what I think, it is hurtful to Mr. Williams getting a fair trial.”
