ATLANTA — A Fulton County judge has punished a woman who didn’t return for jury duty in the Young Thug trial because she was on a trip in the Dominican Republic.
Channel 2 Action News cameras were inside the courthouse when the judge, Juror No. 64 and her attorney spoke about her absence.
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Earlier this week, deputies told Judge Ural Glanville that the juror was supposed to report to jury selection on Monday. He told deputies to take her into custody as soon as she returned. The juror told Glanville that she contacted the court about her trip and sent them her itinerary.
Glanville originally said he would hold the woman in contempt of court. Instead, he came up with a different punishment on Thursday.
Glanville ordered the juror to write a 30-page essay with 20 sources on the importance of serving on a jury. She has three weeks to write it and present it to the judge on Feb. 13.
The judge gave her specifics for the style and sources needed and said he would check the essay for any signs of plagiarism.
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The jury selection process for the Young Thug trial has been ongoing for the past two weeks with over 600 potential jurors.
Potential jurors have had to answer questionnaires and listened to the indictment being read last week. This week, some of the jurors were starting to be dismissed for hardship and other reasons.
Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, joined 13 of his co-defendants Glanville’s courtroom last week.
Williams is accused of being one of the founders of YSL, or Young Slime Life, an alleged affiliate of that national Bloods gang and is responsible for murders, armed robberies and assaults between January 2015 and May 2022.
There were originally nearly two dozen defendants set to stand trial. Eight of them have pleaded guilty and six are being tried separately.
Glanville told jurors that the trial is expected to last six to nine months.
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