FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Jurors in the trial against alleged criminal street gang Young Slime Life and hip hop superstar Young Thug say they are ready to get back to their normal lives after reaching a verdict on Tuesday.
Jury selection for the trial, which is now the longest criminal trial in Georgia’s history, began nearly two years ago in January 2023. Testimony lasted more than a year with the first witness being called in November 2023.
The jury foreman says he believes that prosecutors made a mistake when they introduced rap lyrics as evidence against Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, and his five co-defendants.
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In an exclusive interview with Channel 2′s Michael Seiden, Jason Collins, 38, who was known as juror #56 during the trial, spoke about his experience on the case after he and his fellow jurors acquitted Deamonte Kendrick, who raps under the name Yak Gotti, and his co-defendant, Shannon Stillwell of murder, gang and racketeering charges.
“I believe in freedom of speech,” said Collins. “He is an artist. He’s expressing himself. And I think that we go into a slippery slope when we start to analyze lyrics and music. That is something that I have to disagree with wholeheartedly.”
The jury deliberated for 16 hours over four days before reaching verdicts in the longest trial in state history.
“It was extremely long,” he said. “You pretty much put your whole life on the side. We actually had five jurors, including myself, had somebody pass away.”
Collins, who works as a flight attendant and youth sports referee, said he did not follow the case on social media and was surprised to learn about all of the issues that caused delays and problems throughout the trial.
“There were days when we would sit inside the jury room for hours and then go out into a courtroom for about an hour or two and then get dismissed for the day,” he added.
Collins said that he questioned a lot of the State’s evidence, including the credibility of some of the witnesses.
“I’m a facts person,” he said. “I go by the facts and that is what I was going on, not the emotional side...There was evidence that did not present itself. There are a lot of holes and that is what I communicated with my colleagues in the room, other jurors, and we kind of bounced off each other. To me, I think that each defendant should have been tried individually.”
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In October, Young Thug and three other defendants pleaded guilty to multiple charges. Some people thought that Young Thug should’ve continued his fight and let the jury determine his fate.
“From what I was looking at, I did not see anything connected to him throughout the course of the case,” he said.
Collins said that he looks forward to getting back to traveling to see family and friends across the country.
“The holidays are coming up,” he said. " Time to do some Christmas shopping.”
Channel 2 Action News reached out to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and a spokesperson sent the following statement regarding Tuesday’s verdicts:
“We always respect the verdict of the jury,” according to the statement.
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