Young Thug’s Lawyer Granted Bond After Criminal Contempt Charges
Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel will not report to jail this weekend after being handed criminal contempt charges. The Georgia Supreme Court granted his emergency request for bond in a ruling on Wednesday (June 12), according to Billboard. He was sentenced to 20 days, to be served over 10 consecutive weekends starting this Friday.
The Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on Steel’s appeal of the contempt order, issued on Monday (June 10) by Judge Ural Glanville who is currently presiding over Young Thug, legal name Jeffery Williams,’ RICO case. Steel claimed to have been made aware of a secret “ex parte” meeting between Glanville, prosecutors, and Kenneth Copel, a witness in the lengthy trial.
Per Billboard, Steel argued the meeting taking place without defense counsel present could have potentially involved coercion of a witness and was clear grounds for a mistrial.
Glanville claimed that Steel had violated the court rules in his assertion and threatened the lawyer with contempt charges if he didn’t explain how the information was gathered. Steel refused to share the requested facts.
“Mr. Steel, I’m going to ask you again. I need you to tell me how you got this information. This is so sacrosanct, to have a conversation in my chambers parroted to you,” detailed Glanville. Steel was taken into custody after his motion for mistrial was denied. The court took a one-hour break before the 20-day sentence was ordered.
Young Thug has remained in jail since May 2022 on RICO charges alleging the chart-topping rapper had ties to criminal behavior including gang activity, murder, assault, theft, gun possession, and more. The trial began six months ago and is projected to end near the end of this year, although the proceedings are already the longest in Georgia’s history.
According to the Associated Press, the “Check” rapper’s racketeering conspiracy charge and two gang charges each carry a penalty of five to 20 years in prison.
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