Jurors in the long-running against and others returned to an Atlanta courtroom Monday after an eight-week pause to find a new judge on the bench. The jury was already on a break in early July when the to allow a judge to determine whether the judge overseeing the case should be removed. Two weeks later, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was after two defendants sought his recusal, citing a meeting the judge held with prosecutors and a state witness.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker the case. After she denied motions for a mistrial, the trial resumed Monday with Kenneth Copeland returning to the witness stand, . Young Thug, a Grammy winner whose given name is Jeffery Williams, was in a sprawling indictment accusing him and more than two dozen others of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law.
He also is charged with gang, drug and gun crimes. He is with five other people indicted with him. Brian Steel, a lawyer for Young Thug, has said his client is innocent and seeks to clear his name through a fair trial.
Lawyers for Young Thug and co-defendant Deamonte Kendrick had filed motions seeking Glanville’s recusal. They said the judge with prosecutors and prosecution witness Copeland at which defendants and defense attorneys were not present. The defense attorneys argued the meeting was “improper” and that the judge and prosecutors had tried to pressure the witness to testify.
Glanville's colleague, Judge Rachel Kra.