ATLANTA — After almost a year of testimony in a sweeping gang and racketeering indictment against Young Thug and an initial other 27 defendants, prosecutors rested their case Tuesday in the longest trial in Georgia's history.
Both Deamonte Kendrick, also known as Yak Gotti, and Shannon Stillwell told the judge Tuesday they would not testify in their own defense. Both earlier rejected plea offers after over a week of negotiation.
Defense lawyers indicated that they would ask Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker to direct the jury to issue a verdict of not guilty against Kendrick and Stillwell on Wednesday, which requires the lawyers to argue that no reasonable person could find that the state had proved Kendrick and Stillwell guilty.
If Whitaker rejects the request for a directed verdict, lawyers are also likely Wednesday to argue about instructions to jurors about what they must find to convict Kendrick and Stillwell.
Jurors will return on Thursday and could begin deliberation before the end of the week.
Young Thug, the 33-year-old Atlanta-born Grammy winning artist whose given name is Jeffery Williams, pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges in October after negotiations with prosecutors broke down. That left the sentence up to Whitaker, who let him walk free by sentencing him to time served and 15 years of probation with hefty restrictions, including a ban from the metro Atlanta area for the first 10 years except for certain occasions.
The slow-moving trial has been fraught with problems from the start. Jury selection took nearly 10 months, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, the original judge, was removed from the case in July after defense attorneys filed a recusal motion based on a secretive meeting he held with prosecutors and a state witness.
Whitaker took over the case and often lost patience with prosecutors for what she once called ''poor lawyering.'' She and defense attorneys scolded prosecutors for not sharing evidence in advance.
