Last 2 defendants in Atlanta's Young Thug trial are acquitted of murder and gang charges

ATLANTA (AP) — The long-running gang and racketeering trial that led Atlanta rapper Young Thug to plead guilty in October ended on Tuesday with the last two defendants found not guilty of racketeering, murder and gang-related charges.

Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was acquitted of all charges and Shannon Stillwell was found guilty only of gun possession. The verdicts came nearly two years after jury selection began and a year after opening statements in a trial plagued with problems.

The original, sweeping indictment used song lyrics and social media posts as evidence and charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Young Thug, a Grammy-winning artist whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was set free on probation after he pleaded guilty in October to gang, drug and gun charges.

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in a 2015 drive-by shooting outside an Atlanta barbershop that killed Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” who prosecutors said was in a rival gang. Stillwell also was charged with fatally shooting Shymel Drinks at a red light in 2022, allegedly in retaliation for the killings days earlier of two associates in a gang known as YSL, which prosecutors said was co-founded by Young Thug.

Stillwell was sentenced to the 10-year maximum for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon previously convicted of a felony involving a gun, with credit for the two years he already served and the balance to be served on probation.

Nine of the defendants, including the rapper Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began, and four more pleaded guilty during the trial, in October. Charges against 12 others remain pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case. That left Kendrick and Stillwell, both of whom were stabbed while in jail — Stillwell last year and Kendrick on Sunday.

Tuesday's verdicts were a major setback for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Critics had criticized her use of the state’s anti-racketeering law, which she also used to bring charges against President-elect Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

“We always respect the verdict of a jury,” said Jeff DiSantis, a spokesperson for Willis.

Defense attorneys said the state relied on faulty evidence — song lyrics, cherry-picked social media posts and unreliable witness testimony — to create a misleading narrative about young men who turned to music to escape economic hardship and difficult pasts.

The jury's decision left Tasha Kendrick, Kendrick's mom, in tears.

“I’m just thankful for a lot of things right now,” she said. “My emotions are all over the place right now."

Prosecutors said Williams and two others founded Young Slime Life in association with the national Bloods gang in 2012. The 33-year-old artist also has a record label called Young Stoner Life. Kendrick is featured on two of the most popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial” and “Slatty,” as well as Young Thug’s “Slime Sh-t," which prosecutors presented as evidence.

Williams entered a risky “blind” plea — meaning he pleaded guilty without an agreement on his sentence — in October. Williams’ lawyer said he felt like they were winning, but the rapper complained that sitting in court felt like “hell” and wanted to go home to his family. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker let him out of jail on probation with tight restrictions, including a 10-year ban from metro Atlanta except for certain occasions.

The trial shook Atlanta’s rap scene. Williams grew up in a violent Atlanta housing project and became a highly successful artist who added his own melodic twist to the modern Southern trap sound he helped popularize.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July after he met with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present. Kendrick’s attorney Doug Weinstein said defendants got a “fair trial” once Whitaker took over. Among other things, she reprimanded the prosecution for being disorganized and not sharing evidence.

During closings, Stillwell’s defense attorney Max Schardt sought to cast doubts on the gang investigators and other state witnesses. Several alleged YSL members testified they had lied to police to stay out of prison. Schardt said officers had threatened them with long prison sentences if they didn’t say the right thing.

Prosecutors said those witnesses were honest with police but lied on the stand, in front of the people they had “snitched” on. They said their statements were corroborated by other evidence such as songs and social media posts where they said defendants were “bragging about murder.”

Prosecutors threw together lyrics, social media posts and irrelevant evidence to “see what sticks,” Weinstein argued, but did not prove they were connected to a criminal enterprise.

While defendants did commit crimes in the past, Schardt said during closings, it was to make money for themselves in communities stripped of economic opportunity — not to advance a gang. And music let some of them move on.

“As a whole, we know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rap, prison or death.”

Both defense attorneys said Kendrick and Stillwell have other pending charges but hope to get them released from jail as soon as possible.

Stillwell is not “blind to the fact that he is getting a second chance at life," Schardt said.

Weinstein said Kendrick, who is close friends with Young Thug, was laser-focused on his music career before the state pulled him back into the criminal justice system.

“I’m so happy that he can kind of draw a line in the sand now,” Weinstein said. “All of this is behind him. He can get on with his life and not worry about this nonsense.”

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker speaks with a prosecutor during the Young Thug trial at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Defendant Deamonte Kendrick appears for the Young Thug trial at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Shannon Stillwell, right, sits with his attorney, Max Schardt left, as he looks at the prosecutors during the Young Thug trial at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — It may seem that the wild predawn scenes in Seoul, with hundreds of armed troops and frantic lawmakers storming South Korea's parliament building after the president suddenly declared martial law, came out of nowhere.

But the chaotic events, which were still playing out Wednesday as opposition leaders introduced an impeachment motion and called for President Yoon Suk Yeol's immediate resignation, should be seen in the context of South Korea's recent tumultuous political and social history.

These moments resonate with South Koreans in their daily lives, and as they look to explain Yoon's short-lived declaration of emergency martial law, even if there's still widespread confusion and anger over his decision.

From a nationwide doctors' strike, to an opposition leader narrowly avoiding prison amid a raft of court cases, to millions of people filling the streets in protest to drive out an elected leader, here is a look at some of those recent crucial developments.

For months, it has been health, not politics, that has been a major focus of many South Koreans.

An extended strike by thousands of junior doctors who have refused to see patients or attend surgeries has disrupted operations at hospitals across the country.

The strife is especially acute in a nation facing a major demographic crisis. South Korea has one of the fastest aging, fastest shrinking populations in the developed world. There is hardly a family that has not struggled with medical care for loved ones.

The strike, which is ongoing, began Feb. 20 in response to a government push to recruit more medical students.

Yoon’s government has taken a hard line, warning that doctors must return to work or face license suspensions and prosecutions. He has said the strike poses “a grave threat to our society.”

At issue is the government plan to raise South Korea’s annual medical school admission cap by 2,000 from the current 3,058. The enrollment plan is meant to add up to 10,000 doctors by 2035 to cope with the country’s fast-aging population. Officials say South Korea has 2.1 physicians per 1,000 people — far below the average of 3.7 in the developed world.

The striking doctors-in-training predict that doctors in greater competition would overtreat patients, increasing public medical expenses. Some critics say the striking junior doctors simply oppose the government plan because they believe adding more doctors would result in lower incomes.

Investigations and legal proceedings against major political figures are common in South Korea. Almost all former presidents, or their family members and key associates, have been mired in scandals near the end of their terms or after they left office.

The current opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, a firebrand liberal who narrowly lost the 2022 election to Yoon, has also been dogged by corruption claims.

Lee, who was stabbed in an attack and underwent surgery earlier this year, says Yoon's promotion of divisive politics has worsened an already toxic national discourse.

Last month Lee was convicted of violating election law and sentenced to a suspended prison term for making false statements during a presidential campaign. He faces three other trials over corruption and other criminal charges.

It remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will decide on any of the cases before the next presidential vote in March 2027.

Lee has steadfastly denied wrongdoing.

It’s unclear, of course, how events in coming days will play out, but the martial law declaration could be a boon to Lee, especially if it results in an early exit for Yoon and a presidential by-election.

On Wednesday, he livestreamed himself climbing over a wall near parliament, one of a wave of lawmakers who dodged troops and police to get into the National Assembly.

Perhaps the most epochal event in recent South Korean political history — and the one many people will be thinking of as Yoon faces the consequences of his declaration — was the downfall of conservative former President Park Geun-hye.

After near-daily protests in 2016 that saw millions take to the streets around the country, Park was the first democratically elected leader to be forced from office since democracy came to South Korea in the late 1980s.

Park, who was pardoned in late 2021 by her liberal rival and successor, former President Moon Jae-in, was serving a lengthy prison term for bribery and other crimes.

Park, the daughter of assassinated dictator Park Chung-hee, won election as South Korea’s first female president in late 2012 by beating Moon by a million votes. Conservatives celebrated her father as a hero who pulled the country up from postwar poverty despite his suppression of human rights.

She was impeached by lawmakers in late 2016 and was formally removed from office and arrested the following year.

Among the main charges she faced was collusion with her longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to take millions of dollars in bribes and extortion from some of the country’s largest business groups, including Samsung, while she was in office.

Park has described herself as a victim of political revenge.

Members of main opposition Democratic Party stage a rally against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)