One of five co-defendants who are being tried along with young thug in the Grammy-winning rapper’s racketeering conspiracy case accepted a plea deal Tuesday that could alter the course of the trouble-plagued trial that has become the longest trial in Georgia state history.

Quamarvious Nichols, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO law. As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped six other charges, including one count of murder and several weapons charges. Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker immediately sentenced Nichols to his negotiated 20-year deal, with seven years of pretrial detention and 13 years of probation. He faced a possible life sentence.

“Are they recognizing a factual basis for counting one, the RICO count?” Judge Whitaker asked as Nichols stood at a podium with one of his defense attorneys, Bruce Harvey, and entered his guilty plea. The attorney said Nichols was acknowledging two “drug-related events” in 2017 and 2018, but that was it.

“We categorically deny and dispute any use of violence by Mr. Nichols,” Harvey said. “We disagree with the underlying factual basis. “We believe that those two predicate acts that were committed by Mr. Nichols are without a doubt sufficient to meet the elements of the crime to which he pleads, which is a RICO conspiracy.” He said there were “no conditions” to the agreement, indicating that Nichols is not required to testify against any remaining co-defendants.

Nichols had been charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks, an alleged associate of rival Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci. Shannon Stillwell, another co-defendant who is still on trial along with Young Thug and three others, was also charged with Drinks’ murder.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether Nichols’ statement would affect midtrial negotiations for the other five co-defendants. Prosecutors He began meeting with defense teams one-on-one last week. as Judge Whitaker considered a pending mistrial motion filed by Nichols’ defense team. The latest mistrial motion came after prosecutors allowed a witness to give testimony Wednesday that was supposed to be excluded on the grounds that it could be prejudicial.

In Wednesday’s incident, rapper Wunnie “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee, a former defendant in the case who accepted a previous plea deal, read aloud to the jury a portion of an Instagram caption that was supposed to have been drafted. The wording was a hashtag that said “Free Qua.” As soon as Lee read the hashtag, there was an audible reaction in the courtroom, captured by the live broadcast provided daily by Law and crime.

Nichols’ defense won the right to have “Free Qua” excluded because they argued it would suggest to jurors that their client was previously detained for a different alleged crime. Prosecutors said it was unclear who the “Qua” in the hashtag referred to.

“We’re not going to be able to stop ringing this bell,” Nicole Westmoreland, an attorney for Nichols’ team, said after the mishap. Judge Whitaker, who scolded prosecutors last month over the alleged mistreatment of a different witness, said he considered Wednesday’s incident “careless” but ultimately a “mistake.” He said that if he granted a mistrial, it would be “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors could go back and try each defendant again. He said another option involved prosecutors presenting a jury instruction making clear that the hashtag did not relate to any of the defendants. Prosecutors said they were not sure.

“What I’m trying to do is fix your oversight, so that no one has wasted 10 or 12 months of their lives in this trial,” Judge Whitaker responded. After sentencing Nichols on Tuesday, Judge Whitaker adjourned for the day without further discussion. The abrupt ending appeared to return the trial to the state of limbo that began last week.

Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, pleaded not guilty to all eight charges brought against him under the state’s 65-count RICO indictment. Prosecutors allege he founded and led a violent street gang called Young Slime Life. Williams says YSL is a record label and that he doesn’t even know some of the 28 defendants named in the indictment.

Williams has been in prison since May 2022 and successive judges have refused to grant him bail. Of the 27 other defendants in the original RICO indictment, nine reached plea agreements before Nichols and another 12 will be tried separately. Prosecutors dropped their case against a defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.

Co-defendants still on trial with Williams are Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, Marquavius ​​Huey, Rodalius “Lil Rod” Ryan and Shannon Stillwell.