ATLANTA — As the YSL RICO trial against rapper Young Thug and several co-defendants continued Friday, an unexpected turn of events ensued between Young Thug's attorney and a witness regarding alleged sexual harassment by an investigator involved with the case.
Young Thug's lawyer, Keith Adams, questioned the witness, a woman who is on the stand testifying to a 2013 break-in, on whether she felt she had been harassed by an investigator for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. She alleged that when the investigator reached out on the premise of gathering information for the trial, it appeared he really wanted to date her.
"You told us when you were back there that you didn't want to come and see him because he had sexually harassed you," Adams asked.
"Yes," she responded.
The witness said to Adams an investigator wanted to meet her alone at a restaurant to discuss the case. She didn't feel comfortable, so she brought her 20-year-old son. She also agreed that the investigator had told her not to speak to anyone outside of him about the case.
11Alive reached out to the district attorney's office, which said it couldn't comment outside the context of the court proceedings as the allegation was made on the stand.
You can watch the full exchange in the video player above this story.
The witness was initially called to the stand by the State on Thursday. Prosecutors questioned her about the father of her children, who allegedly had an association with Young Thug and performed in a music video with him. She was also questioned about a break-in at her apartment in 2013 and an implied connection to the rapper.
More on the Young Thug, YSL trial
On May 9, 2022, the hip-hop world was jolted with the news that rapper Young Thug—a Grammy winner, trendsetter, and Atlanta icon—had been arrested.
The artist, whose legal name is Jeffery Williams, has been behind bars for nearly two years now. The central charge against him is that the three letters with which his name has become synonymous because of his artistic success in launching the "Young Stoner Life" label, YSL, actually signalize a violent gang: Young Slime Life.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis named Williams, among other metro Atlanta rappers and those with ties to the alleged gang, to bring charges against a total of 28 people in a sweeping 88-page indictment. The case alleges that not only is Young Thug among the gang's members, but he is also its kingpin.
"He is the one they're all afraid of," a prosecutor said at a June 2022 hearing. "He's the one that's King Slime."
A long pretrial process passed to an even longer jury selection process, and across this time, the co-defendant list dwindled with plea deals and other circumstances, keeping some of the individuals charged from remaining on the case.
The trial finally began in earnest in November 2023, already considered the longest in Georgia's history.