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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