Judge calls for audio recording of witnesses after jury in YSL trial partially shown on livestream

ATLANTA — The historic YSL RICO trial hit yet another roadblock on Wednesday after jurors were shown on camera during a livestream in court Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, the State called its first witness, one of Atlanta’s most experienced gang detectives, Mark Belkap.

Belkap, an 18-year veteran of the Atlanta police force, testified about his investigations into the ROC crew, an alleged criminal street gang that prosecutors believe evolved into Young Slime Life.

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Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was in the courtroom when Judge Ural Glanville called attorneys to his chambers after screengrabs and videos from the trial’s livestream showing jurors were posted on social media.

Shortly after that Judge Glanville and attorneys re-entered the courtroom where he requested members of the media to only record and stream audio of the rest of Detective Belkap’s testimony.

According to Belkap’s testimony, APD identified Young Slime Life as a criminal street gang back in 2012.

“The gang was formed in late 2012. We’ve identified over 100 members and associates at the present time,” he said while on the stand.

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But attorneys for Young Thug and his five co-defendants call those allegations false and claim that YSL is a successful music label.

The State finished its first witness and defense attorneys differed their cross-examination for when Belkap comes back to testify later in the trial as a factual witness.

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