Young Thug’s ongoing racketeering and gang conspiracy case in Atlanta, Georgia, has been delayed after Shannon Stillwell, a co-defendant, was stabbed in Fulton County Jail on Sunday night, reports The New York Times. Stillwell, aka Shannon Bernard Jackson, is one of six defendants currently on trial in the case. He was charged with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, participation in criminal street gang activity, and two counts of murder. Stillwell pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“Currently, we do not have comprehensive details regarding the circumstances surrounding the attack, but we are diligently monitoring Shannon’s condition,” reads a statement that Max Schardt, Stillwell’s lawyer, shared with Pitchfork. “We do know that Shannon has a target on his back due to the false allegations in this RICO indictment. We remain committed to ensuring his safety with hopes to get him back home to his family.”
After initially taking a recess due to a “medical issue” with a trial participant, Judge Ural Glanville called for the lawyers to return on Tuesday morning to determine how the trial will move forward. Once court adjourned, Judge Glanville filed two orders in Stillwell’s case: Schardt and his colleagues can visit Stillwell at Atlanta’s Grady Hospital “to the extent that it is medically cleared,” and Stillwell must be “kept separate from the other defendants in this case at all times” once he’s in good health, including in jail, transportation, and the courthouse. According to court reporter Meghann Cuniff, Judge Glanville said the trial is on hold until January 2.
The original case included 28 defendants back when the indictments were filed in May 2022, but many of them have since pleaded guilty or had cases severed. Stillwell’s stabbing is the latest in a series of disruptions for the case, including nearly 10 months of jury selection and the decision to allow prosecutors to submit multiple song lyrics as evidence. Young Thug himself is facing numerous charges, most of which revolve around claims that he was the leader of the criminal gang Young Slime Life (YSL) with ties to the national Bloods organization.
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