Atlanta’s longest criminal trial in history may get a ruling that could end the trial.
According to Complex, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has admonished prosecutors yet again for a blunder that defense attorneys caught, leading to a motion for another mistrial in Young Thug’s RICO trial in Atlanta.
The incident took place on Oct. 23 when prosecutors placed a witness, Wunnie Lee, on the stand. The witness was asked to read a social media post to the jurors and the courtroom. The post that Lee read to the jury included a reference to one of Young Thug’s co-defendants, which was redacted from the version that jurors had access to. The social media post included the hashtag #FreeQua, about the Atlanta rapper’s co-defendant, Marquavius Huey, who is currently in jail. The jury is not supposed to know that he is in jail. Due to Lee reading the hashtag aloud, the witness’ attorney, Nicole Westmoreland, requested a mistrial.
“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell, your honor,” Westmoreland told the judge. “The state presented to the witness, I guess, the unredacted version [of the exhibit], didn’t prep him to not comment on it, and he did. Now the jury has repeatedly heard about Mr. Nichols being in jail, being in prison. And you cannot unring that bell. We would ask for a mistrial.”
After Judge Whitaker chastised prosecutors for their deed, she said to them, “You should have presented [the witness] with a document that had [the hashtag] redacted. It’s just sloppy… It should have occurred to you.”
The judge asked the defendants if they wanted a mistrial before ending the trial session for the day.
The Atlanta rapper is on trial after being brought up with a 65-count indictment in May 2022. The state has accused him of committing 191 “overt acts” while participating in alleged gang activities through YSL, known in the streets as “Young Slime Life.” Young Thug states that YSL stands for Young Stoner Records, and his associates are not gang members.
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