Younger Thug allegedly obtained a Percocet tablet from one of many co-defendants in his RICO case throughout a “hand-to-hand drug transaction” in open court docket, however his lawyer says the Grammy-winning rap star had no thought what was taking place and has been “cleared” of any wrongdoing.
In a movement filed Thursday, Fulton County prosecutors allege Kahlieff Adams, one among Younger Thug’s 13 co-defendants at his gang conspiracy trial now underway with jury choice in Atlanta, walked as much as the musician throughout a Wednesday listening to and handed off the tablet in a brazen handoff caught by a courtroom surveillance digicam.
Younger Thug, whose actual title is Jeffery Williams, “doesn’t even know Mr. Adams,” his lawyer Brian Metal says.
“The state’s movement is replete with factual inaccuracies, elaborations, and improper makes an attempt to make Mr. Williams answerable for another person’s actions. The tip results of an investigation into yesterday’s incident was that Mr. Williams was cleared of any wrongdoing,” Metal tells Rolling Stone. “The accountable events have been charged and appeared in court docket for first appearances this morning.”
Of their new movement for “clarification of the report,” prosecutors allege Adams “approached defendant Williams and prolonged a closed proper hand.” They declare Williams “prolonged his open proper hand towards defendant Adams’ closed proper hand and accepted an merchandise of contraband.” They declare Williams “closed his proper hand across the contraband and positioned his closed proper hand beneath the desk the place he sat subsequent to his lawyer, to hide his receipt of the unlawful contraband, to wit: Percocet.”
Makes an attempt to achieve the Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace weren’t instantly profitable Thursday.
Video of the incident obtained by WSBTV exhibits the alleged handoff, with Sheriff’s Workplace personnel instantly approaching Williams to retrieve the alleged narcotic.
Prosecutors say Sheriff’s personnel searched Adams, who’s serving a life sentence for a homicide conviction, and recovered Percocet, marijuana, tobacco, and different contraband “wrapped in plastic and meals seasonings to masks the odor of the marijuana.”
Adams was then taken to Grady Hospital “after he appeared to ingest different objects of contraband that he held on his particular person, in an effort to hide the extent of his crimes inside the courtroom.”
The movement claims the incident precipitated the jury choice course of to be “delayed and adjourned earlier than a single juror hardship was addressed for the day.”
This wasn’t the primary case of alleged smuggling within the courtroom amid jury choice within the high-profile case.
The mom of fellow defendant Deamonte Kendrick, a fellow rapper often known as Yak Gotti, was arrested Tuesday after allegedly making an attempt to sneak rolling papers and tobacco to her son, WSBT beforehand reported.
And Decide Ural Glanville reportedly mentioned in court docket final week that somebody tried to cover marijuana in a pair of sneakers delivered to court docket for one of many defendants, in line with a tweet from a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Williams, 31, is taken into account the chief defendant within the authorities’s sprawling RICO case, which initially charged 28 folks with being members of a legal road gang often known as YSL, or Younger Slime Life. Williams is battling 9 fees complete, together with the highest rely of racketeering conspiracy, on-line information present. Prosecutors declare he possessed marijuana, codeine, cocaine and a machine gun and rented the 2014 silver Infiniti Q50 sedan that was used within the homicide of rival gang member Donovan Thomas Jr. in January 2015.
Fourteen defendants are half of the present trial following a wave of plea offers from prosecutors. Williams’s Grammy-nominated protégé Gunna, born Sergio Kitchens, accepted one of many offers and walked out of jail Dec. 14. He entered an Alford plea that allowed him to take care of his innocence whereas pleading responsible to a single rely of racketeering. Beneath the phrases of his deal, Kitchens gained’t be known as to testify, and his assertion learn in court docket — by which he admitted he had private data of individuals committing crimes in furtherance of what prosecutors have known as the YSL gang — can’t be used towards every other defendant, his lawyer Steve Sadow has mentioned.
Williams’ destiny might largely relaxation on the credibility of former associates together with Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge, a co-defendant who accepted a plea deal in alternate for his cooperation and testimony. Sledge is because of testify that he “personally is aware of” a number of YSL members murdered Thomas Jr., and that he went to Williams’s home the day of the killing and received money from Williams to “lay low.”