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Attorneys Keith Adams and Brian Steel say Fulton County prosecutors misrepresented what transpired in court last Wednesday, alleging such claims are likely to pollute the jury pool.
Lawyers for Young Thug claim their client shared the general public’s astonishment when his co-defendant gave him a Percocet in the courtroom on Wednesday.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a motion filed by the state last week accuses Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug, 31 — born Jeffery Williams — and Kahlieff Adams of executing a “hand-to-hand” drug trade in open court.
Keith Adams and Brian Steel maintained that the state’s account of the events was full of errors and casts their client negatively in the eyes of the media and the public.
In a motion submitted on Monday, the defense lawyers charged Fulton County prosecutors with misrepresenting what transpired, alleging that such actions have a distinct likelihood of polluting the jury pool.
Security footage from the courtroom appeared to show Kahlieff Adams get up and approach Williams before handing him something, which prosecutors allege was Percocet, a prescription pain pill.
According to the footage, deputies immediately approached Williams and demanded he hand over the purported contraband.
Williams’ attorneys said he appeared startled by his co-defendant’s passing of the object to him. The rapper wasn’t charged in the incident, but Kahlieff Adams and two others were.
“It is patently clear from the images that there was no communication, solicitation or request from Mr. Williams prior to that,” Young Thug’s lawyers wrote, The AJC reported.
Kahlieff Adams was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital after the incident. Authorities said it appeared he consumed additional contraband, but a defense lawyer claimed deputies tasered him in a back room.
The court was adjourned for the day before authorities could interrogate prospective jurors, as all defendants must be present throughout the proceedings.
Williams will stand trial alongside 13 alleged gang associates, accused of being the leader of Young Slime Life, theGrio previously reported. Prosecutors claim that YSL is a criminal street gang responsible for crime across Atlanta.
The initial indictment named 28 alleged gang members, but eight have accepted plea deals, including fellow rapper Gunna. Six more will go on trial separately.
Although several of those indicted were required to swear under oath that YSL is a gang in exchange for their plea agreements, defense lawyers insist it is only a record label.
More than 600 potential jurors were summoned for the high-profile trial, expected to last six to nine months.
Williams is accused of stalling court proceedings in the state’s filing last week, a claim his attorneys wish to correct, The AJC reported.
They also urged the judge to strike the state’s motion from the record, calling it “frivolous and gratuitous.”
“It is absolutely bewildering as to why the state would blatantly misrepresent the reason for the cessation of courtroom activities in its motion,” Williams’ attorneys wrote, according to The AJC, “when it knew that assertion was inaccurate.”
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