The office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was warned this week that prosecutors’ behavior in the trial involving rapper Young Thug, could land them in jail.
On Wednesday, Judge Ural Glanville, who is overseeing the case, issued a warning to some prosecutors within Willis’s office saying, “none of you would do this if you were in the United States District Court, none of you.”
“My colleagues in federal court would probably jail most of you and for those of you who have practiced in federal court, this is not the way it goes,” Glanville said. “From the state’s perspective as well as the defense perspective, everything’s filed in advance. So, why should you do anything less in this courtroom?”
The warning by Glanville came in response to a heated exchange that took place between the judge and Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love during the trial after Glanville sided with the defense and ruled that evidence the prosecution wanted to introduce would be excluded.
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Love is the lead prosecutor in the RICO case against Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, and 27 others. Willis announced the sweeping indictment in May 2022, in which she accuses Williams of being the kingpin of Young Slime Life (YSL), an Atlanta-based street gang affiliated with the Bloods gang.
During the trial on Wednesday, Love expressed anger over the judge’s ruling to exclude evidence. The two were yelling at each other when Glanville said, “Have a seat, madam. Have a seat. You better exclude that and next time, make sure you’re prepared.”
Love said that the evidence was “not inadmissible,” prompting the judge to tell her she should have filed it earlier.
“Oh, it’s going to be inadmissible right now,” Glanville replied. “I am not going to have any more discussion about this, madam.”
In response, Love shouted, “Judge, we talked to them this morning about that! And attempted … I talked to them earlier this week.”
Love was soon cut-off by Glanville, who said, “I’m not punishing anybody … But prior preparation prevents poor performance.”
The trial began in November 2024 and is expected to continue for the next several months. Last month, Glanville instructed both Love and defense attorney Doug Weinstein to “take it down a notch.”
Earlier this month, Newsweek reported that text messages shown during the trial revealed an investigator within the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office hitting on one of the witnesses in the case.
Newsweek has reached out to Willis’ office and an attorney representing Youn Thug for further comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.