The judge presiding over rapper Young Thug’s trial could decide whether to grant the mistrial motion on Tuesday.

young thugwhose real name is Jeffery Williams, and several co-defendants are charged with conspiracy to extort and engaging in criminal street gang activity, along with drug and weapons violations.

Williams is accused of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which targets people working under a criminal organization.

He The trial began in January 2023. with jury selection, which took almost 10 months to complete.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys met with Paige Reese Whitaker, Fulton County Superior Court Judge behind closed doors on Monday. The media and public were not allowed into the courtroom and were then dismissed for the day.

The proceedings came as Whitaker considers a mistrial motion filed by the defense on Wednesday.

The motion was initiated by rapper Slimelife Shawty, whose real name is Wunnie Lee, reading unredacted evidence during his testimony.

Lee was asked to read the title of a social media post while on the stand. He accidentally read an unedited paper version instead of the redacted version displayed on a monitor.

The title contained the hashtag “Free Qua.” The defense then moved for a mistrial because the jury was not supposed to know which defendants had previously been in prison.

“Now the jury has heard repeatedly that Mr. Nichols is in jail, in prison, and we can’t unring that bell, so we’re going to ask for a mistrial,” said Nicole Westmoreland, Nichols’ attorney.

Nichols is on trial with Williams and four other co-defendants.

“It’s painfully obvious that the state is not preparing its witnesses,” said Bruce Harvey, another of Nichols’ attorneys.

Whitaker dismissed the witness and the jury and then criticized prosecutors for being unprepared.

“What I’m trying to do is fix their oversight so that no one wasted 12 months of their lives on this trial,” Whitaker said.

He refused to grant a mistrial with prejudice, but did not rule out the possibility of a mistrial without prejudice. The decision would end the trial, but the state could try again.

The trial is expected to reopen to the public on Tuesday.

Is the Young Thug trial a federal or state case?

The case against Williams and several co-defendants is a state case in Fulton County, Georgia.

The trial is the longest trial in state history.

Nichols (Qua), Deamonte Kendrick (Yak Gotti), Rodalius Ryan (Lil Rod), Marquavius ​​Huey (Qua) ​​and Shannon Stillwell (SB) are on trial with Williams.

A total of 28 people were charged in the initial indictment filed in 2022, but many were removed from the case by accepting probation and plea deals.

The case has been filled with delays and scandalsincluding courtroom arrests, allegations of secret meetings, and removals of judges from the case.

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