Young Thug has now been assigned a third judge for his ongoing YSL RICO case, and so far, it doesn’t look like much will change—his attempts at mistrial and bail have both failed.
The trial, currently the longest in Georgia history at eight months, resumed on Tuesday (July 30) after delays due to the appointment of a new judge.
Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has multiple applications to deal with, including a request for a mistrial and a request for Thug to be released on bail. She vetoed both.
The former was raised by Thug’s lawyers based on the original judge’s ruling that his own contested ex parte hearing was not improper. Whittaker said declaring a mistrial therefore amounted to acting as an appeals court, which was beyond the scope of her duties.
In Sager’s bail case, she ruled that the recent events did not constitute a “change of circumstances,” noting that Judge Ural Granville was not removed for bias.
Young Thug is being held without any bond. pic.twitter.com/F57qF0aLjs
— Megan Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) July 30, 2024
Glanville, who had overseen the trial since its inception, was fired on July 15 after meeting with prosecutors and witness Kenneth Copeland without the knowledge of Thug and his legal team.
He was subsequently replaced by Judge Shakura Ingram. On the same day, Whitaker was appointed as the new judge.
Young Thug’s co-defendant, YSL rapper Yak Gotti (real name Deamonte Kendrick), also filed a motion for a mistrial in the tumultuous case.
In response, Judge Whitaker said the motion was similar to a motion to disqualify a prosecutor (she said she needed more time) and that she would need to see the transcript further before making a ruling.
Whitaker also said she would make “substantive findings” on the ex parte hearing on Wednesday (July 31).
