Young Thug & Gunna lyrics are being used as evidence against them

Prosecutors intend to use Young Thug and Gunna's songs against the members of YSL in the indictment. In the latest 88-page indictment of members of YSL, Atlanta prosecutors plan to use Young Thug and Gunna's lyrics to assist charge them. In a press conference on Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis defended the controversial decision. Following a 56-count grand jury indictment, the rapper, actual name Jeffrey Williams, was one of 28 members or affiliates of the accused Young Slime Life "criminal street gang" detained Monday, May 9. (fellow rapper Gunna, real name Sergio Giovanni Kitchens, was among the others arrested and charged). Williams, who authorities say was a founding member of YSL, faces two charges: breaching the RICO Act and engaging in criminal street gang activities, with a slew of other significant allegations buried beneath them.

Williams was accused of having stolen guns and possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, hydrocodone, and marijuana, according to the indictment. Prosecutors charged two of Williams' friends (Christian Eppinger and Antonio Sumlin) with conspiracy to commit murder "by discussing how to acquire the consent of 'Slime,' AKA Jeffrey Williams, to conduct a second attempt to assassinate" Atlanta musician YFN Lucci while he was incarcerated." The most serious charge leveled against Williams in the indictment is that he rented a car that was "used in the commission of the murder of Donovan Thomas, Jr., a rival gang member" in 2015. "Mr. Williams has done no law violation whatsoever," a lawyer for Williams tells Rolling Stone. We will defend this lawsuit with integrity, legality, and zeal. Mr. Williams will be found not guilty."

The nature of the government's evidence in respect to these accusations isn't specified in the indictment. However, prosecutors appeared to depend primarily on social media posts and song lyrics to portray Williams as a violent gang figure when reviewing the material. (Williams wasn't the only one; prosecutors littered social media with photographs of other accused YSL associates holding up gang signs and/or wearing red apparel - YSL is reportedly linked to the Bloods.)

The indictment included lyrics from nine distinct Young Thug tracks, with the earliest dating back to 2014's "Eww" and the most recent being last year's Young Thug/Gunna collaboration "Ski." Other lyrics in the indictment come from Young Thug's 2018 collaboration with Nicki Minaj, "Anybody" ("I never killed anybody but I had something to do with that body"); 2018's "Just How It Is" ("Gave the lawyer close to two million, he handles all the killings"); and 2020's "Take It to Trial" ("For slimes you know I kill, trial, I done beat it twice, state, I'm undefeated like feds came

Young Thug & Gunna’s lyrics are being used as evidence against them‼️😳 pic.twitter.com/Jgo2u1sVcO

— RapTV (@Rap) May 10, 2022

Prosecutors claimed that Williams' songs were "an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy" in each case. The same accusation was made against Williams and others on social media. "This issue has been ruled on by the courts — I knew that question was coming," Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at a press conference when asked about the use of music and lyrics in the indictment. The first amendment is one of our most valuable rights, in my opinion. The first amendment, on the other hand, does not protect persons from prosecutors utilizing it as evidence if it is. We classified it as overt and predicate activities within the RICO count in this instance because we feel that's what it is."

Prosecutors have been known to use rappers' lyrics against them in court, and this approach has been used against everyone from well-known artists to aspiring or part-time MCs. For example, prosecutors utilized an array of old songs as evidence when a New Jersey man called Vonte Skinner was found guilty of attempted murder in 2008. In 2014, the New Jersey Supreme Court overturned that ruling, and a jury found Skinner guilty of two counts of aggravated assault but deadlocked on the attempted murder charge in a second trial. Many people believe that YNW Melly's 2017 hit "Murder on My Mind" will be used as evidence in his first-degree murder prosecution, despite the fact that the song was released a year and a half before he was accused of shooting two of his pals.

The late rapper Drakeo the Ruler, who spent three years in prison as prosecutors tried to establish a case against him for the 2016 murder of a man outside a party, is one of the most notable examples of this strategy. Drakeo, whose real name is Darrel Caldwell, was not only acquitted, but detectives concurred from the start that he wasn't the murderer. Nonetheless, prosecutors tried to persuade jurors that the deadly shooting was the result of Caldwell's quarrel with another rapper named RJ, using lyrics from Caldwell's 2016 song "Flex Freestyle" to persuade them that Caldwell sent armed colleagues to the party to kill RJ. RJ wasn't even at the party when the tragic shooting occurred, as it turned out.