Atlanta rap star Young Thug agreed to change his plea to guilty Thursday in Georgia. oldest criminal triala surprising twist that, if approved by the judge, would put an end to his high-profile case.

The change of plea for the rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, appeared to be on the verge of not happening after Superior Court Judge Paige Whitaker asked him if he agreed to a non-negotiated plea. That means prosecutors and the defense could not reach an agreement on sentencing, and the judge still ultimately decides his punishment.

Matches returned after a brief break. The settlement comes after three of Young Thug’s co-defendants accepted plea deals this week following growing speculation that Whitaker could order a mistrial.

Young Thug, 33, was indicted in 2022 on charges related to leading an alleged street gang, Young Slime Life, or YSL, with members accused of committing illegal and violent acts, including murder, armed robbery, trafficking of drugs and vehicle theft.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute to claim that Young Thug and his associates are a street gang with ties to the national Bloods gang.

Prosecutors initially named 27 co-defendants. The trial against Young Thug began with jury selection in January 2023, and when opening statements began in November, after months of delays caused by some defendants accepting plea deals and others choosing to be tried by Separately, he was one of six co-defendants. .

Whitaker this week approved plea deals for three of them: Nichols Quamarvious29; Marquavius ​​Huey, 28; and rodalius ryan18.

The men faced multiple charges of extortion and gang-related crimes, each of which could carry prison terms of five to 20 years. Because they all agreed to plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy (and Huey also pleaded guilty to other reduced charges), they agreed to more lenient prison sentences with probation and time served. Ryan, however, will remain in prison with a life sentence for a 2019 murder, but his 10-year prison sentence in the RICO case has been commuted to time served.

It was not immediately clear whether the other two remaining co-defendants, Deamonte Kendrick and Shannon Stillwellhas ongoing negotiations with prosecutors for similar plea deals or will move forward with trial.

Still, given Young Thug’s apparent plea deal, the end of his involvement in the prosecution’s sprawling case comes after nearly two years of a winding, livestreamed trial that has captivated courtroom observers. The original judge was recused from the trial in July after accusations of misconduct by the defenseand heated courtroom exchanges between various parties and a host of bizarre moments, including a deputy allegedly smuggling to an accused and to someone Hack the Zoom of the court to shout “Free the bully!” have marked the slow procedures.

The judge had previously said the trial could stretch into next year as the prosecution had not yet finished presenting its case.

But the latest and most substantial twist came as a result of a misstep by the prosecutor during last week’s testimony.

While state witness Wunnie Lee, a rapper known as Slimelife Shawty, was reviewing social media posts in front of the jury, he was inadvertently given an unedited version of a post that referenced the hashtag #freequa, which can apply to Nicknames Nichols or Huey. . The publication was written for the jury.

But when Lee referred to Qua, prosecutors allowed the jury to presume that the co-defendants were in prison, a detail that is not supposed to be shared because it is considered harmful.

“We’re not going to be able to stop ringing this bell, your honor,” Nicole Westmoreland, Nichols’ attorney, said in requesting a mistrial.

Whitaker had suggested he would consider a mistrial motion. Meanwhile, prosecutors and defense attorneys spent days negotiating plea deals.

Young Thug first scored a major hit with his 2014 drug anthem, “Stoner.” He founded his own music label, YSL Records, in 2016, and has racked up three number one albums on the Billboard chart, working with artists such as Travis Scott, Post Malone, Meek Mill and Drake. In 2019, he won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year for co-writing Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.”

He has been imprisoned since his arrest in May 2022.

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