YSL Trial: Two More Defendants Take Plea Deals in Young Thug’s RICO Case
Two more co-defendants accepted mid-trial plea deals Wednesday in Young Thug’s long-running gang and racketeering conspiracy prosecution in Georgia. Rodalius Ryan, 20, and Marquavius Huey, 28, each pleaded guilty under separate agreements that required no signed statement of facts and no agreement to testify against others.
The new deals mean Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, is now on trial with only two other co-defendants: Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell. Both men are charged with the 2015 murder of Donovan Thomas, a centerpiece count in the state’s case. Williams is not charged with the murder.
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Ryan pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO law and was immediately sentenced to 10 years, commuted to time served. He already is serving a life sentence, with the possibility of parole, for the 2019 murder of Jamari Holmes. Ryan was 15 at the time of Holmes’ death and hopes to eventually be released on appeal, his lawyer told the court. Holmes’ murder is listed as an overt act in the state’s sprawling 65-count indictment that named more than two dozen defendants, including Williams, when it was unsealed two years ago.
“We categorically and adamantly deny that YSL is the criminal and dangerous street gang that it has been made out to be during this trial,” Ryan’s lawyer, Leah Abbasi, told the court during the plea hearing. Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker accepted Ryan’s plea, saying she personally found a “factual basis” for it based on the court record.
Huey pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO act as well as several other counts including robbery, reduced from armed robbery. Under Huey’s deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss other counts, including allegations of hijacking and aggravated assault. Whitaker immediately sentenced Huey to 25 years, to be served as nine years in custody, nine on probation and five years suspended. (Huey already has served two years since he was booked in the YSL case while already in custody.) Huey originally was charged with 19 counts and was facing the possibility of multiple life sentences. Whitaker called his deal “remarkable” and a “huge opportunity” to turn his life around.
“I want to apologize to my kids and my family, everybody who supported me. I plan to do my time, come back, and be a better man,” Huey told the court after he was sentenced.
“Mr. Huey is very grateful that he was able to resolve his case today,” his lead lawyer, Careton Matthews Sr., tells Rolling Stone. “He was facing three life sentences and resolved his case without being required to be a cooperating witness and in a manner that allows him to potentially be released within a few years. It concludes a dark chapter in his life, and he looks forward to a bright future.”
Ryan and Huey pleaded out a day after Quamarvious Nichols struck the first mid-trial plea deal in the proceeding that’s become the longest trial in Georgia state history. Nichols, 29, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO act. Six other counts, including a murder charge, were dismissed under the deal. Whitaker immediately sentenced Nichols to his negotiated sentence of 20 years, with seven years served in custody and 13 years of probation. He had been facing a possible life sentence.
Nichols’ lawyer, Bruce Harvey, said his client agreed to acknowledge two “drug events” dating back to 2017 and 2018, but nothing more. “We categorically deny and contest any use of violence by Mr. Nichols,” Harvey told Whitaker. Under the deal, Nichols is not required to testify against other defendants or even agree to the “underlying factual basis” of the indictment, which alleges the defendants are part of a violent street gang named YSL. Harvey said the two drug charges were “sufficient” to “meet the elements of the offense” to which Nichols pleaded.
Nichols had been charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks, an alleged associate of rival Atlanta rapper YFN Lucci. Stillwell is still facing a murder charge linked to Drinks’ death.
“Shannon Stillwell has been wrongfully accused of the crimes alleged in this indictment,” Stillwell’s lawyer, Max Schardt, said in a statement sent to Rolling Stone. “We have never wavered. Mr. Stillwell is innocent and we are fully prepared to continue to fight this case in Court once the trial resumes. We appreciate and continue to ask for the support of so many people who have followed this case for the past two years.”
Kendrick’s lawyer, Douglas Weinstein, tells Rolling Stone his team remains “open to any reasonable plea offers” and would discuss them with Kendrick, “as is our obligation,” amid such a long and unpredictable trial. “We are encouraged by the plea deals negotiated by our codefendant’s counsel. Those deals removed the uncertainty inherent in any jury trial and provided finality in a long, stressful trial,” he said in an email late Wednesday.
Huey and Nichols appeared to have the most leverage going into the latest round of plea negotiations after an evidence mishap last week. After the incident, Whitaker signaled she was considering granting a mistrial without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could retry the case. In the Oct. 23 evidence flub, rapper Wunnie “SlimeLife Shawty” Lee, a former defendant who took a prior plea deal, read aloud to the jury a portion of an Instagram caption that was supposed to be redacted. The redaction was a hashtag that read “Free Qua.” As soon as Lee read the hashtag, there was an audible courtroom reaction captured by the livestream provided by Law&Crime.
Nichols’ defense immediately called for a mistrial with prejudice, saying the off-limits utterance might lead jurors to conclude Nichols previously spent time in custody. Prosecutors argued against the mistrial, saying it wasn’t clear who the “Qua” in the hashtag referenced. Both Nichols and Huey use “Qua” as an alias. Huey’s team joined in the mistrial motion on the same grounds that it might be prejudicial.
“We’re not going to be able to un-ring this bell,” Nicole Westmoreland, a lawyer on Nichols’ team, argued. Whitaker, who scolded prosecutors last month for the alleged mishandling of a different witness, said she considered the mishap “sloppy” but ultimately a “mistake.” She said if she granted a mistrial, it would be without prejudice. She said another option involved prosecutors coming up with a jury instruction that would make clear the hashtag didn’t relate to any of the defendants. Prosecutors said they weren’t sure.
“What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness, so that everybody won’t have wasted 10, 12 months of their lives in this trial,” Whitaker shot back. After she sentenced Nichols on Tuesday, Whitaker adjourned for the day without further discussion. The abrupt ending appeared to put the trial back into the state of limbo that started last week. It soon became clear plea negotiations were ongoing.
Williams has pleaded not guilty to the eight charges filed against him under the indictment. The charges include conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO law, participation in a street gang, drug possession, and possession of a machine gun. He was not charged with any of the three murders mentioned in the indictment. Prosecutors allege he founded and ran YSL, also known as Young Slime Life. Williams, meanwhile, says YSL is a record label called Young Stoner Life and that he doesn’t even know some of the 28 defendants named in the indictment.
Williams has been in jail since May 2022 with successive judges refusing to grant him bond. Of the 27 others initially charged, nine took plea deals before the current trial started, and 12 others are set to be tried separately. Prosecutors dropped their case against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.
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