The final two defendants await their fate as the long-running YSL trial ends after a year of testimony

ATLANTA — Prosecutors said Monday that the final two defendants in a long-running gang and racketeering trial committed a murder on behalf of an Atlanta street gang co-founded by rapper Young Thug.

But defense lawyers said the state conflated cherry-picked social media posts and song lyrics with unreliable witness statements to paint a misleading story about young men from troubled upbringings trying to escape poverty through music.

It’s now up to a jury to decide whether Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, will be convicted of gang, murder, drug and gun charges. The original indictment accused 28 people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeers and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The trial against six of these suspects started a year ago. Four of them, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after weeks of negotiations, and their attorneys chose not to present evidence or witnesses.

The process was plagued with problems and delays. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, who took over the case in July after the original judge was dismissed, often lost patience with prosecutors.

Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 murder 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 killing of two YSL employees days earlier, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged that Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, co-founded a criminal street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, in 2012, which they said had ties to the national Bloods gang. Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, for Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial” and “Slatty,” and another Young Thug song that prosecutors played during their shutdown.

Doug Weinstein, Kendrick’s attorney, said it was wrong for prosecutors to target the suspects — all black — because of their music and lyrics.

Prosecutor Simone Hylton said the case was about “real bodies”, not a “song to a beat”.

“We are targeting gang members who decided to destroy communities in Fulton County,” Hylton said. “And those communities that they violated, those communities were communities of color.”

Prosecutor Christian Adkins said YSL was a violent gang that operated through “deception, intimidation, destruction and death.”

He pointed to social media posts in which he said members had killed people from rival gangs and said their clothing and tattoos were “walking billboards” for YSL.

Weinstein and Stillwell’s attorney, Max Schardt, said prosecutors included a number of separate alleged crimes, many from about a decade ago, in one indictment without showing they were connected to a criminal enterprise.

“The state has spent the last year with a hammer in their hand knocking on a square peg they call evidence,” Schardt said.

But “that square peg doesn’t fit in that round hole,” he said.

Alleged YSL affiliates said during the trial that they lied to police to avoid lengthy prison sentences. Schardt theorized that one of those witnesses killed Thomas. He framed Stillwell, Kendrick and others as part of his series of lies to avoid the threat of prison, Schardt said.

But Hylton said witnesses and others on the stand lied when they stood before the people “they betrayed,” and not to police.

Before he got “sucked into this attack on Jeffery Williams,” Weinstein said Kendrick was focused on the rap career that helped him put his troubled past behind him after plans to play football at the University of Georgia fell through.

His client wasn’t even in the car used in the drive-by shooting that killed Thomas, Weinstein said. But prosecutors said Kendrick was the one who alerted his counterparts to Thomas’ whereabouts before he was killed.

“He’s just as guilty as those who pulled the trigger,” Hylton said.

Schardt said surveillance footage showed Stillwell driving away from Drinks’ car before he was shot, and no gunshot residue was found in Stillwell’s car. Hylton said the footage showed Stillwell fleeing a red light at 90 miles per hour after firing at least three shots into Drinks’ Nissan.

Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna, accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against twelve others are still pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one suspect after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.

Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations on Tuesday. If they don’t reach a verdict by Wednesday, they will return after Thanksgiving.