Young Thug is set to be released from jail as he has been sentenced to time served after accepting a plea in his long-running YSL RICO case.
On Thursday (October 31), the Atlanta rapper appeared in front of Judge Paige Whitaker and pleaded guilty to all counts, aside from the charge of racketeering and the charge of being a gang leader. To those, he pleaded nolo contendere – which means he neither admits nor denies a charge.
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In a livestream clip shared to X (formerly Twitter) less than two hours after the plea was entered, Judge Whitaker is heard breaking down Thugga’s sentence, which officially totals 40 years.
“Essentially is 40 years, to serve the first five years in prison,” she explains, but commuted to the time that you have already served. Followed by 15 years on probation. Followed then by the back-loaded 20 years, which can be served in custody and will be serve in custody if you are not successful on your probation. If you are successful in completing your 15 years probation, that will be commuted to time served.”
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Before the clip ends, Whitaker adds that Young Thug is to remain on active reporting status for the first seven and a half years of his probation.
Combined, the commuted 5-year sentence and the backloaded 20 years total out to the prosecutions’ sentencing recommendation, which, per independent court reporter Meghann Cuniff, was to have Thug to serve 25 years in prison.
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Young Thug has been in custody at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta since May 2022.
Check out the clip from today’s court proceedings below.
Wow: Young Thug is heading home.
Judge sentence: 40 years, to serve the first five years in prison but commuted to the time he’s already served followed by 15 years on probation
Followed then by a backloaded 20 years, which can be served in custody if he fails probation pic.twitter.com/rspQtVUCT5
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) October 31, 2024
The news arrives just after two more YSL co-defendants accepted plea deals from prosecutors.
Rodalius Ryan, also known as Lil Rod, and Marquavius Huey, who goes by Qua, were the latest to take plea deals on Wednesday (October 30), according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
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Ryan, who is already serving time for murder, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act, which carries a sentence of 10 years. But that will be commuted to time served as he continues to appeal his murder conviction.
Huey’s plea deal sees him sentenced to 25 years in prison, but he will only serve nine of those after originally facing the prospect of three life sentences.
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28 people were initially arrested in May 2022 as part of the federal indictment against YSL, but with Ryan, Huey and Thug’s recent deals, now only two people remain.
It’s possible all three deals stem from a mistake made in the courtroom by the state that could have resulted in a mistrial.
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While on the witness stand on Wednesday (October 23), the man, born Wunnie Lee, was asked to identify other members of Thugga’s YSL crew who might have been involved with the case by reading a series of social media posts. However, instead of reading the redacted version of the post which was displayed in court, he read an unredacted version including the hashtag “#FreeQua.”
The mistake prompted the defense teams to move for a mistrial, as the jury is not supposed to know which of Young Thug’s co-defendants have previously been incarcerated.
After asking both Slimelife Shawty and the jurors to leave the courtroom, Judge Whitaker proceeded to chastise the prosecution for the mistakes they’ve made throughout the trial so far.
“What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness,” she said. “So that everybody won’t have wasted ten, 12 months of their lives in this trial.”
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Whitaker then proceeded to pause the trial for the next two days to allow the various defense attorneys to negotiate with the prosecutors, though it was not clear as of this writing what they might be negotiating.
As it approaches the one year mark since it started in November 2023, Young Thug’s RICO trial is the longest-running courtroom saga in Georgia state history.
