Young Thug released on house arrest for time served as part of plea deal in Georgia RICO case

ATLANTA -- Atlanta Rapper Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffrey Lamar Williams, has accepted a plea deal, changing his plea to guilty on gang-related charges in Fulton County, Georgia.

Williams pleaded guilty in court on Thursday afternoon.

He was sentenced to time served and 15 years of probation and was released on house arrest Thursday.

"Is it your decision to waive these rights and enter a guilty plea because you are in fact guilty?" Superior Court of Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker asked.

"Yes," Williams said before his attorney interjected on one of the counts.

According to an ABC affiliate in Atlanta, WSB-TV, which was in the courtroom on Thursday, the rapper's plea deal is non-negotiated, which means the final decision on sentencing is up to the judge.

He pleaded nolo contendere to two charges, including violation of the RICO act, which is a plea of no contest or no defense, meaning the defendant neither admits nor denies the charges against them, WSB-TV reported.

Williams' attorney Brian Steel, his co-counsel and Williams' father spoke outside of the courthouse after the hearing. Steel said that this was not the verdict he had wanted but that "it is justice for Jeffrey Williams, and he is delighted as are we, I'm thankful."

Jeffrey Williams Sr. also addressed his son's plea deal, saying, "I feel great that he's going home, but at the same token, I still wanted him to fight but that's his decision. That's his decision. You know?"

"On God, Words can't express the incredible happiness and relief I feel to learn of Jeffery's freedom," Kevin Liles, the CEO of 300 Entertainment, the home of Williams' Young Stoner Life label, said in a statement Thursday evening.

"There will be a time to discuss the criminalization of hip-hop lyrics and the use of bond denial as a weapon against defendants, but in this moment everyone should feel nothing but joy that this amazing artist and even better man can hug his children, parents, siblings, and other loved ones tonight," Liles continued.

Williams was initially charged on May 10, 2022, with one count each of conspiring to violate the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participating in criminal street gang activity, and was later charged with an additional count of participating in street gang activity, three counts of violating the Georgia controlled substances act, possession of a firearm while committing a felony and possession of a machine gun.

Before the plea deal was struck, Williams had pled not guilty and his attorney had repeatedly told ABC News that his client was innocent of all charges.

Throughout the racketeering trial, which began in November 2023 and has been the longest-running trial in Georgia so far, prosecutors alleged that the Grammy-winning rapper is a co-founder and "proclaimed leader" of an alleged criminal street gang in Fulton County, Georgia, known as "Young Slime Life" or "YSL."

"The members and associates of YSL they moved like a pack with Jeffrey Williams as its head," Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love alleged during opening statements.

Love claimed that the alleged members of YSL committed "criminal street gang activity -- that is crimes that were intended to further the purpose and advance the directives of YSL itself."

"For 10 years and counting, the group calling itself Young Slime Life dominated the Cleveland Avenue community of Fulton County," Love said on Monday. "And created a crater in the middle of Fulton County's Cleveland Avenue community, that sucked in the youth, the innocence and even the lives of some of his youngest members."

The Grammy-winning rapper was charged in May 2022 in a sweeping RICO indictment in Fulton County, Georgia. He was among 28 individuals charged but stood trial with five co-defendants after many of those indicted took plea deals, while the judge ruled that others will be tried separately.

The rapper's star power drew nationwide attention to this case and the prosecutor's controversial use of his lyrics, as well as lyrics performed by some of his defendants, as alleged evidence in this case further propelled it to the national spotlight.

The use of lyrics sparked outrage from freedom of speech advocates and prominent musicians and producers in the hip-hop world, who argued that rap music and the writing process is a form of artistic expression and not necessarily a reflection of reality.

Prosecutors argued in the indictment that social media postings, images and various song lyrics released by several defendants, including Young Thug, are "overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy" to violate the RICO Act.

Although the scope of the indictment went far beyond the use of rap lyrics, the inclusion of lyrics prompted outrage from artists across the music industry and helped spark a movement that came to be known as "Protect Black Art."

Steel filed a motion in December 2022 asking Judge Ural Glanville, who was removed from the case after meeting with a witness and prosecutors, to stop prosecutors from using lyrics as evidence.

Steel argued that "[Lyrics] cannot be used as evidence of crime if they are simply connected to music/freedom of expression/freedom of speech/poetry."

Glanville denied the motion in a November 2022 ruling, where he determined that 17 sets of lyrics mentioned in the indictment could be preliminarily admitted in the trial.

"I'm conditionally admitting those pending lyrics, depending upon - or subject to a foundation that is properly laid by the state or the proponent that seeks to admit that evidence," Glanville said.