ATLANTA — Citing “numerous threats to kill or injure witnesses,” prosecutors in the case against rapper Young Thug and a group of his associates accused of being part of a violent street gang have secured an order forcing defense attorneys to do not provide witnesses’ contact information from their clients, court documents show.
Prosecutors said they learned of multiple threats against witnesses who said they “feared not only for their own lives but for the lives of their families if they testified,” according to a motion filed this week.
Defense lawyers denied any attempt to intimidate witnesses.
The order, issued Wednesday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, underscores the tense nature of a case against one of rap’s most famous artists. And it shook the creative community he emerged from in Atlanta, a city known internationally as an important incubator of hip-hop talent.
Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, was among 27 people indicted in May in a sweeping grand jury indictment that identified them as members of a subgroup of the Bloods street gang known as Young Slime Life, or YSL
Some were charged with violent crimes, including murder and attempted armed robbery, and all were charged with conspiracy to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Mr. Williams was indicted on one count of conspiracy and one count of participating in a criminal street gang.
On Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fannie T. Willis filed a complaint with the court saying the gang “has a history of witness intimidation” and also noted an incident described in the indictment in which a gang member named Christian Eppinger charged with attempted murder of two Atlanta police officers.
The motion alleges that law enforcement officers are potentially at risk, noting that a family member of one of the defendants, Quartavius Mender, was recently arrested and charged with threatening Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labatt. and his wife. Mr. Mender, the motion said, wrote “#freethug or Imma sh00t u and your wife” and “Imma assassinate you” on the sheriff’s social media account, using a hashtag that Young Thug fans had used in online criticism against the prosecutors case.
On Wednesday, Brian Steele, a lawyer for Mr Williams, said the artist “never intimidated or threatened any witness”.
“However, I can’t wait to get the breakthrough,” he continued, “so we can continue our march toward freeing an innocent man.”
Mr. Steele has previously said that YSL is not a street gang. The rapper, who was arrested on May 9, was denied bail and is in custody at a jail outside Atlanta.
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