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Summary – Fani Willis Case v. Rapper Young Thug: Judge Wanted Defense Lawyer in Jail

Posted by FactReal on June 13, 2024

MORE LUNACY FROM FULTON COUNTY D.A. FANI WILLIS’ OFFICE
A Fulton County judge ordered defense attorney Brian Steel to be arrested in district attorney Fani Willis’ RICO case against Atlanta rapper “Young Thug” after Steel confronted the judge for having a private meeting with the other parties without the defense present.

Summary
Via Newsweek (June 10, 2024)

A private meeting between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office and the judge overseeing the Young Slime Life trial was revealed after one of the defense attorneys disclosed that the parties had met with a witness without telling the defendants and their lawyers.

In 2022, rapper Young Thug and 27 others were indicted by Willis in a sweeping Georgia racketeering case for alleged crimes connected to the street gang Young Slime Life. The trial, which has spanned more than six months, has made headlines for a series of controversial moments, including shouting matches between the judge and prosecutors.

Brian Steel, the attorney for Young Thug, said that Fulton County prosecutor Adriane Love and Judge Ural Glanville told the witness, Lil Woody, whose real name is Kenneth Copeland, that he could be held in jail for the remainder of the trial and that those conditions could be true for all 28 defendants in the case.

“If that’s true, what this is is coercion, witness intimidation, ex parte communications that we have a constitutional right to be present for,” Steel told the judge on Monday.

Steel revealed that the judge and DA’s office met with Copeland and Copeland’s counsel earlier in the day and that “none of the defense team, to my knowledge, was aware that this was going on.”

Break down for non-lawyers provided by former litigator, Viva Frei:

My understanding is that the judge and the prosecutor met with a witness, threatening that if he did not testify, they could find him in contempt and lock him up until the end of the trail – which could take some time given the number of defendants.

That meeting was not disclosed to the defendant, nor was the defendant present.

Classic, and over the top, ex parte communications with a party/witness

It’s wild. Beyond the pale.

The judge then ordered the lawyer to disclose how he found out about the meeting, and when the lawyer refused, held him in contempt of court. Ordered him to serve 20 days, but only on the weekend.

I believe the court of appeal vacated the contempt ruling.

It would be comical levels of corruption, if it weren’t so offensive.

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Here is an update

BREAKING.[]

Young Thug’s lawyer will no longer have to serve JAIL TIME.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Brian Steel, the attorney representing rapper Young Thug in the YSL trial, will no longer be required to serve jail time after being granted bond.

Steel was held in contempt for refusing to disclose his source who tipped him off that Judge Glanville and the Fulton County DA’s office had an ex parte meeting that served to intimidate a key witness.

Judge Glanville and Steel had a dramatic showdown in court over the ex parte conference that ended in the judge issuing the attorney ten weekends in jail.

The judge ordered him to jail for “20 days consisting of every weekend for the next 10 weekends.”

That jail sentence has been nullified on appeal.

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DETAILS
BREAKING!! The #FaniWillis #YSLTrial is off the rails! Judge jails #YoungThug lawyer for contempt
Via legal analyst Phil Holloway‘s podcast (June 10, 2024):

The Young Thug trial is now well past dumpster fire territory and is now somewhere in the legal Twilight Zone

Judge Glanville has jailed Attorney Brian Steel for contempt. Why? Because Steel was doing his job. Steel learned that the judge had a private, possibly illegal, “ex-parte” meeting with the prosecutor and a state’s witness in his chambers. The judge ordered Steel to tell him how he learned and Steel refused. So the judge ordered him jailed.

Attorney Rachel Kaufman and journalist George Chidi with Rolling Stone and The Guardian join Phil @InsideTheLaw to break down the craziness!

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This post might be updated later on.

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