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One of two men who was charged along with rapper Young Thug and was awaiting a jury verdict was stabbed in jail but is expected to be in court Monday, his lawyer said.
Attorney Doug Weinstein confirmed that his client, Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, was stabbed Sunday. Jurors will return Monday to continue deliberating whether to convict Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell on gang, murder, drug and gun charges.
Natalie Ammons, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email that Kendrick and another inmate got into a fight in the south annex of the jail in Union City, Ga. Kendrick was treated for “minor sharps injuries,” he wrote. An investigation into the fight is underway, he said.
The two were among 28 people indicted along with Young Thug in May 2022 on charges including conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Jury selection for the trial of six of those defendants began nearly two years ago, and opening statements were made a year ago.
Four of the defendants, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty in October. The rapper, whose name is Jeffery Williams, was placed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their attorneys chose not to present evidence or testify.
The jury began deliberating last Tuesday afternoon and was dismissed at 5 p.m. Jurors deliberated for about six hours Wednesday before adjourning for Thanksgiving break. They were back Monday to continue deliberating whether to sentence Kendrick and Shannon Stillwell on gang, murder, drug and gun charges.
Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 slaying of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” at an Atlanta barbershop. Prosecutors say Thomas was part of a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks in retaliation for the murders of two YSL associates days earlier, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug co-founded a criminal street gang in 2012 called Young Slime Life, or YSL, which they said was associated with the Bloods national gang.
Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, for Young Stoner Life. Kendrick appeared on two popular songs on the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2 — Take it to trial i Slattyand another Young Thug song that prosecutors played during their closing.
The trial has been plagued by problems and delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months, and Stillwell was stabbed last year in the Fulton County Jail, which stalled the trial process.
Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July because he held a meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present .
Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors over moves like not sharing evidence with defense attorneys, once accusing them of “poor counsel.” But the trial accelerated under his watch.
