A witness for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office on Tuesday admitted to being high while testifying on the stand in the RICO trial against rapper Young Thug and the alleged YSL street gang.
Adrian Bean, who is testifying in the case for the prosecution, asked for water while on the stand, telling the court, “I’m so high right now, y’all I’m about to go to sleep on y’all.”
Bean, who is answering a subpoenaed to testify, has been on the stand since February 29. He has repeatedly told the court he doesn’t remember anything from an armed robbery, a shooting and a car chase in September 2013, during which prosecutors say he was the alleged getaway driver for Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffrey Williams, and other defendants in the case.
Willis indicted Williams and 27 others in a sweeping RICO indictment in May 2022, accusing Williams of being the kingpin of Young Slime Life, an Atlanta-based street gang affiliated with the notorious national Bloods gang. Williams’ attorneys have argued that YSL simply stands for the name of the Grammy winner’s record label, Young Stoner Life.
The YSL trial has been underway since November and is expected to go well into 2024. The jury selection process alone lasted ten months.
The charges against the 28 co-defendants were brought under Georgia’s expansive Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which is the same law Willis used to indict former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies for their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 election.
Bean reached a breaking point while being cross-examined by the defense on Friday. He told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville he had been threatened and harassed after his phone number was revealed in court and accused
“I don’t remember nothing from 2013, I keep telling y’all that,” Bean said. “Y’all got my name on a recorder, my phone number on a recorder. These people are threatening me. They’re calling my phone, your honor. I done lost my job. I got a lot going on.
Derek White/Alex Slitz/Stringer
He also accused attorneys of “trying to assassinate” him before asking the judge repeatedly if he was the one on trial. In response, Glanville told Bean, “No sir, you are not on trial, but you have been properly summoned here as a witness and you’re subject to examination until I release you.”
Bean has previously blamed drugs for causing his memory loss, telling the court, “I took a lot of drugs back in the day because a lot of things went wrong with me and my family.”
“Since I straightened my life out after coming home from prison, everything had just been wiped blank,” he said. “I don’t remember nothing that went on back then, nothing that had anything going on with anybody else.”
Prosecutors have tried to establish that Williams was at the incident that led to Bean’s arrest, arguing that the rapper and another alleged gang member got away while Bean and another man were being arrested for the 2013 episode. However, Bean has testified about having difficulty recalling any memories from that time
While under cross-examination on Tuesday, alleged getaway driver #AdrianBean asked the court for some water, stating that he is high and getting sleepy during the YSL RICO trial. Bean has been on stand for several days, claiming he “doesn’t know” anything that happened in a… pic.twitter.com/Fo0dMZqB4g
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) March 19, 2024
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.